VICTORIA CHRISTIAN Clive Christian
Victoria joined her father's business as a 'spritzer' on the shop floor after several years in the performing arts. Now with bottles retailing at £115,000, Clive Christian perfume is a true ambassador for luxury, British family businesses and Victoria continues to work alongside her father as Head of Global Publicity for the brand.
NICK & GILES ENGLISH Bremont
Winner of the Walpole ‘Best Emerging British Luxury Brand 2008’ Bremont are the designers of exquisite aviation-inspired watches. Founding brothers, Nick and Giles will be speaking about working alongside their late father, Euan and how they developed a love for mechanics which in turn inspired their business venture together.
ELIZABETH SIEFF Little Emperors
Elizabeth is the great grandaughter of Michael Marks, founder of Marks & Spencer. Although no longer a family business, Elizabeth says that her family's values and worth ethic are instilled in her and the quality of service which her grandfather was so proud of is a key part of her own business. Now Director of Little Emperors & Co, an elite members lifestyle benefits club, Elizabeth will be talking about how the family business has influenced her life today.
MIRANDA AND ROLAND BALLARD Muddy Boots
After meeting at university and then working in film and television in London, Miranda and Roland Ballard decided to have a go at running their own company. The couple will be sharing with us their incredible journey to produce top quality beef, more recently as part of BBC's 'High Street Dreams' where they received mentoring form Jo Malone.
GARY MARTIN GM Group
Having grown up in a very business orientated family Gary has been involved in his fathers property and construction business from a young age. Now Aged 21 Gary has set up and run his own company's over the past five years including as well as still having a key role within the family business. Gary will be speaking about his experiences of family business and how it has shaped the way he does business today.
JAMIE BENTLEY Stephensons
Jamie is the fifth generation to run speciality chemicals manufacturer Stephenson Group and has had to guide the business through the recession. Although his father still works in the business, Jamie has been running the company since 2006 and the 150yr old company now has a turnover of £18m.
JOHN TIMPSON Timpsons
A high street name to us all, Timpsons is a great example of success in the family business. John Timpson became Director in 1969 and has continued to grow the business from strength to strength. His efforts were recognised with a CBE in 2004 for Services to the Retail Sector. Now working alongside his son, James, John will be sharing his secrets to running a succesfull family business,
CHARLIE MULLINS Pimlico Plumbers
Back in 1979 Charlie had a vision to change the image of the plumbing industry and that is exactly what Pimlico Plumbers has done. His aim was to reject the image of plumbers as rude and obnoxious rip-off merchants who turn up late with their backsides hanging out of their trousers. Along with his wife, son and daughters, Charlie has built up a brand recognised accross the UK and has been featured on C4's 'Secret Millionaire'.
RICKIE SEHGAL Transputec
When Rickie and his brother, Sonny, started their IT company 26 years ago they never dreamed that it would become the multi-million pound business it is today. Based in Wembley, London, Transputec provides IT solutions to corporate clients. Rickie has plenty of stories to share about the journey that he and his brother have had along the way.
STEVEN OXFORD Oxfords Bakery
Continuing Four Generations of heritage, Steven has recently taken over the helm of Oxfords Bakery but was not originally convinced that joining the family business was the right thing for him. He shares his journey which has seen him embrace the business and now be more involved than he ever could have imagined.
AMALIA BRIGHTLEY-HODGES Still Waters Run Deep
Amalia is Features Editor of Generation magazine and is heavily involved with the family business sector. She also works alongside her mother, Anita, who runs an award-winning design and communications agency. Amalia talks about life as a right-hand woman.
DAVID MORGAN-HEWITT The Goring Hotel
David has been at The Goring for 19 years, since he was first employed as Restaurant Manager in 1990 and has worked closely alongside George Goring for most of his career. The only family owned and run 5* deluxe hotel in London, David will be talking to us about how it is to work as a non-family member Managing Director in this world renowned hotel.
PETER LEACH
Peter Leach is an independent business advisor, teacher and facilitator who works with family business owners around the world. Peter spent 37 years at BDO Stoy Hayward, where he was a Senior Partner, and has now established Peter Leach LLP to concentrate on his true passion: family businesses. While he advises family enterprises of all types and sizes, he specialises in advising large multi-national, multi-generational family businesses, and guiding them through the particular challenges they face.
NIGEL RISNER
As the only motivational speaker in Europe to have been awarded Speaker of the Year from both The Academy for Chief Executives and Vistage (formerly known as The Executive Committee), Nigel is a respected author, television presenter and a prolific speaker. He speaks with authority: his own life having veered perilously away from comfortable norms at times. He has learned - the hard way - that positive results can come from negative experiences, and that we often learn best from situations which are unfamiliar and even uncomfortable.
DAVID MOLIAN
David has been involved with entrepreneurship education at Cranfield since 1998. For several years he led the enterprise electives on the MBA programmes. He is responsible for designing and delivering the strategy and marketing content of Cranfield's Business Growth & Development Programme (BGP). He is also joint director of the Coutts Private Banking Academy Entrepreneurs Programme.
