Ben Legg – Keynote Speaker

Ben Legg is an accomplished author and authority in the world of data-driven marketing, new business models and the future of work. He helps companies and entrepreneurs to survive and thrive in a world dominated by Google, Facebook, Uber, and Amazon. Legg is also the CEO and Co-Founder of The Portfolio Collective, the world’s leading community of portfolio professionals.

Until September 2019, Ben Legg was UK Managing Director of Ola, a global ride-hailing and mobility-as-a-service company. In this role, he wrote the strategy, acquired the licences, hired the team and launched in 10 cities.

Legg has deep expertise and an impressive track record in areas including global expansion (he has lived in 9 countries and worked in over 60); the sharing economy, entrepreneurship, marketplaces; people-based marketing; digital strategy; product development; corporate development; marketing transformation; e-commerce; big data; customer lifetime value; sales management; organisational transformation and culture.

Ben Legg is an engineer and former British Army officer. He started his post-military business career in 1999 with McKinsey as a strategy consultant. After that, he joined Coca-Cola, holding various strategy, marketing and sales roles in Greece, Poland, and India. His performance piqued the interest of Google, where he became the COO of Google Europe 2007-09. Whilst there, Legg wrote the blueprint for Google’s monetisation of all major platforms, including Search, YouTube, Maps and Mobile. This approach is still the way Google monetises its platforms, over a decade later.

Since 2010, Ben Legg has run various international businesses focused on data-driven digital marketing and technology, including European Directories, Adknowledge, and AdParlor. AdParlor is a strategic partner of Google, Facebook, Snapchat and other major platforms. He is also a mentor at The Oxford Foundry, Oxford University’s startup accelerator and invests in/ mentors dozens of startups.

Ben Legg has helped many of the world’s leading companies understand the threats and opportunities posed by the newly dominant platforms, then helped them build successful and profitable futures within this new world.