Neil Laughton is a former Royal Marine Commando and Special Forces Officer turned multi award-winning Business Coach and entrepreneur. He founded a group of company's which grew to £40m turnover and was then sold to a FTSE 100 company in 2011. Neil is passionate about adventure, and has led numerous expeditions on 7 Continents - by land, sea and air. He summited Mt Everest with Bear Grylls, circumnavigated the UK on a jet ski and piloted a flying car across the Sahara Desert. Neil is a recipient of the Ness Award for “inspirational leadership” from the Royal Geographical Society and works with clients around the world including B&Q, Virgin Atlantic and BP.
Over his 19-year-long career as an elite Navy SEAL, Curt Cronin deployed 13 times and spent more than four years overseas. In that time, living and working in an environment where milliseconds made the difference between life and death and winning and losing, he honed his talent as a catalyst for transformation and rose to eventually lead the nation’s premier SEAL assault force. As a SEAL Commander, he maximized his team’s effectiveness by forging unique and unlikely alliances. He transformed an offensive unit of Navy SEALs into a defensive Presidential protection unit in the midst of combat and single-handedly created the model for multi-disciplinary counter-terrorism operations out of a widely disparate patchwork of organizations as part of an Embassy team in the Middle East.
Salif Romano Niang is an agribusiness consultant and social entrepreneur based in Mali. He is a co-founder of Malô, a Malian social enterprise specialized in fortifying rice grown by smallholder farmers. Prior to returning to Mali in 2011, Salif was a PhD candidate in international relations at Purdue University where his research centered on the role of large youth cohorts on governance, conflict, and economic development. He holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from Purdue University and was a member of the Clinton Global Initiative in 2012 and 2013.
He is a recipient of numerous international awards and prizes from business plan competitions as well as fellowships from organizations such as Echoing Green, the Aspen Institute and Singularity University. Salif is also a co-founder and co-director of Timbuktu Renaissance, a Malian nonprofit leveraging Mali’s rich culture and music to promote peace, tolerance, and social cohesion by countering violent extremism. He was born in Rome and spent his childhood and teenage years in Ethiopia and Cameroon.
Diane Allen is an established specialist in Change Leadership, and Organisational Development and was recently awarded an OBE for her contributions to organisational change within the Ministry of Defence.
Diane has considerable international experience in Leadership roles within government, MOD, charities, and the private sector. She is a highly successful executive and project lead, with a track record of sustained success in identifying and introducing effective change behaviour. She also holds a Master of Science (MSc) in marine and coastal environment issues and has a penchant for responsible global travel and encouraging personal growth through adventuring. Diane's book, on building and maintaining Leadership Capital, based on her own experiences with the MOD, was published in 2019.
Alex Dziri - a professional champion breakdancer in his 20s - founded the iconic breakdance world championships, Raw Circles, with over 2000 people live, 50 countries participating and more than 1 million YouTube views yearly.
Since then he has built, branded and launched digital courses for world-renowned interview podcasts, helping them grow from start-up level to multi-million dollar media companies, scaling to 2 million YouTube followers, 200+ million downloads on Itunes and 30+ employees.
Now he coaches various world-class top performers, from Olympic athletes and pharmacists to emotional healers and financial tech gurus.
Fatma Ghedira is a facilitator, sound & movement practitioner, community builder and experience designer who supports organizations and community leaders in creating safe and impactful events and containers of transformation for their people. Containers that are purposefully designed to align with their values and intentions.
Fatma is a musician and a psychologist by education, and is currently Head of Community at ThinkHuman, creating conscious leadership spaces and conversations while also focusing on creating cocoons of safety around the world as an artist.
Tsering comes from a family of professional Sherpa mountaineers from the Everest Region of Nepal. His late father Sirdar Azewa Sherpa lead many 8000 summit expeditions in the Himalayas until 1989. Graduating in 2005 from Prasadi Academy in Kathmandu, Tsering is fluent in Nepalese, Hindi, Sherpa, Tibetan and English. He is a trained medical interpreter and has been volunteering with the Acupuncture Relief Project since August 2010.
Tsering currently runs the office of SUSWASTHYA NEPAL (GOOD HEALTH NEPAL), a non-profit partnership with the Acupuncture Relief Project in Kathmandu, Nepal. He is also vice president of SKA Foundation and advisor to the Board of ARP. Through all his backgrounds, he is interested in running many charity treks, events to support the healthcare and education in rural Nepal and help Nepalese Government build an integrated healthcare centers in Rural parts of Nepal.
Karen Williams is a successful business woman with a long track record of establishing, restructuring and improving existing businesses. Karen is also a highly respected and active member within the networking community.
It is with the expertise garnered in these fields that Karen founded her charity “The Buddy Bag Foundation”, for which she was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s New Years Honours List in 2021.
The charity was also awarded “The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Services in June of 2022.
Karen's "can do" attitude life skills and unshakeable determination is the driving force that underpins the forward momentum that defines every opportunity she engages with.
Brandon Cook is a coach and trainer and the Executive Director of Naming the Real. He specializes in supporting individuals and organizations to thrive and flourish through fierce conversations, honest feedback, discharging trauma, engaging grief, and embodiment work.
Originally from Alabama, he attended Wheaton College (IL) and studied internationally before graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University near Boston and has a Master’s degree from Oxford University.
Brandon worked as a professional storyteller and then as a pastor in Southern California for over 14 years, and now lives in Brevard, North Carolina with his wife Rebecca and their three children (and one dog).
You can read some of his writing and poetry at storyflight.com, view his photography at instagram.com/brandonalancook/, and learn more about his professional work at namingthereal.com.
Trish Masvosva was born in Zimbabwe and moved to the UK in her late twenties. She did voluntary youth work for a year at a youth centre working with vulnerable young women.
Whilst undertaking a degree in Social Work, Trish worked as a part-time support worker at: a women’s refuge, providing support to vulnerable women and their children fleeing domestic violence; in residential units across Sussex, providing supported living services for young vulnerable people aged 16 - 24; and in children’s homes, providing care to children and young people aged 7 - 16.
Since qualifying as a social worker in 2011, Trish has specialised in complex case work with a vast range of vulnerable children / young people and their families, mainly in the South of England. In her spare time, Trish is an obsessive adventurer and travels widely. She also regularly attends international Latin dance festivals and is a passionate Bachata and Salsa dancer.