Ranked as the #1 management guru by Business Week, profiled by Fast Company as one of the world’s top 10 creative people in business, a top 5 coach in Forbes, and recognized on Thinkers50 (Hall of Fame) as one of the world’s leading business thinkers, Dave Ulrich has a passion for ideas with impact. In his writing, teaching, and consulting, he continually seeks new ideas that tackle some of the world’s thorniest and longest standing challenges. He has spoken to large audiences in 88 countries; performed workshops for over half of the Fortune 200; and coached successful business leaders. He is the co-founder of the RBL Group (www.rbl.net) a consulting firm that increases business results through leadership, organisation, and human resources. He gives back to the profession and others, having worked as Editor of Human Resource Management for 10 years, being a Trustee and advisor to universities and other professional groups, and serving on the Herman Miller board for 15 years. He is known for continually learning, turning complex ideas into simple solutions, and creating real value to those he works with.

Andrew Lawson is the Head of Human Resources at Shakespeare’s Globe in London, a world-famous Arts and Education Charity that first opened in 1997 and consists of two theatres, an education department, exhibition and tour, library and archive and retail department welcoming 1.5 million visitors per year.The Globe is part-way through an organisational transformation and change of artistic leadership. The HR function plays a significant role both in re-inventing itself as a department but also delivering a people strategy that enables strategic change and cultural transformation. Andrew is a Senior HR leader with significant experience within branded and unbranded retail, hospitality and not for profit businesses, including start-ups, multi-site and large-scale. Previous employers include ASDA stores, Pret-A-Manager, Coffee Republic, Drake and Morgan, the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation, Hearst Magazines, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants and The Fat Duck. The consistent theme within Andrew’s varied career have been design and implementation of learning and development, resourcing and talent programmes, structural and culture change and re-organisation and H.R.I.S implementation.

Kim Atherton joined OVO Energy 5 years ago, first as Head of Talent and for the last 4 years as Chief People Officer. She has and has overseen rapid employee growth from 100 to 1,500 employees and taken the business from 172nd to 20th in the Sunday Times Best Places to Work. Prior to this she was a Chartered Occupational Psychologist, consulting globally with organisations including HSBC, Virgin Atlantic and Novartis. Whilst at OVO, Kim developed just3things.com, a goal setting software platform, which was instrumental in the company’s successful transition to an agile network of teams organisational structure. Kim has now launched the platform commercially and continues to juggle her role at OVO with running this business.

Perry Timms is an international and 2x TEDx speaker, consultant and award-winning writer on the future of work, HR & learning. Perry’s first book “Transformational HR” was an Amazon.com Top 30 HR seller shortly after its release. Perry’s work in progressive thinking in HR and the workplace of the future was recognised by his inclusion on HR Magazine’s HR’s Most Influential Thinkers List for 2017. Perry is Adjunct Fxaaculty at Ashridge Executive Education and Hult International Business School; he is a visiting fellow at Sheffield Hallam University and a Fellow of the RSA. In 2018 Perry was invited to be Guest Professor at GEA College in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Perry is also the world’s only WorldBlu certified Freedom at Work Consultant + Coach, and currently leads the London Chapter of ResponsiveOrg. You can find Perry online at www.pthr.co.uk or on Twitter (@PerryTimms) and his blog Medium.com/@PerryTimms. Perry is an avid fan of Soul music and Northampton Town FC.

Penny de Valk works with talented, ambitious women leaders at all levels who want to amplify the impact they make – with integrity. Penny has chosen to specialise in helping women become even more successful leaders, where thriving as a high impact leader is the outcome, NOT settling for exhausted, resentful survival. And where there are no victims. She provides advice and coaching to help women build the powerful professional lives they want, lives that make a difference. As a seasoned executive with over 20 years international experience as a CEO of high growth businesses, and working in the leadership development space for much of that time, she knows what it takes. She is a qualified coach and expert commentator featuring regularly in the likes of The Times and the Huffington Post. As well, Penny is an inspiring conference speaker on topics ranging from work/life balance to leadership in the 21st century.

As one of the UK’s leading diversity specialists, Suki Sandhu has been a game-changer within executive search and inclusion for over 14 years. Suki established Audeliss in 2011, a diversity-focused boutique executive search firm. Since its inception, 65% of senior appointments have been filled by women, LGBT+ or ethnic minority candidates. In 2013, Suki founded OUTstanding, an LGBT+ membership organisation. Working with over 75 firms globally, OUTstanding drives the diversification of the boardroom, champions the visibility of LGBT+ role models and works to develop emerging LGBT+ talent. In partnership with The Financial Times, OUTstanding publishes role model lists each year recognising leading LGBT+ and ally executives and LGBT+ future leaders. The powerful work and rapid success of OUTstanding earned Suki the title of ‘Innovator of the Year’ at the 2013 European Diversity Awards. Suki was also named 64th in The Independent’s ‘Rainbow List’ of 101 LGBTQI people who are making Britain better for the community. In 2016, Suki was appointed a trustee of the Guild of HR Professionals, which brings together individuals from the profession to support and promote activities within Human Capital Management. In 2017 Suki launched EMpower, a membership organisation that equips corporate firms with the knowledge and leadership skills to maintain and develop their ethnic minority talent pipeline. Each year, in partnership with the Financial Times, EMpower publishes role model lists celebrating ethnic minority leaders, future leaders and advocates across the globe. Suki is also a Stonewall Ambassador and passionately supports many charities including StandUp Foundation, The Albert Kennedy Trust and Smartworks.

As a professional speaker and thought leader on the global circuit, Pete draws on his experience of the high performance environment of Premier League football to help businesses to create and sustain a culture of success. He proves that there are startling similarities between the pitch and the boardroom. Pete’s track record includes more than 13 years in a senior role at Manchester City Football Club, where he was responsible for helping to develop an unrivalled talent pipeline that created 39 first team footballers and 25 full international players. The team’s trophy cabinet was testament to this success, with 13 European tournament wins, an U15 Championship World Cup, six Divisional Premier League Championships and the FA Youth Cup. Understanding how people tick and how to help them realise their potential was instrumental to his career at MCFC. He claims that knowing each character in the training room lies at the heart of extraordinary team performance. Pete is adamant that there are no shortcuts to sustained success. His powerful insights delivered in a ‘say it as it is’ manner captivate audiences and prove that ‘tales from the touchline’ translate to other arenas, with compelling results. He maintains that ‘excellence’ is a nebulous destination and continuous improvement is the Holy Grail of sustained high performance. A man who speaks from the heart using real life insights, Pete believes that culture must support strategy and leaders create leaders, not followers.

I am Group Head of Wellbeing at the Department for Transport. My aim is to bring a culture of wellbeing to the Department, where wellbeing is a thread running through everything we do. I have brought a person centred approach to wellbeing at DfT, which enables us to target the causes of poor wellbeing, rather than focusing on the symptoms. It also makes us more inclusive, as we treat each person as an individual, instead of seeing them through the lens of a particular issue, condition or set of circumstances. And it recognises that wellbeing is a multifaceted issue, resting on a number of different variables, many of which are interdependent. I believe that each person is their own best expert and has the right to define what wellbeing means to them, and the role of the organisation is to enable colleagues to achieve their desired future state. We therefore encourage colleagues to be proactive and self aware about their own wellbeing, to seek help when they need it and have open conversations with their line managers about their wellbeing. My professional background is in HR and I have previously held roles as a business partner and in employee relations. I practice as a wellbeing coach both privately and as part of my role, and run mindfulness sessions in the workplace for team building and on a drop-in basis. Regarding my own wellbeing, my ethos is very much based in evolutionary physiology, motivated by the desire to maintain a healthy body into later life, and to move with grace and control. I work out regularly (some might say frequently!), have been practicing Qi Gong for several years, have followed the Paleo lifestyle for almost as long, and have more recently come to Pilates.

Dee has worked across a range of sectors for some of the biggest brands we know and love including the BBC, Transport for London, Santander and Net-A-Porter. Most recently, he was the Senior Director, People & Culture at Girl Effect helping it shape its purpose and identity when it became independent from Nike Foundation to supporting its scale up during a rapid period of growth, marrying media, digital and development sector expertise. He was also a member of the HR Sub-Committee for Amnesty UK, supporting their evolution to eradicate human rights abuses. His passion for culture, creating behaviour change and anthropology have shaped his view of what a world-class People & Culture function looks like in an increasingly connected world. Outside of work, Dee loves to travel and be creative (anything from writing to life drawing!). His drink of choice is always a gin martini – with a twist!

Dave is an experienced HR Director assisting businesses of all sizes to meet their objectives. This experience spans 15 years mainly specialising in the Telco, Technology and Product space but he also has set up a successful HR & Recruitment consultancy before selling. He has Business degree & MSc in HRM & Change Management.