Leadership Stories: ‘Ordinary people. Extraordinary Leaders’
An inspiring evening to share stories and hear from courageous, resilient leaders in different walks of life. Our speakers have accomplished things we would consider impossible – how do we turn the impossible into possible? Bilbao will welcome an internationally recognized humanitarian leader and OBE, a creative entrepreneur, an story-hacker and futurist, and a marathon runner & cancer fighter. These are motivating and engaging gatherings, where magic simply happens! Stay tuned to follow the stories of our speakers…
- Gareth Owen, OBE (Officer of the British Empire). Humanitarian Director, Save the Children. A committed humanitarian who has lived and worked in some of the world’s most challenging situations, Gareth has led responses to numerous emergencies all over the globe including the Boxing Day Tsunami, Pakistan and Haiti earthquakes, Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, East Africa and Niger food crises and the Somalia, Angola, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria conflicts. Today, he leads a team of 190+ humanitarian professionals and in June 2013 he was awarded the OBE for ‘services to Emergency Crisis Response Abroad’.
- Iruri Knörr. Online Marketing Fanatic and Entrepreneur. Iruri loves online marketing. She has founded several start-ups including Nolatan, a network of specialised online stores, and Basoa, a brand that designs, manufactures and sells wood accessories and natural materials. She uses her experience and know-how to help other companies and brands with the formulation of strategies in the area of e-commerce. She writes for newspapers and magazines, and is a regular contributor to several radio programmes. She teaches in different Business Schools and Chambers of Commerce, and is a regular speaker at conferences dealing with entrepreneurship, marketing and e-commerce.
- Juan Dual. Adventurer, marathon runner. The colon, rectum, stomach and gallbladder were taken away from Juan before the age of 28. This event made him re-evaluate his life. He took his bike to travel Nicaragua-Patagonia, and started running marathons and long trails to challenge himself, inspiring thousands of people on his way. He founded Runnife, an association that raises awareness and funds to help people with cancer. In 2018 his adventures will take him to the Antarctic, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, Spain, Peru and Scotland. He will keep on inspiring people to lead their lives fully, with his motto #Nolopienses!
- Nicolás Alcalá. Entrepreneur – Storyhacker, Chef, Futurist, Psychonaut. Nico launched the film “The Cosmonaut” in 2009, distributing it online for free, as a result of a crowdfunding project involving 200 people. He was appointed a ‘Global Shaper’ by the World Economic Forum and later, was a student at Singularity University. In 2015, he founded Future Lighthouse, a Virtual Reality (VR) studio with offices in Madrid and Los Angeles. Nico is now focused on creating experiences that are transforming the world of storytelling, and is developing technologies to change the way we interact as a society. He believes that VR is key to expanding our consciousness and to redefining what it means to be human. He is working on technology to help us create a more compassionate, integral, and a more profound world.
