Alfie Joey was the host of the BBC Newcastle breakfast radio show, but there is so much more.
He’s also a writer, comic, actor, impressionist, and acclaimed artist/cartoonist. In May 2017, the North East Art Collective in Newcastle presented a gallery wall of his #AlfArt work.
Born into a County Durham coal mining family, Alfie left the region to train to be a Catholic priest. After living a monastic life for 15 years, he decided to leave and become a comedian, squeezing in a stint as a toy demonstrator in Harrods in between!
Regular host of our annual conference, Alfie is a master storyteller, bringing warmth, wit, and a natural ability to draw out the best in every conversation. He will be keeping the day flowing, the audience engaged, and the discussions grounded in what matters most.
A successful economist turned sports writer, Justine Roberts left the City behind to help change the face of parenting forever.
Launching Mumsnet in 2000, she wasn’t trying to build a media company or a tech platform. She simply wanted a place where parents could share honest advice and experiences.
Instead of tightly controlling the platform, she and co-founder Carrie Longton leaned into that idea and let the community lead. The tone, topics, and culture came directly from users. What emerged was something far more powerful than a traditional content site. It became a trusted community, and trust is what built the brand.
Justine’s eureka moment came after a family holiday gone wrong in Florida, when a supposedly family-friendly resort failed to live up to its reputation. Talking to other mothers afterwards, she realised how valuable a forum for sharing honest advice could be, and the idea for Mumsnet was born.
Starting in her back bedroom after the dot-com bubble had burst, the business grew through resilience and a powerful insight that parents often trust other parents more than experts.
Today, Mumsnet reaches around 14 million people each month and generates more than 128 million page views, making it one of the UK’s most influential online communities.
Justine will share the story behind building one of the UK’s most powerful online communities, and what entrepreneurs can learn from creating something people genuinely trust.
Sir Richard Harpin is one of Britain's most successful and experienced entrepreneurs, best known for founding and scaling HomeServe into a FTSE-100 business serving millions of customers worldwide.
Starting with a simple idea and a £50,000 investment, Richard spent three decades building a company that grew from a regional service into a global operation, before its £4.1 billion sale in 2023. His experience spans the full journey, from early-stage growth to international expansion and exit.
Today, his focus is on helping more UK businesses make that same leap and scale from mid-size to large, enduring companies. Through his work with Business Leader and Growth Partner, he supports founders and CEOs with practical insight, peer learning, and long-term value creation drawn from decades of experience.
A regular columnist for The Sunday Times and author of How to Make a Billion in 9 Steps, Richard is known for his clear, structured approach to scaling businesses and offering a practical perspective on what it takes to build beyond founder-led scale and to become a business that can sustain long-term growth.
Crowned the T64 High Jump Champion at Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, Jonathan started 2024 by defending his World Title for a second time in Kobe, Japan.
In the lead-up to the Paris 2024 Paralympics, Jonathan faced a very different challenge. After breaking his ankle just six weeks before the Games, he was given a 1% chance of recovering in time to compete.
What followed was not about peak performance, but about managing uncertainty, adapting under pressure and finding a way forward when the odds were firmly against him.
Born with clubbed foot, Jonathan’s journey into elite sport has never been straightforward. From county-level basketball to becoming a world-class high jumper, his progress has been shaped by setbacks, difficult decisions and the ability to reframe challenges as opportunities to improve.
Reflecting on what high performance looks like when conditions are far from ideal, Jonathan will share lessons on resilience, mindset, and how to respond when plans change unexpectedly, offering a perspective that will resonate with anyone leading a business through uncertainty.
Mark is the Founder and CEO of Inflo, a North East-based business leading the way in audit technology and methodology.
Before founding Inflo, Mark helped develop PwC’s global audit methodology and in-house digital audit technologies. He has since contributed to the modernisation of international audit standards, working with professional bodies and regulators to advance how data is used across the profession.
Through Inflo, Mark has played a leading role in bringing innovation into audit, making advanced, data-driven capabilities accessible to firms of all sizes and helping to improve the quality, consistency, and efficiency of audit work.
Having scaled the business globally, Mark brings the perspective of a practitioner, technologist, and collaborator working closely with firms, professional bodies, and regulators.
Named North East Entrepreneur of the Year in 2024, he will share his experience of building and scaling a technology business from the region, alongside his perspective on how innovation and better use of data are changing the way organisations understand their financial position, and what that means for leaders operating in an increasingly data-driven environment.
Alexander Bell is a global keynote speaker and thought leader in technology, productivity, and human connection.
Inspired by his experiences as a serial entrepreneur and raising three boys in a world dominated by technology and digital content, Alexander helps people and organisations explore the role that technology plays in our daily lives and identify the 7 rules that define our relationship with technology.
Alexander started his first company at age 20, growing it into a million-pound turnover PLC, before going on to work with international technology charity 'Practical Action' and leading a collaboration between IBM, His Royal Highness King Charles III, and Business in the Community. He worked with Google to take Street View indoors and later founded his second startup, all before turning 30.
After spending a decade immersed in Virtual Reality projects as Managing Director at Reality Media Group, Alexander worked with clients including Warner Bros., where he famously captured Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley in a 360-degree VR experience, but it was a conversation with his 7-year-old son that led him to discover the truth about technology, people, and performance.
Join us to hear from Alexander as he shares his Attention Intelligence® and Tech Rules® principles, exploring how to improve mindset, boost performance, and build a healthier relationship with technology.
Kim McGuinness is the first elected Mayor of the North East and is committed to improving people’s lives right across the region.
Since her election, she has been focused on delivering opportunity by creating a world-class public transport network, investing in the cultural identity of the region as a driver of growth and backing the green energy sector to create well-paid green jobs for local people.
Mayor Kim’s area covers seven local authority areas across the North East, with devolved powers around transport, skills, and business support. This means greater control within the region, and a stronger, more unified voice when making the case for the North East nationally and internationally. She firmly believes that moving power out of Westminster and closer to local communities is the best way to govern and continues to lobby the government for further powers.
Speaking as headline partner, Kim will share her perspective on the direction of the North East economy, the opportunities ahead for businesses, and how closer collaboration between the Mayor and entrepreneurs can support growth.
