Learning from Failures on the Journey to Success

Speakers

Mike Stevenson

Mike is a must have keynote speaker - a tour de force who surprises and delights in equal measure. Few are better at moving people to greater things and from the art of reinvention to stepping boldly into the future he never fails to inspire. His own journey from homelessness to award-winning entrepreneur is filled with remarkable people and events. His stories amaze and shock, his humour captivates and his insights will inspire. More than that, he lifts, he motivates and he shifts mindsets. He is founder of Thinktastic, an innovations agency, voted Scottish Small Company of Year 2008 and acclaimed for its unique approaches to stretching people and organisations beyond the ‘apparently’ possible. With more that 30 years in Marketing Mike has worked with a number of leading brand names including M&S, British Gas, Sky TV, SSE and Standard Life with each – the original brief was exceeded. Mike’s motivational work with schools was given special recognition on three successive years with a Business in the Community award for Raising the Attainment of Young People while his community investments made him one of only 21 UK company directors to be awarded the inaugural Community Mark. In 2011, he picked up New Start Magazines Better Places Award. He was a founder member of Glasgow’s Wise Group and then of multi-award winning creative agency, Design Links. Chucked out of school at 15, Mike spent many months sleeping on the streets of London, then racked up 29 jobs before his 26th birthday – his CV includes steelworker, wine bottler, hod-carrier, hospital orderly, biscuit packer and community worker. He also enjoyed a stint as a musician and actor. He is a TEDx and Leadercast speaker – recently joining the likes of Steve Wozniak, Apple co-founder in a Transatlantic leadership event. He is a regular media commentator on leadership, modern marketing and innovation, an occasional columnist for the Sunday Times and a two-times host of Disney Institute Master classes.

Chris McGale

Chris McGale is the bestselling author of The Million Dollar Irishman: From John Street to Wall Street. The memoir traces his journey from being orphaned at just 12-years-old, to scaling the peaks of financial services in Dublin and London and finishing as one of the top-earning City stockbrokers - being tokened ‘The Wolf of John Street’. His turbulent past included leaving grammar school in the months after his mother died, when the Christian Brother School ‘terminated’ his then fourteen-year-old brother’s scholarship, growing up in The Troubles in Northern Ireland, difficult family relationships and a near-death car crash - but these challenges did not stop Chris. He returned to school at aged 18 and attained a degree in Economics and Accountancy at Queen’s University, before working at Deloitte in Belfast and Ulster Investment Bank in Dublin. From 1991 to 2002 Chris worked in the City for Merrill Lynch & Co Inc. where his final titles were Managing Director, Global Markets & Investment Banking, and Country Manager, Ireland. Whilst working full-time at Merrill, Chris was Chief Corporate Fundraiser for the Omagh Fund and helped raise £1.5m for the 1998 Bomb victims. He was nominated by Omagh District Council on the 2002 New Year’s Honors List but was not selected for an award. ‘The Million Dollar Irishman: From John Street to Wall Street’ recalls his incredible and inspiring life story. Chris lives in London with his wife and four teenage children. He is Managing Director of Tyrone Capital Partners Ltd and is the Founder of Proptech Start-Up Move-2.com.