Teesside University Business School Conference

Monday 13 May, 12.00pm - 2.00pm (registration at 11.30am), OL1, Europa Building, Teesside University

Speaker biographies

Keith Williams- ‘Why Guisborough is not an International Airport’Teesside born Keith Williams is Chief Executive of British Airways (BA). Keith joined BA in 1998 from Reckitt and Colman where he was head of tax. He became BA group treasurer and head of tax in 2000 and in 2006 he became Chief Financial Officer of BA. He was appointed as Chief Executive in 2011, following him playing a leading role in steering BA through the recession and through the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.

Sue Smith-The challenges of economic growth; How leaders and SME’s can make a differencePrior to working in the Higher Education sector, Sue worked in the private sector for blue-chip companies and SMEs as a Research Manager.  She is passionate about how people learn to lead and manage and the real impact this can have on a business. Sue has designed and taught on many leadership development and entrepreneurship programmes for diverse learners in Higher Education from undergraduates and postgraduates to post experience adult learners who do not traditionally engage with universities. Sue joined Teesside University Business School from Lancaster University in January 2013.

Peter Atherton- ‘How are we going to finance the low carbon power revolution’Peter has been an equity analyst covering the energy and utility sectors for the last 17 years. He is currently Partner, Head of Utility Sector, at Liberum Capital. Before joining Liberum Peter spent 12 years at Citigroup where he was Head of Pan European Sector Research in Citigroup’s Global Markets division.  On graduating from Teesside in 1987 Peter joined the Central Electricity Generating Board where he worked on the privatisation of the power industry for three years. After privatisation Peter spent five years working for National Grid Group in a variety of roles, latterly as a Corporate Strategist. His opportunity to move to work in the City came in 1996 when he joined Kleinwort Benson as UK Power analyst.