Neil Laughton – Keynote Speaker

Neil Laughton trained as a Royal Marine Commando and was then selected for UK Special Forces (21 SAS Regiment) reaching the rank of Captain and Troop Commander before launching his business career.

This started as a sole trading, commission only, door-to-door office equipment salesman but which then led him to found Office Projects Ltd, now part of the OPL Group which achieved an annual turnover of over £40,000,000 in 2009.

Concurrently he won a post graduate diploma in business from Westminster University and he has other commercial interests in aviation, manufacturing, property and event management.

During his spare time he has organised and led expeditions and adventures all over the world, such as climbing the “Seven Summits” including Mt. Everest and scaling at least 12 previously unclimbed peaks, has circumnavigated the UK on a jet ski and crossed the Sahara Desert in the world’s first bio-fuelled flying car. He is also a qualified paraglider, aeroplane and helicopter pilot. Most recently in 2012, Neil led the Scott Memorial South Pole Expedition arriving at the South Pole exactly 100 years after Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his team. Neil organised a commemorative game of cricket on arrival.

Neil continues to help raise awareness and funds for various charities and spends much of his time encouraging disaffected and disadvantaged inner city youth realise their potential. The Royal Geographical Society recently presented him with the Ness Award in recognition of his leadership and development skills.

Bizarrely, he holds world records for extreme golf, tin tray racing and endurance pram pushing!

In his main talk entitled “Path to Peak Performance”, Neil inspires audiences to set challenging personal and professional goals by breaking out of their comfort zones, having self-belief, taking responsibility, embracing change, accepting and managing risk and by building strong and lasting relationships.