Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
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Chief Executive of Leeds City Council among Leeds Beckett guest speakers
The Leeds Business School Guest Speaker Series, sponsored by Yorkshire Bank, will see some of the region’s top business leaders explore subjects as diverse as ‘The Business of Radio’ to ‘Fraud and Corruption in the World of Business’. The lectures, held in the University’s Rose Bowl building at the City Campus, are free, open to the public and will run from October to May 2016.
Christopher Prince, Dean, Faculty of Business and Law & Pro Vice Chancellor at Leeds Beckett University, said: “I am delighted to confirm that the guest lecture series has now been finalised for the coming academic year. Yorkshire Bank have once again sponsored the programme; clear evidence of their belief in the profile of the events.
“Following on from the considerable success experienced over recent years, we again have some great people who have committed to presenting. As often stated before, I am always impressed, and grateful, for the readiness and willingness of business people to be involved in this way and their desire to contribute to our students learning and the local community.”
The programme starts on the 13 October during Leeds Business Week. Rather appropriately, Tom will be discussing the likelihood of devolution and rise of The Northern Power House, Tom said: ““Devolution and Northern Powerhouse are two of the most commonly-mentioned but least-understood political concepts talked about in the UK this year. This could be the biggest shift of power from Westminster to local level in England in our lifetimes and if done right would enable us to generate enormous opportunity for Leeds and the wider region. I’ll be talking about what this could mean for us.”
As the youngest ever Chief Executive of Leeds City Council, Tom has helped set an ambitious goal for Leeds to become the Best City in the UK by 2020. Together with the Leader of the Council, and working across all political groups, Tom has been influential in ensuring significant progress and investment in Leeds, including the World-leading First Direct Arena and Trinity shopping centre. At the same time, Tom has overseen £145million of efficiency savings, pioneer status for the city's health and social care work, the transformation of the city’s Children’s Services to the praise of Ofsted, and one of the leading devolution and city deals in the UK for the Leeds city region. Tom is currently supporting Leeds’ bid to become the European Capital of Culture in 2023.
Paul Houghton, Principal Lecturer in Accounting, Finance and Economics at Leeds Beckett, said: “Anyone who has had the opportunity to listen to Tom before will know him to be an engaging speaker who always provides great insight. All of the speakers in the series are from a range of backgrounds, with great tales to tell and experiences on which to draw. What’s more, each session ends with a Q&A so the audience gets the opportunity to engage with each of our speakers.”
Simon Wright, Regional Director, Business and Private Bank at Yorkshire Bank, added: "This is an excellent and varied speaker series. It provides information and ideas which can only benefit attendees, and through those attendees, the wider community. Leeds Beckett University's reputation and standing in the community is such that it is able to draw such high quality speakers.”
Apart from two, each of the sessions will be held on a Tuesday evening from 6.00pm (refreshments from 5.30pm) – the two exceptions are each breakfast sessions running from 9.00am (refreshments from 8.30am).
The full lists of talks is:
‘Devolution, The Northern Powerhouse and the Region’ – Tom Riordan, Chief Executive, Leeds City Council. Tuesday 13 October.
‘The Business of Radio’ – Roger Cutsworth, Managing Director, The Radio Academy. Tuesday 27 October.
‘Can Culture be Audited?’ – Nicola Rimmer, Director, Barclays Bank. Tuesday 10 November.
‘Choice and Control – The Key to Driving Performance for a Better Balanced Business’ – Heather Jackson, Founder and Chair of an Inspirational Journey. Tuesday 24 November.
‘Economic Prospects’ – Will Holman, Regional Director, Bank of England. Tuesday 19 January 2016 (8.30am to 10am).
‘The Rise of Social Enterprise’ – Paul Monaghan, Expert in Corporate Ethics and Ecology. Tuesday 9 February 2016.
‘Engaging Leaders and Nurturing Entrepreneurs’ – Natalie Sykes, Regional Director, Institute of Directors, Yorkshire and the North East. Tuesday 23 February 2016
‘Fraud and Corruption in the World of Business’ – Chris Clements, Partner, Deloitte LLP. Tuesday 8 March 2016
‘Upside Down Management’ – John Timpson CBE, Chairman of Timpson Ltd. Tuesday 12 April.
‘Leeds: The City of Collaboration’ – Allison Page, Partner, DLA Piper and member of the Two Percent Club. Tuesday 26 April.
‘Governance – A Necessary Evil or a Driver of Performance?’ – Alex Simpson, General Counsel, Company Secretary and Chief Ethics officer, ASDA. Tuesday 10 May (8.30am to 10pm).