Newquay Business Speakers 2018

Malcolm Bell, Visit Cornwall 

Malcolm is the Chief Executive of Visit Cornwall. Previous appointments include Director and Chief Executive of South West Tourism and Director of Economic Development Devon and Cornwall TEC where he was instrumental in supporting the development of key projects such as The Eden Project and National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth. He is Chair of South West Lakes Ltd, a Governor of Cornwall College, a Trustee of Cornwall Food Foundation, Chair of Cornwall School of Tourism as well as being an advisor to the European Commission since 2005. He is a Fellow of the Tourism Society, Fellow of Tourism Management Institute and Fellow of Academy of Food and Wine Service.

Fiona and Charlie from Cornwall 365

Fiona & Charlie are cultural marketing experts and have been running the Cultural Destinations project Cornwall 365 since they started it in 2014. 

Michèle Poynter and Sam Taylor, Retail Fixers

Michèle Poynter: Owner of Mish, a multi-award winning, multi-channel lingerie business. Chair of Wadebridge Chamber of Commerce, listed in the Insider 42, Under 42s and currently shortlisted for three national Drapers awards.

Sam Taylor: Owner and founder of Digi-Quick, a sector-leading e-commerce business selling digital accessories.  Along with Michele, Sam launched Retail Fixers: a retail consultancy offering fellow retailers their expertise and experience.

John Harvey, Samphire Club

With over 30 years’ experience in business development and client management John Harvey, founder of the Samphire Club, is one of the UK’s leading experts in the field of business networking. John’s approach to networking focuses on building meaningful relationships and freely sharing knowledge and contacts.

Matthew Thomson, Fifteen Cornwall

Matthew’s path to Fifteen zig-zagged from Cornwall Coliseum via London kitchens, restaurants and bars (proud winner ‘Best Kept Cellar’ Award 1987!) and various business, government and social enterprise roles.

Mark Trevethan, Cornwall Council

Mark Trevethan is the Cornish Language Lead for Cornwall Council. Mark is a fluent Cornish speaker and previously worked as a transport manager in London.

Al Titterington, Cornwall Airport Newquay

Managing Director of Cornwall Airport Newquay since 2010, Al Titterington has significant experience in airport operations and management having worked at other UK airports and on aviation projects in Europe, Asia and the Caribbean.

Miles Carden, Aerohub

Miles Carden has worked in the property industry for 30 years. Since 2014 Miles has led the development of Spaceport Cornwall at Cornwall Airport Newquay. An ambitious and bold project to deliver safe low-cost access to space and offer a complete space launch and tracking solution in the UK from 2020.

James Neale, Idenna Creative

Sony Academy award-nominated scriptwriter James Neale is Creative Director at Idenna Creative and has worked as a creative since 1998. He specialises in helping businesses utilise the right tools and techniques to deliver brilliant results.

Sara Pugh, Eight Wire

Eight Wire is a design and marketing agency based in Falmouth offering high quality graphic design, web development and marketing solutions.

David McGuire, Radix Communications

David McGuire has built a career out of making boring subjects interesting – writing marketing copy for the likes of Adobe, Mitsubishi and Castrol. His sessions are always popular, so book quickly.

Aren Grimshaw, Minchin & Grimshaw

Aren Grimshaw is a performance marketing specialist and co-founder of Minchin & Grimshaw, a marketing agency with offices in London and Cornwall.

Visit England

Annette Burgess has been assessing for 18 years and specialises in accessible accommodation. She leads the VisitEngland assessor team, awarding official star ratings to accommodation businesses across the country. Vicky Howell joined the VisitEngland quality team five years ago, where she has responsibility for VisitEngland’s wide range of official quality schemes.

Clare Howdle, Stranger Collective

For over 15 years Clare Howdle, co-founder and director of Stranger Collective, has crafted words that connect: for international tech companies, global charities, local challenger brands and more. She loves the thinking bit that comes before the writing bit and is certain that stories make the world go round. 

Development Chef, James Strawbridge

Development Chef James Strawbridge has worked in food and drink for over a decade. James started his career as a TV presenter, chef and sustainable living expert; he has an extensive broadcast portfolio presenting lifestyle, travel and cookery shows for the BBC and ITV. James has worked with Levi Roots on new products for the Co-op, developed award-winning products in Waitrose and created dynamic and colourful sub-brands for Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, and Delta Airlines.

Kirsty McAuley, Coodes Solicitors

Kirsty McAuley provides businesses with specialist legal advice throughout their life cycle, from starting up right through to succession and sale. Kirsty has been heavily involved in the new data protection legislation and helps local businesses manage the expectations set out in the regulations.

Katie Cavell, European Affairs Adviser

Katie Cavell is a freelance European Affairs Adviser and since 2013 has been the Cornwall Brussels Representative. Katie has 12 years’ experience of working with European Union policy and affairs in Brussels.

Sonya Bassett, Coodes Solicitors

Sonya Bassett qualified as a corporate lawyer in 2003. After working at a top international law firm in both the UK and US, Sonya relocated to Cornwall where she began working as a corporate lawyer. Sonya joined Coodes in April 2014 and is a partner heading up the Corporate and Commercial team.

Cornwall Chamber of Commerce

Cornwall Chamber of Commerce inspires, connects and supports all businesses in Cornwall and Scilly. They are an independent, not-for-profit organisation that works hard to improve our county’s economic prosperity and represents Cornish business interests on a local, regional, national and international level.

James Bemrose, Business Development Adviser at Truro and Penwith College

Business Development Adviser at Truro and Penwith College, James Bemrose has a passion to help grow businesses, with significant public, private and voluntary sector experience in business development. He loves helping people and teams boost their productivity and effectiveness.

Acceleration Through Innovation

Successful business owners know that they need to innovate to stay ahead. Acceleration Through Innovation (ATI) is supporting business innovation across Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, led by Plymouth University and innovation experts.

Unlocking Potential

Jules Burton, Client Services Officer for Unlocking Potential, is hugely talented at talking to businesses and helping them get the support they need. Jules is on the end of the phone to give you quick, reliable access to knowledge and the support you need to help your business grow.

Hospitality Table Cornwall 

Hospitality Table Cornwall is an ESF-funded development project. Their objective is to create the space and capacity for hospitality sector employers to come together, engage and collaborate with Truro Penwith College to create new vocational career pathways.

Ann Vandermeulen, FSB

Cornwall Development Manager for the FSB, Ann Vandermeulen says “From my roots in our family business & large corporations, my role for the last 19 years has been supporting small businesses and lobbying on their behalf with key stakeholders.”

Neil Stark, Eden Project

Neil Stark is Operations Director at the Eden Project and is passionate about delivering customer experiences that resonate. He moved to Cornwall a decade ago following a career in retail and lives in Newquay.

Tania Clark, Red Hotels

Tania Clark came to Bedruthan 12 years ago with no sustainability knowledge. Now, with experience in a variety of roles, her passion is planet, local community and people for Bedruthan and Scarlet hotels.

Simon Thomason, Glisten Camping

Self-confessed glamper, hotelier and brand guru, Simon Thomason has been working in the hospitality sector for over 20 years. His new consultancy creates unique outdoor experiences for clients.

Manda Brookman, CoaST One Planet Tourism Network 

Manda Brookman incites change for the better in the worlds of tourism, business development, resilience and systems thinking, and runs, amongst other things, the CoaST One Planet Tourism Network.

Chris Knight, St Austell Brewery 

Chris Knight is Curator and PR Manager at St Austell Brewery but also sits on the company’s Environmental Steering Committee and Charitable Trust Donations team, helping to promote sustainability across the board.

Pat Smith, Final Straw Cornwall 

Pat Smith owns Bosinver Farm Cottages, near St Austell, winner of VisitEngland’s Family Friendly Accommodation of the Year 2017 and CSA’s Connecting Your Business with Nature award. She is a grandmother, COAST Ambassador and champion of sustainable business. In November 2017 Pat co-founded Final Straw Cornwall.

Angela Waine, eCo Cornwall 

Angela Waine is the assessor for eCo Cornwall, Quality in Cornwall and The David Bellamy environmental scheme. She runs a small commercial farm – farming with nature and protecting the ecology and environment.

Beach Guardian

Beach Guardian CIC is based in Cornwall and organises community beach cleans and educational workshops with schools and other groups to connect people with the environment, improving health and wellbeing.

Newquay Marine Group

Laura Guy is the chair and co-founder of Newquay Marine Group. A community group that works to educate and promote the amazing coastline and seas that Newquay has to offer. The group runs a variety of talks, activities, events and campaigns about the wildlife we see on our shores, the issues they face and the ways everyone can get involved in marine conservation.

Neil Smirthwaite, The Benevolent Business 

Nell Smirthwaite is the founder of The Benevolent Business blog and says “A mum of two young daughters, I grew up in Cornwall and have come home to be by the sea and the moor. I love a good chat over a pint by the beach!”