Your Speakers
at the Summit
3-4 November 2021

Kate has been general secretary of the Open Spaces Society, Britain’s oldest national conservation body, for 37 years.  She campaigns for public paths and access, and in 2002 she personally won a case in the court of appeal against East Sussex County Council, which failed to reopen an illegally obstructed footpath.  She is a trustee, and former president and chair of Ramblers GB, former chair of the Campaign for National Parks, and former member of the board of the Countryside Agency.  Her hobbies include learning birdsong and finding illegally blocked paths.

Keith is an independent board director, trustee, and advisor to businesses and not-for-profit organisations. He is a Board Director of WPP plc and Sainsbury’s plc, President and Chair of the Board for the Royal Horticultural Society, President of the Advertising Association, Board member of Business in the Community, Advisory Board member of McLaren F1, President of the History of Advertising Trust and Board member of Grange Park Opera. He is also an angel investor in start-ups and early-stage companies.

Keith retired from a long career at Unilever in May 2019, where latterly he was on the Executive Committee for nine years, and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer responsible for marketing, sustainability and communications.

Awards include a CBE in the 2021 New Year Honours list, Forbes’ The World’s Most Influential CMO in 2017, 2018 and 2019, the World Federation of Advertisers’ Global Marketer of the Year 2017, and The Drum’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.

Leah has been providing mentoring and training services to exhausted, overworked professionals since 2016.  Having experienced her own issues with burnout during her career as a litigation lawyer, Leah founded Searching for Serenity to help provide accessible, supportive training and information to individuals who might also be struggling.  

After more than five years, Leah is now a trusted advisor and trainer both to corporates (including law firms of all sizes across the UK) and individuals, helping them to manage and reverse burnout, limit the impact of imposter syndrome and increase the sustainability, longevity and enjoyability of their careers.

Lexie is focused on senior roles in the public and third sectors as well as in commercial retail. She also leads the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion practice. As a consultant, she works with leadership teams, the C-Suite, HR and line managers, creating and embedding D, E & I strategies to ensure inclusive, high-performing environments.

Lexie has over 20 years’ experience in senior HR leadership and executive search roles in retail, not-for-profit organizations and the public sector. She was Senior Talent Manager for Sainsbury’s, partnering a stakeholder population of 4,000 colleagues and leading the talent and change functions.

Lexie is passionate about ensuring organizations and individuals exceed their potential by developing sustainable, inclusive business strategies and managing individual talent.  As a Certified Course Facilitator, mentor and career coach, she believes having access to education and opportunity assists social mobility. Lexie is a Trustee and Chair of the People and Culture Committee at the Scout Association.

After qualifying as a Doctor from the Royal Free Hospital, Michael went into a career in TV production where he produced programmes with the likes of Jeremy Clarkson, David Attenborough and John Cleese. He then moved into TV presenting, where he became well-known through programmes such as Diagnosis Detectives (BBC Two, 2020) and The Truth About Cosmetic Treatments (BBC One, 2020). Michael’s diet books are enduring bestsellers – his most recent works include Fast Asleep (Short Books, 2020) and The Fast 800 Health Journal (Short Books, 2019). He is published in 22 territories and his shows are broadcast internationally. Michael is a regular columnist for the Mail on Sunday having previously written for The Times and The Independent, as well as magazines Focus and Eureka.