Nicole Bearne – Keynote Speaker

Nicole Bearne has worked at the forefront of Formula 1 for over 25 years during which time she was a leading member of the Brawn Grand Prix and Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 teams, winning a total of nine World Championship for Constructors and eight Drivers’ titles. Her experience encompasses executive and technical operations, internal communications, employee experience and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Beginning her F1 career in the late 1990s, Nicole was a founding member of the fledgling British American Racing team. Working alongside world champion Jacques Villeneuve, Team Principal Craig Pollock and Technical Director Adrian Reynard, she assisted in establishing the team from scratch in rural Northamptonshire. As the team developed, becoming BAR-Honda and later fully owned by Honda, Nicole’s role developed further.

Between 2007 and 2013, Nicole worked with and reported directly to Team Principal Ross Brawn, the man who previously masterminded Michael Schumacher’s dominant years at Ferrari. During this time she was at the epicentre of the Brawn Grand Prix story, the team which rose from the ashes of the Honda Racing F1 team to take both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ World Championships in 2009. The story of that season was told in the award winning 2023 film documentary Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story which streamed on Disney+.

Following Mercedes-Benz’s acquisition of the team, Nicole was part of the leadership who helped secure a further eight Constructors’ championships. As Head of Internal Communications for the Mercedes-AMG F1 Team, Nicole operated at board level in an organisation totalling 1,300 people. She directly helped nurture a strong team culture and high levels of employee engagement, translating into record-breaking performance on the racetrack, most notably with drivers Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Valtteri Bottas. Now, as the Founder and Director of The Comms Exchange Ltd, Nicole brings a blend of extensive real-world F1 business experience and robust academic theory to building happy, high-performing, people-centric organisations.

Nicole holds a master’s degree in Organisational Behaviour, as well as the Chartered Institute of Public Relations’ (CIPR) Internal Communications Diploma. She is a member of the CIPR and the Institute of Internal Communication and is an Accredited PR Practitioner. In 2020, Nicole was nominated for the Indigogold Work Psychology Innovation Award. She also speaks fluent Russian, having spent several years working in the former Soviet Union.