TEDxSwansea

Speakers

Speakers may not be confirmed. Check the event website for the latest lineup.

• Amy Looper

  GTM Sales expert, people development

  Amy Looper is a global speaker and trauma and resilience expert who has equipped thousands worldwide to break free from burnout, chronic stress, and anxiety and lead lives of greater joy, freedom, and peace. Known for her relatable style and practical strategies, Amy helps audiences at every level navigate uncertainty with confidence and thrive in high-pressure environments through her signature framework, The 5 Cornerstones of Resilience. After navigating profound personal loss and rebuilding her life from the ground up, Amy turned to her healing as the foundation for Resilient Growth, a personal development company in Phoenix, Arizona, where she now helps high achievers rise stronger after major life transitions. Amy has partnered with leaders at Dell Technologies, Deloitte, Vonage, Harvard Business School, and Outreach.io. She's the author of Leading Motherhood and holds Trauma & Resiliency certification from the Arizona Trauma Institute.

• Brandon Shelton

  Ogletree Deakins Law Firm shareholder

  Brandon Shelton devotes his practice to representing employers in multiple aspects of labor and management relations. He represents employers in union organizing campaigns and elections, arbitrations, unfair labor practice charges and other proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board. He also works with upper level management and first-line supervisory staff to build and maintain a union-free environment. As a trial lawyer, he defends employers in lawsuits and administrative proceedings involving sexual and racial harassment, discrimination, the ADEA, FLSA, ADA, USERRA, wrongful discharge, and wage and hour disputes. Employers, trade associations, and other groups frequently ask Brandon to speak or provide training on a variety of employment related issues such as workplace violence, harassment, diversity, legal compliance and liability avoidance. Brandon has also authored several articles regarding labor and employment law.

• Chinyere Chuckwudi-Okeh

  Founder C3 centre for Creativity & Culture

  Chinyere Chukwudi-Okeh holds an MA with distinction in Creative Writing from Swansea University, a BA and an MA in English Language and Literature/African Literature from the University of Ibadan and the University of Lagos, Nigeria, respectively. She is a UK Global Talent, endorsed by Arts Council England. Chinyere is the Founder of C3 Centre for Creativity and Culture CIC, and Nganga Performing Arts and Mobile Theatre. She is a Bronze Winner in the Wales Mental Health Awards for Inspirational Leader. Chinyere’s story, "To Buy an Expensive Dream," was featured in Honno Women’ Press’ "Lipstick Eyebrows”. She is a contributor and co-compiler for Honno’s “Many Roads”. She received a Highly Recommended Meritorious Award in Arts and Culture at the EMWWA Awards 2025. She is one of 12 writers selected from a pool of over 150 applicants on Literature Wales’ 2026/2027 Representing Wales Cohort. Her book “What Your Mothers Did With Your Placentas” will be released globally in September 2026.

• Dan T Rogers

  CEO Point to Point Transportation

  Dan T. Rogers has spent his career asking a deceptively simple question: What if the way we’ve been taught to work, lead, and make decisions is backwards? From his start as a $6-an-hour burrito roller to building a business recognized nine times on the Inc. 5000, with no sales and marketing, Dan has focused less on figuring out what to do and more on figuring out what not to. Everything is backwards. He is the founder and CEO of WORKP2P, an ecosystem of companies, media, tools, and communities designed to redeem work. Work is not something we do, it’s something we get paid to practice life. It is something we contribute. Beats working. Dan’s mission is simple: Redeem work – the word, the place, the way.

• Dr. Julie Poteet

  Eye Doctor and Nutrition Scientist

  Dr. Julie Poteet, OD, MS, CNS, FOWNS, is an internationally recognized optometrist, nutrition scientist, speaker, and author whose work explores the powerful connection between vision, nutrition, and whole-body health. She has spent decades helping patients understand that the eyes are not only organs of sight, but remarkable windows into the health of the entire body. With advanced training in both eye care and human nutrition, Dr. Poteet is passionate about translating science into practical ways people can protect their vision, support healthy aging, and reduce the burden of chronic disease. Her message extends beyond physical sight. She believes vision is also about perspective—that what we choose to notice can shape how we experience our lives. Through science, storytelling, and gratitude, she hopes to inspire people to take greater ownership of their health, rediscover the extraordinary gift of sight, and fall in love with seeing

• Ian Hawkins

  Storytelling and speaking consultant

  Ian Hawkins is a leading expert on how thought leaders use their voice to engage with stakeholders, drive change and stay authentic in an AI-driven world. Stories, he says, are the software that programs human behaviour. Ian equips leaders at global brands including Netflix, Adidas and McLaren with powerful storytelling and communication tools that deliver results and have been ‘Highly Recommended’ by the Financial Times. He is author of Insider Secrets of Public Speaking, drawing on his unique real-world experience. Ian’s own story is one of resilience: born with a serious heart condition, Ian embodies the power of narrative to change outcomes in everyday life. Crediting his early experience for giving him permission to embrace a life that would be far from “normal”, Ian has written comedy for Radio 4, negotiated with President Gorbachev and made films for the BBC, Reuters and CBS.

• Kirsty Knight

  Founder School hours only

  Kirsty Knight is a business strategist and founder of School Hours Only, helping ambitious mums build financially successful businesses around the life and motherhood they don’t want to miss. Having built businesses herself - and learned first-hand that more hours don’t necessarily mean more success - Kirsty now helps women rethink how their businesses are designed, so they can increase their income and impact within the hours they actually want to work. She is also passionate about creating opportunities for women closer to home. Kirsty runs a thriving local women & mums-in-business network in Pembrokeshire, bringing women together to connect, collaborate and grow, and hosts the Pembrokeshire Women in Business Summit each year. Alongside her business work, Kirsty teaches practical self-defence to women and girls. Across everything she does runs one belief: women shouldn’t have to choose between ambition, financial independence and a life they actually get to enjoy.

• mark Hutfield

  Performance and Triathlon Coach

  Mark Hutfield is a global management consultant, endurance athlete, and founder of Mind in Motion, a health and wellbeing framework built from twenty-five years of practice, not theory. He left school at sixteen with no qualifications, training as an apprentice pipe fitter at Europe's largest petrochemical refinery, before redundancy and an unexplained health scare in his thirties led him back into education - an HND, a Bachelor of Engineering with Honours, and later an MBA. A small early-morning exercise habit, started in 1998, compounded for twenty-five years alongside his career, driving his rise as a global consultant and carrying him to seven full Ironman finishes and fifteen Ironman events in total, most recently in his sixties, with another full Ironman planned at sixty-five. Mark lives in Swansea with his wife, Joy, and now shares Ironman Wales 70.3 as a family relay tradition with his three children. This is his first TEDx talk

• Nadab Akhtar

  CEO, Entrepreneur

  Nadab ("Niddy") Akhtar is the Founder and Managing Partner of Excite Capital, where he oversees the firm's trading strategy, which applies quantum mathematics alongside its proprietary AI-driven models, capital formation efforts, and regulatory infrastructure, managing day-to-day operations of the general partner and leading deployment of those models within its flagship investment vehicle, Excite Genesis LP. He is also Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Project LightShift, a deep technology company advancing a new architecture for room-temperature quantum computing based on photonic wave processing, building upon foundational research supported by multi-year U.S. Department of Defense funding. In addition, Mr. Akhtar is a Co-Founder of CrowdPoint Technologies, Inc., a pioneer in distributed computing and intelligent control.

• Ryan Murray

  Mercury Mind Founder

  Ryan Murray is a leadership and personal transformation expert and founder of the Mercury Mind. He helps high-achieving leaders and change makers break through the invisible legacy patterns holding them back. A Duke-trained molecular biologist turned technology leader, Ryan then spent over two decades building organizations, advising Fortune 500 executives, and leading engineering teams — culminating in a role as CTO of a global tech consulting practice. But behind that success, he was battling anxiety, depression, and imposter syndrome that no title or achievement could fix. Years of training in therapeutic and transformation methods led Ryan through his own profound shift, which he distilled into the Deep Mind Recode™ method. Together with his partner Jen, he now guides leaders from overwhelm and self-doubt into clarity, purpose, and alignment. Their long-term mission: bring that same calibre of leadership wisdom and personal transformation to young people worldwide

• Sabriya Hussain

  Student

  Sabriya is a PhD researcher, specialising in wirelessly recharging implanted medical devices. Her research explores developing safer and more practical approaches to recharging pacemakers with the aim of reducing the burden associated with battery replacement surgeries. Her academic journey began with a BSc in Sports Therapy, where her interest in anatomy developed into a broader fascination with the human body. This was followed by an MSc in Strength, Conditioning and Performance, before she continued her studies at Swansea University with a BSc in Medical Engineering, ultimately leading to her PhD in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Driven by curiosity, Sabriya has always been fascinated by learning about different subjects. Her fascination with the human body has remained a recurring theme throughout her degrees, from understanding anatomy and movement to exploring technology that can support the body.

• Suki Collins

  Strategic consultant

  Suki is a Global 500 leader, award-winning organisational strategist, and accredited executive advisor with over two decades of experience driving high-performance cultures. As Founder and Director of Pebbles Advisory & Wellbeing Consultancy, she helps senior leaders unlock human potential, cultivate resilience, and lead with purpose. Suki’s background spans senior human resources and leadership roles across higher education and health sectors. Notably, she played a pivotal role in establishing a top-ranked UK Medical School, strategically guiding its executive leadership—including the Dean of Medicine—to scale grant funding from £7 million to £28 million over ten years. Beyond consultancy, Suki serves as Non-Executive Director, Vice-Chair, and Finance & Audit Committee Chair for Stori Cymru, steering board governance and financial strategy. She is a champion of continuous improvement, institutional transformation, and lasting organisational impact.