Speaker Biographies
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| René Carayol | CEO, Inspired Leaders Network |
| Vittorio Colao | Chief Executive, Vodafone Group Plc |
| Colin Grassie | Chief Executive Officer, Deutsche Bank UK |
| Baroness Tanni Grey–Thompson DBE | Paralympic Gold Medallist |
| Heidi Mottram OBE | Chief Executive Officer, Northumbrian Water |
| Kirsty Wark | Conference Moderator |
| Avivah Wittenberg–Cox | Chief Executive Officer, 20–first |
SpeakersRené Carayol, CEO, Inspired Leaders Network
René Carayol is one of the world's leading business gurus specialising in leadership and culture, drawing from his own unique experiences on the boards of the biggest British and American organisations: from Marks & Spencer and Pepsi to IPC Media and the Inland Revenue.
He is the best selling author of the leadership and culture bible, “Corporate Voodoo”, and has provided leadership support to the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, the Home Office and McKinsey and Co. He has also worked closely with Kofi Annan, Sir Richard Branson and Bill Clinton.
René is a regular broadcaster for the BBC and has presented the influential “Pay Off Your Mortgage in 2 Years” series, BBC2's flagship business offering “The Money Programme”, and the critically acclaimed “Mind Of A Millionaire”. He is a broadsheet columnist, a frequent voice on Radio 5 Live and a regular expert commentator on Sky News and BBC Breakfast.
René is now a Visiting Professor at Cass Business School.
Vittorio Colao, Chief Executive, Vodafone Group Plc
Vittorio Colao, aged 48, holds a Business Degree cum Laude from Bocconi University and an MBA with Honours from Harvard Business School.
He spent the early part of his career working for Morgan Stanley in London, for Mondadori, the Italian publisher, and for McKinsey in Italy. He was a Partner with McKinsey until 1996, working in the media, telecommunications and industrial goods sectors and was also responsible for heading the Finance practice and consultant recruitment.
Vittorio joined Omnitel Pronto Italia, Italy's second mobile operator, as Chief Operating Officer in 1996. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer in 1999, and Regional CEO, Southern Europe for Vodafone Group Plc. in 2001, following the acquisition of the business. He became a member of the Board of Directors of Vodafone Group Plc. in 2002 and was subsequently appointed Regional CEO for Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa in 2003.
In 2004, he left Vodafone to become Chief Executive Officer of RCS MediaGroup, the leading Italian publishing company.
He returned to Vodafone Group Plc in 2006 as Chief Executive Officer, Europe and Deputy Group CEO, and as a member of the Board of Directors. Vittorio was then appointed Chief Executive of Vodafone Group Plc in July 2008.
Vittorio has been a Non-executive Director and member of the Remuneration Committee of RAS Insurance, then listed on the Milan stock Exchange (now merged with Allianz SE), and was previously a Non-executive Director and Chairman of the Remuneration Committee of Finmeccanica, the Italian listed defence and aerospace conglomerate. During his tenure at RCS, he was also a member of the Board and the Executive Committee of the European Oncology Institute in Milan.
Currently, he is a member of the Board of Fondazione CAF in Milan (a charity active with children under legal protection) and is also a member of the International Advisory Board of Bocconi University.
Colin Grassie, Chief Executive Officer, Deutsche Bank UK
Colin Grassie is Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Bank in the United Kingdom.
Mr Grassie has responsibility for development of the Bank's UK franchise, including management of relationships with the government, regulators and key clients. He also chairs the Bank's UK governance and executive management committees.
Prior to his current role, assumed in the summer of 2009, Mr Grassie most recently served for four years as Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Bank in Asia Pacific (ex–Japan) and was responsible for the Bank's management and strategic business development in the region.
As CEO in Asia Pacific (ex–Japan), he grew the Bank to include local operations in 17 markets and significantly expanded its private wealth management business and presence in China and India. Mr Grassie is a director of China's Hua Xia Bank, in which Deutsche Bank holds a 13.7% equity stake.
A Scottish native with a Master Degree in Law from Cambridge University, Mr Grassie joined the Bank in 1995 and, prior to relocating to Asia, served as Head of Global Markets in Europe (ex–Germany), overseeing origination and execution of cash equities, derivatives, foreign exchange, bonds, structured products and securitisations. He previously held a number of senior positions in Fixed Income Sales in London, New York, Hong Kong and Tokyo.
Baroness Tanni Grey–Thompson DBE, Paralympic Gold Medallist
Tanni Grey–Thompson DBE is one of Britain's most successful Paralympic athletes and also Britain's best–known Paralympic athlete. Her achievements include 16 Paralympic medals (including 11 gold) and six gold medals in the London Marathon.
Baroness Tanni remains active in the administration, management and politics of sport. Currently she sits on the UK Sport Mission 2012 Committee, The Winston Churchill Memorial Fund Committee, she is a Consultant to The London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) and also sits on their Sports Advisory Committee. She has lobbied and promoted many issues and causes associated with disability sport and disability in general, resulting in a much higher profile for sports for people with disabilities.
Baroness Tanni is now retired from international competition and lives in North Yorkshire with her husband Dr. Ian Thompson and their daughter Carys who was born in February 2002.
In 2010 she became Baroness Grey–Thompson of Eaglescliffe as a Crossbench Member of the House of Lords at Westminster.
Heidi Mottram OBE, Chief Executive Officer, Northumbrian Water
Heidi Mottram was appointed to the NWG and NWL Boards, as an Executive Director, on 1 March 2010, and became Chief Executive Officer on 1 April.
Heidi began her career with British Rail as a General Management Trainee in the mid 1980s. Her first senior position was that of Station Manager in Harrogate in 1986 and she then held a number of roles before joining Midland Mainline in 1999 as Operations Director, where she was fully accountable for the Operations Team.
Heidi was Commercial Director for Arriva Trains Northern from January 2004, before joining Serco–Ned Railways in November 2004 as Managing Director, Northern Rail Ltd.
Heidi was named Rail Business Manager of the Year in 2009 for being an “inspirational leader”, and was awarded an OBE in the New Year honours list 2010, for services to the rail industry.
Kirsty Wark, Conference Moderator
Kirsty Wark presents Newsnight, the arts strand Newsnight Review and BBC Four's Book Quiz. As well as winning a BAFTA for broadcast journalism, she has also been one of Scotland's leading independent programme makers.
After joining the BBC as a radio researcher Kirsty quickly became a producer on Good Morning Scotland and the political discussion show, Order Order. After a spell on World at One, she moved front of camera to present Breakfast Time, Seven Days and the youth series Words Apart.
Kirsty has covered many of the most notable events in modern Scottish history, from dramatic election results to the opening of the Holyrood Parliament. She has also presented the heritage series One Foot In The Past, and travelled from Slovenia to Estonia for Tales from Europe.
Avivah Wittenberg–Cox, Chief Executive Officer, 20–first
Avivah Wittenberg–Cox is CEO of the consultancy 20–first.
20–first works with progressive companies interested in diversifying their leadership teams and optimising both halves of the talent pool and both halves of the market – the female and male halves. 20–first works with CEOs, executive committees and managers to build gender 'bilingual' organisations. The firm's renowned Building Gender Balanced Businesses programmes and suite of online tools help companies harness the talent and market opportunities of the 21st century.
Avivah is author of the upcoming:
HOW Women Mean Business, A Step by Step Guide to Profiting from Gender Balanced Business,Wiley (April 2010)
as well as co–author of the best–selling:
WHY Women Mean Business: Understanding the Emergence of Our Next Economic Revolution, Wiley 2008
www.WhyWomenMeanBusiness.com.
She has spoken on leadership, marketing and talent management issues across the globe and she lectures at both INSEAD and HEC business schools. She has had articles, reviews and interviews published in a variety of publications including Harvard Business Review, International Herald Tribune and Financial Times. She is the Founder and Honorary President of the European Professional Women's Network www.EuropeanPWN.net). Canadian, French and Swiss, she has been recognised by ELLE Magazine as one of the TOP 40 Women Leading Change. Her first book was awarded the prestigious MANPOWER Best Book of the Year prize in 2009 and was selected as a business book of the year by Conference Board Review in 2010.
