Abdelmoula El Hadi is an internationally recognized innovation leader and Head of Innovation at Knauf Insulation. With 15 years of experience across automotive, construction materials and industrial technology, he has led transformative initiatives that connect business growth, environmental responsibility and human-centred design.
Abdelmoula’s work spans continents and cultures. From launching breakthrough insulation technologies to guiding digital transformation in automotive manufacturing, he brings a rare ability to bridge engineering, business, and creative leadership. His focus is on building innovation ecosystems that empower teams, accelerate impact, and embed sustainability into the heart of R&D and operations.
He was named one of 2025 Business Elite’s 40 Under 40 and has helped lead projects that earned industry recognition, including the 2025 Factory of the Future Award for Knauf’s Belgian site. He’s also received the GIL Prize for Best Industrial Engineering Project and serves as a jury member for MCISE, supporting youth-led innovation in social impact ventures.
As a mentor and educator, Abdelmoula coaches professionals and students alike in innovation systems, creative problem-solving, and leadership. Fluent in multiple languages and grounded in cross-industry experience, he brings both global perspective and practical insight to every challenge he takes on.
Marisa Guthrie is a business coach, teacher, and entrepreneur with over 30 years’ experience supporting solopreneurs and social enterprises to grow ethically and sustainably. A former CEO and serial founder, she has worked at both grassroots and policy levels, including as Managing Director of a cross-party think tank influencing social policy and as an advisor to an All-Party Parliamentary Group on micro business.
Marisa’s work bridges philosophy and practice, reframing business as a living ecosystem that integrates profit and purpose while centering social justice and wellbeing. Drawing on decades of experience leading purpose-driven organizations, she helps entrepreneurs design coherent, values-aligned business models through her Thrive Business Ecosystem framework.
Based in Devon, she runs Marisa Guthrie Coaching and writes The Reluctant Capitalist – a weekly newsletter and forthcoming book exploring how small businesses can erode extractive systems from within and model regenerative, liberatory ways of working.
Georgie Rudd is an ICF-accredited Executive Coach with over 20 years’ real-world corporate leadership experience.
After an early career as an HR Business Partner to Banking leaders, Georgie held leadership positions in Learning and Executive Education at Lloyds Banking Group and as Head of Learning and Development for Baringa Partners, a global multi-award-winning Best Place to Work firm. She is founder of Rudd Coaching Ltd and co-founder of Listening Lab. Georgie is a trusted coaching partner to clients including Baringa Partners, Mercedes Formula 1, Kingfisher, Rothschild and Inigo.
Georgie coaches 100s of professionals on leadership effectiveness, confidence, return to work and career progression, helping working parents run the long race.
Georgie is CIPD qualified, holds an MA from Durham University, is an alumna of Henley Business School and is a certified practitioner in psychometrics and research-based coaching approaches. Above all, she is a dedicated parent to two miraculous small humans who remind her daily that the work-parent equilibrium is a prize to be prioritised.
Melody Moore is the founder of Liberare Consulting, and has a deep passion for helping people and organizations become the very best versions of themselves. With 25 years’ experience consulting to leaders from around the world, she brings a blend of deep expertise and lived leadership experience, having also worked as an NHS manager and held senior roles within consulting firms.
Melody holds an MSc in Occupational Psychology, a Postgraduate Diploma in Executive Coaching, and has more recently deepened her understanding of what drives behaviour, through becoming a practitioner in developmental trauma therapy. She has supported thousands of leaders across every sector and organization size, from board members to frontline supervisors. Based in the UK, Melody has also lived and worked in Canada and worked internationally across Asia, North America and Europe. This global experience gives her an understanding of leadership across different cultures and contexts.
She is the author of The Inclusive Team: How to Build and Develop High Performing Teams (an Amazon bestseller), host of The Secret Resume podcast, and a keynote speaker on leadership, inclusion and high performance. Her work and insights have been featured in outlets including The Times, HR Magazine and Personnel Today, and she has been interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s In Business.
Rich Alderton has been leading change for over 25 years, in roles that have included head of a billion-dollar supply chain, regional CEO of a global No.1, and board member of a listed company. Change has defined his own career, taking him from Aberdeen to Auckland, and from Manufacturing to Marketing. He now runs a leadership development practice, with a diverse client list that ranges from agritech start-ups in NZ to the UK’s NHS.
Rich is emerging as a thought-leader on Adaptability, a non-negotiable skill that he recognized was missing at all levels as he made his way from the shopfloor to the C-suite. He’s a regular guest on podcasts, an experienced public speaker, and he wrote the foreword to As it Turns Out – No One’s Got Their Sh*t Together: Learnings from inside the Collective Intelligence journey by Collective Intelligence founder Ian Harvey.
Rich has a laser-clear purpose: to help people enjoy rather than endure the life of change that lies ahead for us all.
Dr. Zachary Walker is a teacher, scholar and leader whose work focuses on school leadership, educational improvement and the development of thriving learning communities. Zachary is Head of Education Policy and Leadership at the Education University of Hong Kong, with a 25-year career studying leadership and learning across the UK, US, Europe and Asia.
Zachary has worked with educators in more than 45 countries on individual and organizational learning performance. With a strong commitment to advancing leadership practice in schools, he explores how principals, teachers and school systems become highly performing. He combines impeccable psychological understanding with MBA expertise to provide cutting-edge insights and strategies for schools worldwide.
Dr. Walker brings an honest, thoughtful and practical perspective to the challenges facing today’s educational leaders, drawing on research and real-world experience to support meaningful and sustainable school improvement. He also enjoys wrestling rhinos, cold yoga and tackle-chess.
Tom Emery is the owner of people performance consultancy HEX, an executive coach, best-selling author and podcast host who helps CEOs and their teams unlock deep transformation. A former Chief People Officer with board-level experience, he has spent his career watching leaders from the chair next door, and now coaches them for a living. He is based in Lichfield, UK.
Charlotte Otter is a career communicator, two-time novelist and former journalist. We Need New Leaders is grounded in her experience observing and working with global leadership at the closest quarters, as well as her original research for her MSc in Change Leadership from HEC Paris. It is both a handbook and a manifesto for change at the leadership level.
Angela Rixon, MSc, MBA, an executive coach, consultant, and speaker specializing in future-fit, meaning-led workplaces, has over 25 years of experience in technology and professional services. She is the Founder of the Centre for Meaningful Work, which offers meaning-led coaching and leadership programs to help organizations and employees transform the experience of work.
Archana Mohan is a dynamic, multilingual Chief Operations and Technology Officer within the finance sector, with a passion for unlocking human potential. Growing up in a multicultural environment, Archana witnessed first-hand how strong leadership could build relationships, bridge cultural divides, and foster collaboration. She brings a unique perspective to her work, drawing on her experiences as both a teacher and a leader to drive innovation.
Archana’s leadership expertise stems from her decade-long experience of teaching students with learning differences. She has adapted and enhanced this knowledge over the past 20 years in the financial services sector, where she has been able to improve collaboration and innovation within her teams. Her insights have been widely recognised, and she is frequently invited to speak at industry conferences and events.
Archana’s academic qualifications include a BA in French Literature from Brown University, an MA in Education from Columbia University, and an MBA in Finance from Yale University.
