Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes to inspire at Courier Business Conference

SPEAKER: Dame Kelly set to discuss secrets of her success

Double Olympic Games champion Dame Kelly Holmes will help Tayside and Fife business leaders speed ahead of the competition at this year’s Courier Business Conference.

Dame Kelly will give an inspirational speech to open our virtual business event in November, which has the theme of inspiring leaders.

The conference, originally planned for May, is being held for a second year in association with chartered accountants MHA Henderson Loggie and supported by Altar Group and Business Gateway.

Now a free virtual event, it has a packed schedule of speakers to give local and national insights to help our local economy recover from Covid-19.

Dame Kelly is best known for her Olympic triumphs in the 800m and 1,500m in the 2004 games in Athens. She still holds the British record in the 800m, and her long-standing 1,000m record was broken only last month by Milnathort’s Laura Muir.

Dame Kelly will discuss some of her career highs and lows and reveal the principles that drove her to success.

She will also detail how she has supported thousands of disadvantaged young people through the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust, which looks to build confidence, resilience and self-esteem.

After her opening address, Dame Kelly will participate in a question and answer session.

Geoff Leask, chief executive of Young Enterprise Scotland, will outline his organisation’s plans to build business skills and increase entrepreneurship in schools. He will then join a young leaders panel session chaired by Cat Ward, the programme manager for Elevator in Dundee, which will also include Michael Carr of local start-up Goroadie.

The session will also feature Nathan Pyne-carter, the managing director of Dundee marine technology firm Ace Aquatec, which has won two Queen’s Awards for innovation.

The conference will also have a focus on the economy and on international leadership.

Heathrow chief operating officer Emma Gilthorpe will discuss how the airport has adapted to Covid-19 and give an update on plans to build a third runway and the potential economic benefits of a Scottish construction hub.

David Smith, managing partner at MHA Henderson Loggie, said: “We have an amazing line-up of speakers for the 2020 Virtual Courier Business Conference.

“Our aim is to create one of the best virtual business conferences in Scotland and the 2020 conference is certainly shaping up to be a brilliant event. We are proud to once again be on board as headline sponsors.”

The Courier editor David Clegg said: “We hope the conference can inspire and inform businesses in Tayside and Fife and help the local economy recover from the impact of Covid-19.”

The conference runs from 10am to 1pm on November 10 and people can register for free at thecourierbusinessconference.com

Picture: Nick Matthews. Keynote speaker Dame Kelly Holmes.