Nick is a consultant, speaker, author, and advocate. Until end of 2020, he was Executive Vice President H.R. at Unilever.

After graduating with a degree in Politics and Economics from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne and spending a year as a student politician (sabbatical secretary of the student Union), he joined Unilever in 1986. His first role was in Hull, UK, as an employee relations manager in a Bird’s Eye Walls
factory. He later became personnel manager for a bigger site covering Hull and Grimsby, where he managed large scale restructuring that became an ACAS case study of best practice.
After 15 years working in Bird’s Eye in various locations, he went off to Rotterdam, the Netherlands to work in Unilever’s ice cream and frozen food business in Europe. His role there was to scale and regionalise the business. Then he went to Switzerland to establish what is called the Unilever supply chain company, first on a European level than on a global level. Before becoming EVP HR for Business
Transformation, Nick was EVP HR for Europe and the Global Markets, having day to day responsibility for Unilever’s HR partnering globally.
The last 35 + years, has seen him covering all areas of H.R. ranging from introducing new HR information systems, recruitment, designing new reward systems for sales forces, working with marketing teams to speed up innovation times, through to setting up new Companies and troubleshooting industrial relations ‘crises’ across the globe.
His passion is for change management, Organisational development and industrial/ employee relations. He describes his ‘purpose’ as ‘ bringing creativity from conflict’. He is an H.R, professional because he believes that if ‘we change the workplace, we do change the world’. He has co-authored
the book HR (R) evolution, change the workplace, change the world (2019- Routledge), and has also co-authored an article for the Harvard Business Review (March/April 2022). His work on Unilever’s Future of Work programme has been captured in case studies currently used in programmes by the Harvard Business School and the London School of Economics.
Since 2020, Nick has worked as a consultant in the financial services sector, aviation sector, retail sector and software (AI development) sector, as well as for FMCG companies. Nick also speaks regularly at HR, business conferences and training events, advocating for the ‘Paradox wave’, by explaining the 7 Great Waves of people management. Starting from ‘Paternalism’ at the dawn of the industrial revolution, moving through the waves of ‘Power, Process, Profit, Purpose, Paradox and Planet’. Concepts explained fully in his co-authored book and manifesto for change –
‘H( R ) evolution, Change the workplace , change the world.’

With a background in strategy consulting with Bain & Company, Vincent is a strategic thinker and a specialist in business transformation and startups. Having lived and worked in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, USA, Bahrain, South Korea, Mexico, El Salvador, Chile and the UK, Vincent brings a true global perspective, experience working with diverse cultures and highly developed capabilities at bringing people together.

Innovative, passionate and determined, Vincent is driven by team success and is committed to developing the next generation of aviation leaders. He thrives in high challenge environments dealing with intractable business problems.

Vincent is married with 4 children, each of whom was born in a different country and is proud to be an adopted son of Yorkshire.

 Vincent is a global aviation professional with more than 25 years of executive experience in airlines all over the world and was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Leeds Bradford Airport in February 2021. Taking over the leadership of the airport in the middle of the pandemic Vincent has stabilised the foundations of the business and put in place an exciting growth strategy and compelling future vision for Leeds Bradford Airport.

Mark Hughes is the Chief Security Officer for The National Lottery, leading all aspects of security across the organisation, including information security, game platform security, and physical security. A key focus of his role is building a resilient business through effective business continuity and crisis management, ensuring The National Lottery can anticipate, withstand, and recover from evolving threats.

Prior to this, Mark worked in the energy sector as Chief Information Security Officer, responsible for securing the communication network underpinning the UK’s smart meter rollout programme. His background is rooted in telecommunications, having spent 16 years at Vodafone, including 12 years as Chief Security Officer for its UK business. There, he led all security operations, counter-fraud and compliance programmes, and worked closely with UK central government and British intelligence agencies to help protect the nation’s Critical National Infrastructure.

Elmar Kutsch is Professor of Risk Management at Cranfield University, where his research and teaching focus on managing risk, uncertainty, and resilience in organisational settings. His career began in Germany’s IT sector, where he led large-scale projects for clients such as Commerzbank and Deutsche Börse, experiences that sparked his enduring interest in navigating the unexpected. Since moving into academia in 2001, Elmar has explored the limitations of traditional probabilistic approaches to risk and advanced plausibility-based thinking as a means of fostering resilience. He has published widely on these themes, including Organisational Resilience: Navigating Paradoxical Tensions (2022) and Mindful Project Management (2020). In addition to his academic work, he collaborates closely with industry, designs executive development programmes, and engages learners through experiential and paradox-based approaches.

Orla Leonard is a Senior Partner at RHR International, where she also serves as the
Head of International and the Region Lead for Europe. She believes in the profound
impact that effective leaders have on teams, organizations, and society as a whole
and brings over 25 years of experience to helping leaders reach their full potential.
Orla has worked across the globe in both corporate and PE environments, with a
focus on executive selection, coaching and team effectiveness.

For seven years, she served as the Practice Lead for Teams, a role in which she
worked with executive teams to accelerate performance. In that time Orla shaped
and reenergized the Team Effectiveness practice, delivering tangible, enhanced
performance in teams across industries, including beverage, fast-moving consumer
goods, pharmaceuticals, and professional services. Working with Orla, teams can
align around a compelling organizational agenda and adopt the leadership behavior
necessary to execute it. In her work, Orla has helped teams discover new avenues
and pathways to success, developing themselves and unlocking their true potential.
During this time, she also conducted research that was regularly published in HBR
and trained internal consultants to deliver this work.

Gillian has worked as a senior HR practitioner and OD specialist for several organisations including Swiss Re, Vodafone and BAA. Prior to her HR career, she was a management consultant with Deloitte Consulting and is also a qualified solicitor. Gillian has written various CRF reports on subjects including HR strategy, organisation design and development, leadership development, coaching and diversity.

In a 33-year career at the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) Marcus rose to become its deputy head, with personal responsibility for all GCHQ intelligence collection and cyber operations. Previously, he was GCHQ’s first Director Cyber and led the UK’s National Offensive Cyber Programme. He also held senior posts across the wider UK intelligence and security community. Since leaving government service in 2018, Marcus has been a senior adviser to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and has advised government policymakers, the International Committee of the Red Cross, as well as a range of private companies in the UK, US and elsewhere. In 2024 Marcus led a Cabinet Office review of the UK’s intelligence assessment function; was on the cyber challenge panel for the UK Strategic Defence Review; and his book on ‘Cyber Operations and their Responsible Use’ was published.

Gabriele Zakaitienė is the Head of People at Hostinger. Trusted by over 4 million clients in more than 150 countries, the company helps clients achieve their online goals by offering AI-powered tools. Hostinger is one of Europe’s fastest-growing companies over the past decade.

Originally trained as a medical doctor and specialist in ear, nose, and throat medicine, she spent over a decade in the healthcare sector before transitioning into human resources. Following a master’s degree in business management, she joined Hostinger seven years ago—when the company was still in its early stages. Since then, she has been instrumental in scaling the organization from a small local team to nearly a thousand people worldwide, shaping a culture defined by high performance, innovation, and long-term sustainable growth.

As part of Hostinger’s C-team, Gabriele plays a key role in shaping the company’s future direction and culture. She oversees all aspects of the people function, including talent acquisition, learning and development, communications, business partnering, and operations. Her focus is on nurturing a performing and innovative culture that supports Hostinger’s ambition to sustain its growth momentum for the decade ahead.

A passionate advocate for evidence-based HR and data-informed decision-making, Gabriele believes that strong culture and empowered people are the foundation of risk resilience—ensuring organizations can adapt, grow, and thrive even in times of uncertainty.