Business Speakers

Forensic Scientist, Abi Carter, runs her own successful company offering a range of expert witness services to legal teams throughout the UK. Working mainly with defence solicitors and private investigators within the fields of criminal investigation.

Abi is a qualified forensic archaeologist who is also sub-contracted by a mass disasters emergency services company and can be deployed worldwide on a 24 hour notice period. Abi is on the board of Young Enterprise and a committee member of Women in Management South Wales which promotes women in high ranking jobs. Abi was awarded with the prestigious position of Honorary Tutor to Cardiff University in 2008.

Andrew was born in Swansea on the 15th February 1974, the same day as Hollywood star Christian Bale (who was born in Carmarthenshire) and exactly a century, to the day, after polar explorer Ernest Shackleton was born (all Aquarians).

Andrew's interest in all things outdoors started at the tender age of five, when his grandfather showed him how to collect periwinkles and mussels from the rock pools close to Mumbles. His father used to take him fishing off the Gower Coast for mackerel and sea bass from an ancient and slightly leaky Canvas and Wood Kayak. Those early experiences sowed the seed of his enthusiasm for wilderness living skills and outdoor pursuits.

Bethan Rhys Roberts was born and educated in Bangor in North Wales. She knew she wanted to be a journalist from the age of 9 when she wrote a weekly family newsletter to keep relatives in North and South Wales in touch.

Her first headline was "Auntie Blod has new curtains"! So the only way was up! Brought up bilingually, she had a love for languages and went on to study French and Italian at Cardiff University. During her studies she spent a year working as an au pair in Toulouse and studying at the British Institute in Florence.

Dr Barbara Wilding joined the Jersey States Police as a cadet in 1967 and was attested as a constable in 1970. In 1971, she transferred to the Metropolitan Police where she predominantly served as an operational detective throughout London and on specialist units in New Scotland Yard. She became an Assistant Chief Constable in Kent Constabulary in 1994.

Dr Paul Thomas is one of those rare speakers and academics who are placed not only at the cutting edge knowledge and company development but has spent many years managing companies in both private and public services. He has also spent many months/years overseas consulting in India, China, Malaysia, Pakistan and parts of Europe, gaining significant experience in development and implementation of leadership within varying cultural environments.

Elin is a graduate in biochemistry and began her career as a scientist in the water industry where she worked for five years. She joined HTV Wales in 1984 as a freelance journalist on science magazine programmes. She continued with HTV for 5 years working on science, health and environment features until 1990, when she became a regular freelance presenter for the school's science department in BBC Schools in London. During her time in London she also presented a magazine series taking a serious look at adult education for the BBC, 'The Education Programme'. Returning to Wales in 1992 she presented live magazine programmes in the Welsh language for S4C and several outdoor pursuit series and documentaries for S4C and BBC Wales, before establishing her own company in Wales.

Geoff Burch is considered to be Europe's most exciting business speaker and writer. A phenomenon who delights audiences throughout the world, Geoff is a remarkable speaker whose unique and refreshing outlook on all manner of business topics has made his name into a global brand and himself into someone who is constantly in demand for his memorable and uplifting presentations. His credentials are impressive, working extensively with the world's major blue chip companies to motivate and inspire their people and as a regular contributor on television and radio.

Geoff was born and raised in Usk and was educated at Monmouth School. He has lived, intermittently, in Llansoy for 34 years.

Former Governor of HM Prison Belmarsh , the highest security prison in UK, former Governor of Cardiff prison and Drake Hall women's prison and recently retired Area Manager for all public sector prisons in Wales.

Geoff Hughes trained as a teacher and taught for 9 years in comprehensive schools and a secure unit for disaffected adolescent boys.

'Having trained as a barrister, Justin took up corporate finance, working in both Africa and Singapore. He then went into marketing with a focus on corporate cash management facilities. This led him to help found Broker Services in 1986, which went on to become Barclays Stockbrokers, where he was Marketing Director. In early 2001, he co-founded Seven Investment Management, an investment management business that innovated the UK investment market with the introduction of the first Sterling Investment Wrap Account which now manages and administers in excess of £1.6 billion on behalf of professional financial wealth managers and intermediaries.

Kevin Green is one of the most sought after speakers – not only in Wales but throughout the world. A former dairy farmer turned property mogul and trainer, Kevin was on Channel 4's Secret Millionaires

Kevin is Wales' most successful residential landlord. When you meet him and hear his fascinating story, not only will you be bowled over by his knowledge and enthusiasm for life and the property industry but you will find his 'rags to riches' story rather larger than life. Kevin, a property guru, social entrepreneur and trainer is the proud owner of 267 properties throughout Wales, worth in excess of £29 million.

From the minute Kristina Grimes hit our screens during the first episode of 'The Apprentice', the nation were left in no doubt that she was a force to be reckoned with.

Kristinawas, without doubt, the people's favourite. She excelled at every task undertaken and displayed a steel-like determination to succeed. Her outstanding business attributes were evident week after week and, unlike many of the other competitors, stayed clear of the back-biting that they appeared to thrive on. The viewing public were shocked when, during the final episode, Sir Alan Sugar did not choose her as the winner. Kristina, as always, accepted defeat with utter dignity, further endearing her to the massive 'Apprentice' audience.

Stunning television presenter Mai Davies has had an impressive career in television to-date. She was, for several years, the reader of the daily Sky Television news. Mai has also presented many other television programmes, including the weekly chat show/discussion programme 'On the Edge' featuring high profile celebrities and prominent figures; 'Wales This Week', the award winning weekly investigative current affairs programme; 'First Past The Post', a 'Pop Idol' type competition to find an 'alternative politician'; 'Sharp End Debates' studio debates during Assembly and General Elections as 'Question Time'; 'Sharp End', an issue based political discussion programme and 'Wales Decides', live Assembly Election results.

Michelle Mone grew up in the East End of Glasgow. Entrepreneurial Spirit was prevalent from an early age and whilst her friends had posters of Duran Duran on their wall, she had Richard Branson. When Michelle's father was struck down with an illness that left him confined to a wheelchair, in order to support her Mum & Dad, Michelle left school at age 15 with no qualifications to find full time employment.

Nigel Kershaw is the Chief Executive of Big Issue Invest and Chair of The Big Issue Company. Big Issue Invest, part of The Big Issue group of companies, is passionate about funding ground-breaking, innovative business solutions by financing the scale-up of profitable social enterprises that create social opportunity and transformation and environmental sustainability.

He is a Cabinet Office Social Enterprise Ambassador, a Director of the Social enterprise Coalition and in 2008 received the Good Director for Enterprise honour award from the Institute of Directors.

Nirmal is company founder of Niva International UK Ltd. Founded in 2005 Niva International UK Ltd started trading solely from an office in Cardiff and has created a very profitable business exporting high quality ferrous and non-ferrous waste metal to China, India and parts of Southern Asia.

Niva International UK Ltd has grown rapidly since its inception in 2005 and has achieved a 200% growth rate each year since it began trading.

Professor Garel Rhys held the SMMT Chair in Motor Industry Economics in the Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University until 2005. He also headed the Economics Section in the School until 1999. He was Director of the Centre for Automotive Industry Research (CAIR) in the University also until 2005. He is now Emeritus Professor in the Cardiff University Business School and Centre for Automotive Industry Research.

Professor Rhys first became interested in the economics of the motor industry when preparing a thesis on the "Economics of the British Commercial Vehicle Industry" whilst at the University of Birmingham in 1963-5. This was followed by a book "The Motor Industry: an Economic Survey" and numerous articles on a wide variety of economic topics, including the motor industry and transport economics.

Rachael wanted to leave College at 16. She had no idea what she wanted to do but fate intervened when, one day, their domestic cleaner did not turn up and Rachael offered to do the cleaning for her mother. She found that she enjoyed it and started cleaning for friends and neighbours. There seemed to be a good deal of interest in the service she offered so she invested just £20 to have flyers printed and distributed them around the houses in her locality. The response was better than Rachael anticipated and she was inundated with enquiries so decided to rope in some carefully chosen staff to help.

Rory Cellan-Jones has been a reporter for the BBC for more than two decades, covering business and technology stories for much of that time.

Rory's on-screen career began as reporter for 'Wales Today' in Cardiff, from where he moved to London as a reporter on 'Breakfast Time'. He quickly transferred to business coverage, working across the BBC's output from the 'Money Programme' to 'Newsnight', from the 'Today' programme to the 'Ten O Clock News'. The stories he has covered range from Black Wednesday and the Maxwell trial to the dot com bubble and the rise of Google.

Sarah is one of the most established and experienced Presenters in Wales. For twenty years she has worked for the BBC presenting live network programmes on BBC 1 and 2 as well as a wide range of television and radio programmes for BBC Wales .She currently presents BBC Wales's flagship news programme Good Morning Wales and produces a variety of documentaries for her own independent production company.

Sarah started out in journalism at Gwent Broadcasting just as the 1984 Miners Strike began. She was the radio stations sole reporter on the year long strike. She gained a huge amount of experience and won the trust of all sides of the dispute, leading politicians and communities. That trust then enabled her to break a host of exclusive stories across the UK.