Artistes of the Month

Also featured: Jilly Goolden, Kell Ryan

Previous months

David Moorcroft

David Moorcroft was chief executive of UK Athletics for 10 years ('97-2007). UK Athletics is the governing body for athletics in the UK, affiliated to the IAAF which is the world governing body. Specifically it is responsible for:

• All aspects of governance including competition rules and procedures relating to functions such as athletes welfare, child protection, health and safety and anti-doping.
• The development of the wider strategies to promote athletics at all levels from grass roots through to elite competitions.

David took the organisation from the brink of bankruptcy (then the British Athletic Federation) to become the most commercially successful athletics governing body in the world. Milestone achievements included:

• Building the organisation to a turnover of £20 million, over 100 staff and many thousands of volunteers.
• Growing the Norwich Union sponsorship to £50m, the biggest single sponsorship in British sport outside of football
• Attracting the BBC back in to covering domestic athletics after a break of thirteen years. The BBC cover every element of athletics from grassroots through to Olympic Games - no other sport is "owned" by one major broadcaster in such a unique way.
• Increasing the investment in grass roots athletics to well over £3m a year with an additional £80m of public investment in outdoor and indoor facilities. This is the biggest public investment of any sport in the UK
• With the retirement of previous stars, fostering the emergence of a new generation of athletes at the 2006 European Championships and IAAF World Junior Championships, with a particular focus on achieving success at London 2012.

David started his career as a middle distance runner alongside such luminaries as Steve Cram, Seb (now Lord) Coe and Steve Ovett. He competed in 3 Olympics and highlights of his career include a Commonwealth Gold in the 1500m, the European Record in 3000m and the World and British Record in the 5000m (the latter of which still stands).

After retiring he joined the BBC commentary team and also worked with a variety of regional and national sporting bodies, culminating in his appointment at UK Athletics.

He is regularly asked to speak at corporate events around the country, giving keynote presentations, performance workshops and management coaching. With his achievements both on and off the track, David provides a unique insight into:

• Building and developing high performance teams in small and large organisations
• Developing a business where sponsorship revenue is a major income stream
• Growing relationships with government (national and international) and industry.
• Media management - facing up to the good and bad times

"Thank you so much for attending our ATP Awards ceremony and giving an inspiring and excellent speech. We've had loads of positive feedback from colleagues who really enjoyed your presentation and the opportunity to meet you!"
Buckinghamshire County Council on David Moorcroft OBE - March 2008

"For someone with your record of achievement to talk with us about the importance of our organisational values had a big impact on everyone attending. I personally was inspired by your advice and will remember a number of key elements...for a very long time. I know I was not alone in taking a great deal out of the afternoon - the feedback was universally positive."
Which? on David Moorcroft July 2007

Previous months

Jilly Goolden

And now a new generation has taken to her sparky and intrepid personality after her stint in the jungle for ITV’s ratings-blockbuster I’m A Celebrity - Get Me Out Of Here! Thanks to her, a wide number of people now know exactly which wine to drink with a kangaroo’s testicle.

Jilly has also presented two highly successful television series on antiques for BBC1, The Great Antiques Hunt and Going, Going, Gone, and she continues as a regular presenter on BBC1’s Holiday programme. During 2004, she was presenter on BBC1’s Holiday - You Call the Shots. In 2005, viewers saw her confronting all sorts of health questions and challenges on the new Channel Four series, Extreme Health. Jilly also appeared on innumerable television programmes across all channels featuring both as a wine expert and as a personality.

Other television appearances include:-

Graham Norton, It’s Only TV. . ., Stupid Punts, Jo Brands Hot Potatoes, Through the Keyhole, Watchdog/Weekend Watchdog, The Heaven & Earth Show, The Chelsea Flower Show and Celebrity Detox.

She has also starred in a mini-drama written for her and directed by Pauline Quirke and performed in The Vagina Monologues at the Royal Albert Hall.

Jilly Goolden started as a journalist, contributing at some time or another to most national daily and weekly newspapers and glossy magazines published in Britain. As well as writing about wine, she has written about travel, women’s issues, sex, the occult and a wide range of general features. She has written and contributed to books on wine and food as well as palmistry, which have featured strongly on the Sunday Times best-seller list. Co-written books include five volumes of the Food & Drink, the special, Entertaining with Food & Drink and The Big Food & Wine Drink Book. Jilly also co-authored Your Hand (A Guide to Palmistry).

Her interests include gardening, animals/wildlife/horses, big adventures, ghosts and of course. . . wine.

Previous months

Kell Ryan

Ryanair was financed and was the dream of Dr T.A.Ryan, Kell Ryan's older brother and has worked with him almost since its conception, when the airline had only 50 employees. Working furiously to revolutionise and change air travel within Europe. Ryanair has made air travel available and affordable to all. Ryanair now employs 2300 people.

Kell spent the first 24 years working for the Irish national airline Aer Lingus were he was responsible for all operations, passenger and other airline handling contracts at London Heathrow Airport. He headed the major and crucial transfer of Ryanair to the then little known airport of Stansted and has spent the last few years primarily promoting and marketing Ryanair within Europe.

It is a matter of great pride to him that he is a pioneering member of a team that has changed travel within Europe In 1985 Ryanair carried 5000 passengers and in 2004 they expect to carry 24 million passengers and will become the largest low cost airline in Europe. Ryanair is the third most recognised brand on Google.

He has chaired and is involved with many tourism forums within Ireland, England, and continental Europe. As strong advocate of higher education, he is currently involved with universities in Ireland, England, Germany and in the United States. He is also on the board of visitors of the Embry Riddle Aeronautical University.

Mr Ryan takes great delight in passing on his knowledge, enthusiasm and love of aviation and tourism. He has the ability with his wit, stories and antidotes of the industry to capture any audience along with his depth of business knowledge.

Ryanair has been one of the great business success stories of the past decade. With forty years of business experience, Kell Ryan has developed a comprehensive knowledge of the key areas, spanning customer service, training, marketing, sales, operations, and media communications.

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Further Information

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