24 UK-based leadership speakers, each with a live profile, video and confirmed UK background — from boardroom strategists to Olympic champions.
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"Leadership" is one of the widest briefs an event organiser can be handed, and one of the easiest to fill badly. It covers the executive who has run a FTSE-listed brand, the emergency commander who took over after Grenfell, and the Olympic champion who now runs global sport. What connects them is that each one has led through pressure, and can say something specific about how.
This list holds 24 UK-based leadership speakers currently active and bookable, each with a confirmed UK background, a live profile and a video. Some also appear on our business speakers list — leadership and business overlap more often than event briefs assume, and we have not forced an artificial split between the two. If you are after speakers ranked by how often UK clients actually book them rather than where they are based, see who our UK clients book most instead — that is a different question from the one this page answers.
The names below span corporate leadership, crisis and emergency command, sport and Olympic leadership, engineering and STEM leadership, DEI and culture leadership, and leadership drawn from lived experience and advocacy. A leadership brief in 2026 rarely means one thing, and this list reflects that range rather than narrowing it to boardroom case studies alone.
1. Leanne Elliott Young — founder and CEO of CommuneEast, leading on sustainability and digital transformation at UN and government level. Watch: Interview with Leanne Elliott Young, Founder/CEO – CommuneEast.
2. Allister Frost — twice UK Digital Marketing Personality of the Year, speaking on leading teams and organisations through constant change. Watch: The Secret To Success When Everything Changes.
3. Karen Blackett OBE — UK President for WPP and former GroupM UK CEO, on building trust and culture from the top of a large organisation. Watch: The Secret To Building Trust With Executives.
4. Debra Searle MBE — adventurer and former BBC presenter, on leading yourself and others through change and uncertainty. Watch: Debra Searle Keynote Show Reel.
5. David Birch — fintech and digital identity commentator, on leading through disruptive technological change. Watch: Dave Birch Showreel 2018.
6. Christopher TS Harvey — speaks on leading teams and culture through the arrival of artificial intelligence. Watch: Do What AI Can't: Be Human.
7. Alex Depledge — founder of Resi.co.uk, on the leadership demands of building and scaling a business from nothing. Watch: How to Overcome the Fear of Starting a New Business.
8. Dino Sofos — broadcaster and podcast producer across the British news landscape, on leadership and political strategy. Watch: Persephonica: Dino Sofos at BIPC.
9. Jude Guaitamacchi — speaks on inclusive leadership and leading change in the workplace. Watch: Mental Health in the LGBTQ Community.
10. Susannah Streeter — former BBC business anchor, on leadership through the lens of financial markets and the global economy. Watch: 2019 Showreel.
11. Ella Podmore MBE — engineer and IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year, on leading as a young woman in engineering and STEM. Watch: Permission to be Imperfect, TEDxUniversity of Manchester.
12. Hannah Awonuga — 17 years as Global DEI Director at Barclays, now founder of the Inclusive Foundations Programme, on leading organisational culture change. Watch: The Rules of Career Growth: How to Build Real Influence and Secure Opportunities.
13. Alexia Williams MBE — chartered engineer and senior technical leader, one of the youngest women ever to reach Chartered Engineer status, on leadership in skills and workforce transformation. Watch: Alexia Williams announces Vocational Celebration Day, Enginuity Skills Awards 2026.
14. Helen Sharman CMG OBE — the first British astronaut, on leadership, preparation and team spirit under extreme conditions. Watch: Helen Sharman, GAIA at Liverpool Cathedral.
15. Dr Kevin Fong OBE — HEMS doctor and former NHS England COVID-19 Emergency Preparedness advisor, on leading through complexity and uncertainty. Watch: Industry Keynote: Leading Through Complexity and Uncertainty.
16. Felicity Aston — polar explorer and the first woman to ski alone across Antarctica, on leadership under extreme pressure and isolation. Watch: Felicity Aston: Alone in Antarctica.
17. Andy Roe — London Fire Commissioner from 2020, who led the London Fire Brigade through the aftermath of Grenfell Tower; now Chair of the Building Safety Regulator. Watch: "We let Grenfell families down": London's fire chief admits.
18. Payzee Mahmod — British Kurdish campaigner whose advocacy helped change UK law on child marriage, on leadership through lived experience and advocacy. Watch: One Question Can Change Lives.
19. Claire Harper — retail and change management leader with experience at Argos, Ocado and Sainsbury's, on leading cultural change inside large organisations. Watch: Customer.
20. Andy Torbet — extreme adventure sportsman, stuntman and presenter across 18 television series, on leadership and decision-making under physical risk. Watch his profile reel: speakeragency.co.uk/speakers/andy-torbet.
21. Jamil Qureshi — performance psychologist who has worked with Olympic athletes, Ryder Cup golfers and NASA astronauts, on leadership and performance under pressure. Watch: Jamil 2026 Showreel.
22. Lord Sebastian Coe — Olympic champion and one of the UK's most prolific world record setters, on leadership in sport and on the global stage. Watch: Lord Sebastian Coe, Opening Ceremony, London 2012 Olympic Games.
23. Dr Alexandra Adams — disability advocate and final-year medical student on track to become the UK's first deafblind doctor, on leadership through lived experience across the NHS and beyond. Watch: Deafblind Doctor Says Colleagues Have Had a "Disappointing" Reaction to Her Disability, Lorraine.
24. Dr Liz O'Riordan — a former consultant breast surgeon and three-time cancer patient, on leadership, resilience and communication from both sides of the system. Watch: Watch Dr Liz in action.
Reviewed once a year against the live UK roster, on the same standard used across every name here: a UK background stated in the speaker's own biography or directly confirmed, a live profile with a photo and at least one video, and current availability. Names move on and off as the roster changes; the year in the title moves forward with it. Unlike a list built once from press mentions and left to age, every claim here is checked against the speaker's own current profile at the time of the annual review.
If you are booking a leadership speaker for a 2026 event and want fee ranges, availability, or a shortlist built around a more specific brief — crisis leadership, engineering leadership, sport, DEI — get in touch and we will build it against the live roster.
→ Talk to us about your 2026 leadership speaker shortlist
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Every name is filtered from Speaker Agency's live UK roster against three checks: a UK background stated in the speaker's own biography, a published profile with at least one video, and current representation. It is not ranked by fee or fame — it reflects who is currently active, UK-based and bookable under a leadership brief.
Because several speakers are genuinely tagged for both categories on their live profiles — leadership and business expertise overlap in practice more often than a single-category list would suggest. Rather than force an artificial split, we let a speaker appear wherever their actual expertise fits.
A deliberately wide range: corporate and organisational leadership, crisis and emergency command, leadership in sport, engineering and STEM leadership, DEI and culture leadership, and leadership drawn from lived experience and advocacy. The common thread is leading through pressure, not a single job title.
Yes, once a year. Speakers whose profiles are no longer live are removed, and new UK-based leadership speakers who meet the same bar are added, with the year in the page title and web address updated at the same time.
Yes. Fee ranges are confirmed per enquiry against live availability rather than published on this page, since they vary by date, format and event type. Contact us with your brief and we will confirm figures for the names you are considering.
Not all of them. Some are exclusively represented and some are represented on a non-exclusive basis alongside other agencies. Every name on this list has a live, current profile with Speaker Agency and can be booked through us either way.
After Dinner Speakers
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