Who's Your Captain?

In this inspiring episode, Mark Francis sits down with Shola Kaye, Communication and Empathy Keynote Speaker, author, former investment banker, IT consultant, professional singer, and internationally recognized expert on empathy, leadership, communication, and workplace culture. Shola shares her remarkable career journey, from teaching and corporate consulting to building a successful career as a...

Mark Francis speaks with Lycia Lobo, Chief Operating Officer at the Design Museum, about building a high growth cultural organisation through people first leadership, strong operations, and long term vision. In this conversation, Lycia Lobo shares how the Design Museum balances daily operations with strategic growth, how teams stay aligned across multiple functions, and how leadership, rhythm, and...

In this episode of Who's Your Captain, Mark Francis sits down with Victor Mraz, Chief Operating Officer of Diverse Logistics & Distribution LLC, to explore what it really takes to run and scale a complex final mile logistics business. Victor breaks down how leadership in logistics goes far beyond operations. From managing large frontline teams and contractor networks to ensuring customer exper...

Mark Francis speaks with Sue Day MBE, Director of Women’s and Para Football at The Football Association, about the rapid rise of women’s sport, leadership across rugby and football, and what it takes to build a sustainable future for the game. Sue shares her unique journey from elite rugby player and England captain to senior leadership roles at KPMG, the RFU, World Rugby, and now the FA. The conv...

Mark Francis sits down with Bonita Norris, Motivational Speaker at BONITA NORRIS LTD, for a powerful conversation about resilience, self belief, leadership, motherhood, mental health, and climbing Mount Everest at just 22 years old with no previous mountaineering experience. Bonita shares the emotional story behind becoming the youngest British woman to summit Everest at the time, how she overcame...

What does it take to lead a successful family business into a new era of growth, innovation, and long term success? In this episode of Who's Your Captain?, Mark Francis speaks with Paul David Munnelly, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Munnelly Group, about taking over a highly respected family business and building the next chapter with confidence. Paul shares how Munnelly Group has embraced cultu...

In this episode of Who’s Your Captain, Mark Francis sits down with Steven Meersman, Founder Director of Zenobe Energy Limited, to explore one of the most important shifts happening in global energy today. Steven shares the story behind Zenobe Energy Limited, from its early days connecting batteries to the UK grid to becoming a major force in electrifying transport systems across multiple countries...

What does it take to build a company culture where growth, innovation, and accountability happen every day?  In this episode of Who's Your Captain?, Mark Francis speaks with Brian Dyer, President at Sterling ATM, about leadership that works in the real world. From leading in the trenches with employees to building systems that drive momentum, Brian shares the exact mindset and methods that helped...

In this episode of Who's Your Captain, Mark Francis is joined by Simon Hawtrey-Coombs, Head of Happiness, Co-Founder @ peer2peer Boards & President of Bournemouth Rugby Football Club, for a powerful conversation on leadership, belief, and building high-performing teams. Simon shares his journey as an entrepreneurial leader across industries including property, logistics, and sports. From trans...

In this episode of Who's Your Captain, Mark Francis sits down with Jay Zapata, CEO & Co-Founder of Satokie, for a deep dive into leadership, scaling a startup, and building in a fast-moving industry. Jay shares the journey of growing Satokie from a small startup into a rapidly expanding data center and infrastructure company. From Bitcoin mining and colocation services to AI and high-performan...

In this episode of Who’s Your Captain, Mark Francis sits down with Dominique Roddier, CEO at Ocergy, to explore the future of offshore and floating wind energy and what it really takes to scale renewable power on a global level. Dominique shares his journey from engineering and offshore oil and gas roots to leading innovation in floating wind technology. He explains how energy from the ocean works...

Neil Mullarkey joins Mark Francis for a high energy conversation on leadership, communication, confidence, and the skills needed to succeed in 2026. As Chief of Improvyourbiz Ltd, Neil shares practical lessons from decades of experience in improv, business coaching, and helping professionals become stronger presenters and better leaders. In this episode, Mark Francis and Neil Mullarkey discuss how...

What does it take to lead a global movement with a team of just 15 to 20 people? Sonia Dunlop, CEO of the Global Solar Council, joins Mark Francis to unpack the art of influencing without authority across governments, multilateral institutions, industry giants, and philanthropic funders spanning every continent. From her early days as a press officer to five years in the European Parliament and se...

Mark Francis sits down with his own publisher, Brenda Dempsey, founder of Book Brilliance Publishing, for an honest conversation about what it really takes to write a book that lasts. Brenda brings over 25 years in education, a coaching background, and hard-won life experience including raising four children alone while homeless in her final year of university to a publishing approach that is anyt...

Over 20 years after founding Liquid Thinker, Professor Damian Hughes sits down with Mark Francis for a wide-ranging conversation about what really drives high performance — in sport, in business, and in life. From growing up in his father's boxing gym in Moston to working alongside elite coaches in rugby league and co-hosting one of the world's most-listened-to podcasts, Damian has spent his caree...

Two years into turning around a struggling SaaS business, Signpost CEO Lucas Wilson sits down with Mark Francis to give himself an honest performance review — and sporadically, it's a D. In this episode, Lucas breaks down what it really takes to lead a company through resource constraints, cultural rebuilding, and customer-first reinvention. From his roots in an immigrant entrepreneurial family to...

In this episode, host Mark Francis sits down with experienced trader and educator James Brodie to explore the often-overlooked psychological side of trading. While many people focus on charts, numbers, and strategies, successful trading is just as much about mindset, discipline, and emotional control. James shares insights from years of experience working with traders and explains why ego manageme...

Bruce Martin didn't set out to be a CEO. He spent years in finance, from Vodafone to private equity, before taking the top job at Tax Systems — and in three and a half years, he's doubled revenue, completed international acquisitions, and led the business through a full SaaS transformation. In this episode, Bruce shares how a competitive sporting mindset shaped his approach to leadership, why clar...

What does it actually take to build a learning and development function from scratch in a fast-growing, multi-country organisation – when you're the only person doing it? Tovah Wilde, Head of Learning & Development at Curaleaf International, joins Mark Francis to answer exactly that. With operations spanning the UK, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Canada and beyond, Curaleaf is the global leader in...

Dr. Muddassir Ahmed spent 17 years working his way up through global supply chain roles – from buyer to divisional supply chain head overseeing a $700M business across Romania, China, Germany and the Middle East. What he kept noticing was the same problem everywhere: most supply chain professionals land in the field by accident, with no real theoretical foundation to draw on when things get compli...

30% of the world's food is wasted – and much of it is down to supply chain failures that technology can prevent. Souroush Honary, CEO and founder of SystemLoco, joins Mark Francis to talk about how near real-time data is transforming the way goods are tracked, monitored, and protected from farm to shelf. With over 3 million devices deployed and 50+ staff across the US, UK, and Taiwan, SystemLoco i...

In this episode, entrepreneur and WineFi founder Callum Woodcock shares how wine is evolving from a luxury hobby into a powerful alternative investment class. From data-driven wine portfolios to building a fintech startup in a traditional industry, this conversation dives deep into innovation, entrepreneurship, and smart investing. Callum reveals how WineFi is democratizing wine investment, using...

When Arun Anand bought his first electric vehicle ten years ago, he saw a critical problem nobody was solving: the grid couldn't handle millions of EVs charging simultaneously during peak hours. So he built Electric Miles, a software platform that makes charging more reliable, cheaper, and grid-friendly across five countries. In this conversation with Mark Francis, Arun reveals how Electric Miles...

Discover the powerful leadership transformation that took a failing team to top performance. Darryl Heffline, CEO and author of "Shifting Gears at the Crossroads," shares the brutally honest feedback that changed his entire approach to leadership and reveals the four pillars that build trust in any organization. In this conversation, Darryl breaks down the exact moment a colleague told him his lea...