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Keynote SpeakerAnna Hemmings MBE

2 x Olympian & 6 x World Champion, Performance Coach

With a staggering eleven World and European Championship medals, 9 of them gold, Anna Hemmings is Britain’s most successful female marathon kayaker and is now a leading inspirational speaker on resilience and high performance. She is known for infusing the business world with the secrets of sporting success. By the age of 24, Anna had been World Champion 3 times and competed at the Olympic Games. In 2010 she was awarded an MBE for her services to sport. She achieved... Read More

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Biography

With a staggering eleven World and European Championship medals, 9 of them gold, Anna Hemmings is Britain’s most successful female marathon kayaker and is now a leading inspirational speaker on resilience and high performance. She is known for infusing the business world with the secrets of sporting success.

By the age of 24, Anna had been World Champion 3 times and competed at the Olympic Games. In 2010 she was awarded an MBE for her services to sport. She achieved this success against all the odds. She was told by the British head coach that she was not big enough or strong enough to be a great kayaker. She proved him wrong. At the peak of her career, she was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and was told by medical experts she might never race again. She battled her way to full recovery and went on to win a further 3 world titles and compete at her second Olympic Games in Beijing 2008.

Anna has since become recognised as a specialist in the field of resilience and the psychology of high performance. She is an accredited Performance Coach and founded Beyond the Barriers high-performance training consultancy.

Anna has worked with CEO’s, senior leaders and middle management at companies including Deloitte, Unilever and Lloyds designing and delivering resilience, leadership and high performing teams programmes. She works globally with leaders and teams helping them develop the skills, attitudes and behaviours to deliver exceptional performance.

Anna’s unique combination of experience in elite sport combined with 12 years leading a successful business and working alongside senior leaders, gives her a broad understanding of the challenges that leaders and teams face and how to overcome them to deliver outstanding results.

Anna’s sporting achievements were recognised at the Sunday Times Sports Woman of the Year Awards, where she won the 2005 Champions Award and then again in 2007 when she was voted BBC London Sports Personality of the Year.

“We loved Anna’s insight into how to maintain a winning mindset in sport and business to stay at the top of your game every day. We'll certainly be looking to use Anna again and I'd highly recommend her to anyone else.” Spencer Gore, CEO, EMG-Health
“It was one of the best motivational talks translating high performance in sports into the business world that I’ve heard. We’re all going away with many wonderful insights and take-aways.” Emma Whitaker, Communications Director, Hitachi ABB Power Grids
“We were looking for an event to showcase resilience and to give an empowering message to our employees – Anna’s virtual session wholeheartedly fulfilled this purpose. She shared her inspiring journey and brought a number of skills-based techniques and solutions to dealing with challenges and building resilience. This combination made the presentation highly engaging, meaningful and motivational!” Anna Kenton, Deloitte LLP
“Anna is a brilliant speaker – the audience was completely engaged, inspired and motivated – I was spellbound. The feedback from this event was the best I’ve ever had. Anna has the ability to tell a great story whilst making useful connections to personal and business issues. There were many thought provoking ideas generated and we’re still referring back to the lessons from her story several weeks after the event.” Naomi Climer, Vice President, Sony PSE
“Anna’s top tips for ‘Getting the Competitive Edge’, learned from a career in sport, are practical, relevant and directly applicable to any business. The Lego models are a great reminder of the personal and team learnings and commitments that we made to enable us to meet the challenges that 2020 holds.” Anna Achene, Revenue Planning Manger British Airways
“Anna’s session yesterday was fantastic and very inspirational. We have received excellent feedback from staff across our locations. Anna had the audience captivated, linked everything she learnt in sport into the business world which was great.” Avril Jenkins, Risk Function, RBS

Popular Talks by Anna Hemmings MBE

  • The Resilient Leader’s Toolkit
    The businesses who survive and thrive through periods of adversity and rapid change are the ones who have resilient leaders who drive them forward. Resilient leaders are more effective under pressure, change attitudes to risk and create opportunities for growth. Anna will explore the Resilient Leaders Elements model to reveal...
  • Resilience: Success in the Face of Adversity
    Resilience is essential if you are to thrive rather than simply survive in this challenging and uncertain climate. It’s what gives you the capacity to deal with the pressure and stresses of high performance. While we can’t change our external environment, we can train ourselves to develop a resilient mindset...
  • Getting the Competitive Edge
    Exceptional individuals are not born they are made. Anna’s mission is to provide clients with the key skills and mindset required to succeed at the highest level. She shares simple, practical and powerful tools to help others perform at their best. Using anecdotes from her journey in sport and business...
  • Leadership
  • High performing teams