Guest Speakers Unveiled for Ideagen’s European Customer Conference

Aug 09, 19

Ideagen has secured the former head of MI5 and a former Formula 1 CEO for its upcoming Ideagen Horizons conference in November

Ideagen has unveiled two special guest speakers for its upcoming flagship European customer conference, Ideagen Horizons.

Baroness Manningham-Buller – who headed up Britain’s Security Service (MI5) from 2002 to 2007 – will address delegates at the two-day event in Birmingham in November.

She will be joined by Nick Fry, former CEO of the Mercedes Petronas F1 team and the man responsible for securing the services of current F1 World Champion, Lewis Hamilton.

Both speakers will touch on the theme of managing and handling change during their careers, as well as their respective leadership experiences and the accompanying challenges they have faced.

Ben Dorks, Ideagen CEO, said: “The calibre of speakers that we attract for our European Customer Conference continues to be second-to-none.

“I am looking forward to hearing from both Baroness Manningham-Buller and Nick Fry on their differing examples of leadership and change management – sometimes in the most extreme cases.

“Both are highly successful individuals, having each enjoyed outstanding careers, and I am delighted to be welcoming them to both to our European Ideagen Horizons conference later this year.”

Baroness Manningham-Buller (pictured above) led MI5 through substantial change in the wake of 9/11 and the threat from Al-Qaeda. During her time at the helm, MI5 doubled in size, opened eight new offices and altered its approach to the professional development of staff with the establishment of a training academy.

Earlier in her career, she forged her reputation through successful investigations into the Lockerbie bombing and the operations of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). She also served in Washington during the first Gulf War.

The Baroness – who is also the chair of the Wellcome Trust, the world’s second-largest non-governmental provider of funds for scientific research – will draw on her experiences operating in the most demanding of environments to stress the need for leaders to engage in frank dialogue and invite criticism.

Nick Fry (pictured above) began his career with the Ford Motor Company and worked in the UK, Detroit and in Germany in areas including production and product planning. He moved to Aston Martin, becoming Managing Director (MD) and was responsible for its modernisation from a prestige British manufacturer to the dynamic, aspirational global brand it is today.

Prior to moving into the F1, Nick led Ford’s European service division before becoming Managing Director of ProDrive – a private engineering and motorsport company which acquired Aston Martin. He helped lead their expansion into offering engineering services for the likes of Ferrari, as well as enjoying motorsport success winning World Rally and Sports Car Championships.

Moving to F1 as MD and then CEO initially with BAR Honda, which would evolve to become Brawn GP and eventually Mercedes Petronas, Nick helped re-structure the Mercedes team on and off the track after its long-term absence from the sport. During his tenure, Mercedes achieved its first race victory and subsequently World Championships both as a constructor and in the Drivers' Championship with Hamilton.

Ideagen’s European Customer Conference takes place over two days in November at a brand new venue for 2019 – the VOX Conference Centre, Resorts World, in Birmingham, UK.

Registration for the event is now open.