The Leaders Council Podcast

Ayesha Vardag is a prominent divorce lawyer and president of Vardags, a London-based international law firm specialising in private legal services for HNW/ultra HNW clients and their companies. The practice is world-renowned for family law, with offices in London, Manchester, Winchester, Cambridge and Newcastle.

Chris Gawith is a director at Gawith Hoggarth, a company based in Cumbria that has manufactured tobacco products since the 18th Century. As well as working in the tobacco industry, Chris is an established business leader in several sectors and disciplines including nuclear piping, product design, aerospace component design, oil and gas component design, plastics, castings, precision engineering an...

Keith Myers is the co-director and founder of The Myers Touch, a holistic kitchen design agency. Keith was a former Regional Director for Society of British Interior Design (SBID) and features on the panel of Grand Designs ‘Ask the expert’ at ExCel & NEC. He has also lectured for RIBA, KBSA, Grand Designs, London Design Week, 100% Design and Home Building and Renovation Show in London.

Paul Anderson is the Managing Director at Meiko UK, a global company that specialises in providing products for warewashing, cleaning and disinfection. With over 2,000 employees in 30 countries, MEIKO is a global technology and service company that plays a key role in shaping today’s market developments.

Charlie Walker is the Head of Continuous Improvement at Walker Logistics. Walker is responsible for the technology side of the business, looking at new ways to improve services and provide a better service for their clients.

Marcus Miller is the founder and digital strategist at Bowler Hat, a digital marketing agency specialising in digital marketing strategies, SEO and content. Miller has worked in the marketing and creative industries for over 20 years, cutting his teeth at Mobile Fun Ltd and Opera Telecom before opening his own agency, Bowler Hat, in 2007.

Michael Dingle is the Chief Creative Officer at With Reason, which he co-founded in 2012. With Reason specialises in creating value driven digital opportunities for their clients, helping to design, build and market digital products. Michael focuses on client relationships and provides expertise in concept development & visualisation to designing the user interface digital products.

Graham Botwright is the CEO of The Gap Partnership, the world’s leading negotiation consultancy. It provides consultancy services on many aspects including M&As, union disputes, annual sales reviews and joint business planning, as well as offering negotiation training.

Sug Sahadevan is the Founder & Group Chief Executive Officer of Testhouse. Sug started his working career as an Electronics Engineer with GCHQ, Cheltenham and gradually progressed into programme management while working for Digital Equipment Corporation, Bank of America, Centrica and Deutsche Bank.

Ryan Howsam is CEO of the UK’s market-leading insurance specialist, Staysure Group. He is also a leader in FinTech as well as CEO of the Legends Tour, and investor and mentor in businesses across various sectors, including Garcon Wines, flat wine bottles for letterboxes, to Holibob tech for travel and tours, and others.

Moira Ashman is the CEO at St Cuthbert’s Care, a regional charity working across the North East of England and a frontline registered social care provider. Moira has headed up St Cuthbert’s Care since 1990 and part of her role involves overseeing the operations of the charity’s nursing home, St Catherine’s.

Anita Rose Grant is the chief executive of Islington Play Association, a non-profit organisation that has been working to improve children’s lives and life chances by helping with the upkeep of playgrounds and providing play spaces in indoor centres. She is also the chair of Play England.

Amanda Dawson is the headteacher at Mellers Primary School, a maintained community school in Radford, Nottingham. Amanda describes Mellers as both “unique and extraordinary”, and leads with a passion for preparing children and families for fulfilled and happy lives where they are well-placed to compete for the best university places and careers available.

Kyle Davies is practice lead for integrated techology architecture at CDW UK, a company that delivers high-performance commercial services and solutions across both the private and public sector. Kyle is an experienced business leader and a passionate architect.

Donna-May Weeks is the lead practitioner at Poppies Day Care, a privately owned day nursery in Tiverton, Devon. After first qualifying in 1993, Donna has worked continuously with children since then and developed years of experience. As a manager, Donna prides herself on running a nursery with a friendly and inviting atmosphere.

Pam Hamilton is a teamwork expert who has over 20 years of experience working with global and local businesses, teams, communities, and people to help them work better together. Originally from a psychology background and possessing a passion for collective intelligence, Pam’s ambition is to help empower others, develop their capabilities and drive positive change.

Juliane Sterzl is the UK and Ireland vice-president at CoachHub, a leading global talent development platform that enables organisations to create a personalised, measurable and scalable coaching programme for their workforce.

Tony Street is the managing director and global head of clinical services at Pilatus Comparator Solutions, a business launched in 2013 to provide smarter sourcing solutions to the complex and demanding field of comparator sourcing for clinical trials. Tony is a seasoned industry leader with over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry.

Richard Brash is the managing director of Brash Solutions, an IT company that provides consultancy, systems review, system specification, supply, installation, training, remote assistance, continued support and software development services. Originally from a legal background, Richard studied Law at City University’s Cass Business School and the College of Law.

Ed Hoppitt is the EMEA Director for VMware, a software specialist that offers a breadth of digital solutions which power apps, services, and experiences, enabling organisations to deliver the best customer service and empower employees. Ed sits on VMware’s EMEA Technical Leadership team and supports VMware’s Pre-Sales teams as they deliver solutions for customers.

James Cluskey is a former professional tennis player and founder of High Calibre Collective, an organisation working with individuals and teams on the topic of High performance. James is a retired ATP and Irish David Cup tennis player with 15 professional titles, including in ATP challenger and ITF future competitions. He also holds a Guinness World Record for featuring in the longest tennis doubl...

Emma Rigby is the founder and director of Love Your Doorstep, a multi-award-winning business and community platform, bringing together like-minded people with a vested interest in making their community a better place. Emma set up Love Your Doorstep following the 2011 London riots as a platform to help bring the community back together.

Danny Sims is the Chairman of DJS Research, a UK-based full service market research agency specialising in both consumer and B2B research surveying. After spending five-and-a-half years working as a research executive firstly for BPRI and then Business & Market Research, Danny set up DJS Research himself in 2001, which initially operated as his brand for working as a freelance market researcher

David Tomkinson is a director at Andpartnership, a leading organisational, leadership development consultancy. David is an established business leader having occupied a number of senior and managerial positions throughout his career.

Jeanette Phillips is CEO at Flexicare UK Ltd. a care provider who ensure indivduals receive due care in their workplaces, at home or on holiday. Kevin M Thomson is founder of The WoWW! Business, which puts health and wellbeing into organisations and individual clients through innovative platforms and programmes. Sally Thomson is a partner within The WoWW! Business and a qualified barrister.