The Business Conference for the East Midlands

Gerald Ratner took over as Chief Executive of the family jewellery chain in the mid 80s, becoming one of Britain’s best known businessmen. He transformed it from 130 stores with sales of £13 million, to a public company with 2,500 stores and sales of over £1.2 billion. By 1990, Ratner’s was the world’s largest jewellry retailer with profits in excess of £120 million.

Following a high profile gaffe in which he described some of the products sold in the stores as ‘total crap’, he was forced to sell the business.

Ruth left full time education at 16 to join a YTS in the Civil Service. Her first big break came when she got a job working as a processor for a local financial services company. There she quickly excelled, she then doubled her earning potential by working for a national company based in Bury, selling loans and mortgages face to face in the home environment and played a fundamental part in taking the turnover
from £3.1 million to £13.1 million in two years. Then, the opportunity arose to apply for “The Apprentice”…. Sir Alan Sugar decided to make Ruth’s rival The Apprentice. After the series, Ruth successfully set up Ruth Badger Consultancy Limited, which offers sales, motivation and training services. Ruth has since also starred as a mentor on Sky One’s The Big Idea and in her own show Badger Or Bust.

Having appeared in the second series of Dragons’ Den, Doug is the founder and Chairman of Library House, Founder and Vice-Chairman of the Cambridge Angels, Co-Founder and Chairman of Hotxt and Chairman of the Conservative Party Small Business Task Force. Doug is a successful entrepreneur with 20 years’ experience in the development and leadership of technology and software ventures, both in the US and in the UK. Doug holds a BA in Psychology from University of California at Berkeley and a Juris Doctor at the school of Law, University of California at Los Angeles. In 2006 Doug was an Honourary Recipient of The Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion.

Nigel Crouch
Nigel has held a number of senior marketing positions with Cadbury Schweppes, both in the UK and internationally, and was on the Board of Reckitt and Coleman as New Business Director of their Household Products Division. He moved into general management with Ciba and was then Managing Director of the Evo-Stik Adhesives and Sealants Business of Evode Group plc for almost nine years. He has been heavily involved in leading on the powerful Department for Business Enterprise and Regularity
Reform (DBERR formerly DTi) Inspirational Leadership and Sunday Times “100 Best Companies to Work For” programmes and also runs his own Investment Business.

Judi James
Judi is a leading TV expert in body language, social behaviour, image, relationships, workplace culture and communication skills. The second series of Judi’s four-part body language series on Channel Five, “Naked Celebrity”, which she researches and presents, was transmitted in December 2005. She also appears regularly on programmes such as Big Brother, The Xtra Factor, Newsnight and Sky News
and covered the last General Election for Five News, with a regular nightly spot. Judi writes for magazines and the press and is the author of nine non-fiction books on body language and workplace issues.

Geraint Davies
Geraint learnt about conflict at the sharp end having spent 22 years as a Police Officer. He developed a fascination for understanding how we function in conflict situations, using his techniques in some of the most serious and potentially dangerous situations. He combined this with a parallel career as a professional musician and coach working in various settings including BBC recording sessions and feature films.
He noticed that the base components of all conflict are the same, whether in minor disagreements or serious violence. He also noticed that the same factors are also present and have a significant effect on both individual and organisational performance, often resulting in massive revenue leakage.

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