10 Speaker Bureau Account Directors in the UK to Know

Booking a keynote speaker looks simple from the outside. A client describes an event, a bureau sends a shortlist, a contract follows. The work that decides whether the room actually shifts happens earlier, in the conversation between a client and the person holding the brief.

The people below hold those conversations at five speaker bureaus working in the United Kingdom. Their titles vary across sales, account management, operations and agency leadership, because bureaus organise the same job in different ways. What they share is responsibility for turning a rough idea about an audience into a speaker who fits it.

This list is current to August 2026. It is a starting point rather than a directory, written for event teams, speakers and anyone curious about the people behind a booking.

What this job actually involves

A bureau agent sits between two sets of expectations. The client knows the audience, the theme and the budget pressure. The speaker knows what they can deliver well and what they would rather not be asked to do. Somebody has to hold both and still make a recommendation.

The useful ones ask a better second question instead of sending a longer list. If you are still deciding which bureau to approach, our guide to speaker bureaus for leadership speakers explains how the model works across several regions.

1. Andrew Stoney

Associate Director, JLA

Andrew Stoney is one of the Associate Directors on the JLA team, the senior agent tier at a bureau that describes itself as the biggest in the United Kingdom. JLA has placed speakers, presenters and performers at more than 45,000 events over 40 years and lists more than 11,000 people on its books.

A roster that size only helps a client if somebody narrows it well. JLA publishes a recommendations page for each of its agents, so the speakers Andrew Stoney puts forward are visible rather than hidden inside a shortlist email. That is a small but useful signal for anyone deciding which bureau to brief.

2. Georgia Sharp

Senior Account Manager, JLA

Georgia Sharp is a Senior Account Manager at JLA, working at the point where a client brief becomes a booked speaker.

She also writes for the JLA Ideas section, and her posts are unusually practical about the mechanics of the job. One walks through how to run a briefing call with a conference speaker, a step clients often treat as a formality. Another draws on evenings spent at awards ceremonies around the United Kingdom to explain what makes an awards host work.

Writing like that is a fair guide to how somebody will handle a brief.

3. Lucy Baily

Head of Sales and Marketing, Speakers Corner

Lucy Baily is Head of Sales and Marketing at Speakers Corner, a London bureau that works with more than 12,000 speakers.

Her published profile traces a route into the industry through the arts. She worked as a management assistant for bands and musical artists, then moved into the niche world of limited edition silk screen printing, before joining Speakers Corner. She describes the appeal plainly, as a job that satisfies a curiosity about remarkable people leading fascinating lives.

That instinct matters here. Matching a speaker to an audience is mostly a question of understanding what a person is actually like once they are on a stage.

4. Tim Gold

Director of Account Management and Marketing, Speakers Corner

Tim Gold is Director of Account Management and Marketing at Speakers Corner, where he heads up the speaker booking team as well as marketing.

His own description of the role is specific. He supervises Speakers Corner clients so that every live event and endorsement proposal is understood thoroughly before it moves forward, and he aims to keep the bureau a market leader in the booking process and the service around it. He studied psychology and previously worked in advertising and marketing.

For an event team that combination is useful. The person overseeing both the brief and the way a bureau presents its advice is the one who can keep the two consistent.

5. Katie Lo

Group Managing Director for the UK, London Speaker Bureau

Katie Lo is Group Managing Director for the UK at London Speaker Bureau, part of a group with a team of around 100 colleagues in more than 20 countries.

Her published biography notes that she previously grew two fledgling start-ups into global companies, and that she is fluent in six languages. Both details fit the work. A bureau operating across that many markets has to translate a brief between cultures as well as between industries.

Running the UK arm of a network that size means holding a view of which speakers travel well and which land better with a home audience.

6. Georgia Bayley

Regional Director for the UK, London Speaker Bureau

Georgia Bayley is Regional Director for the UK at London Speaker Bureau. Her published areas of focus are technology, the future, cyber, economics, politics, diversity and the environment.

That is a wide brief, and it is the honest shape of the job. A regional director fielding enquiries from across British business needs enough range to notice when a request for an artificial intelligence speaker is really a question about workforce change, or when an economics brief is closer to geopolitics.

Breadth like that is what lets a bureau ask a sharper question rather than send a longer list.

7. Jack Hayes

Managing Director, Champions Speakers

Jack Hayes is Managing Director of Champions Speakers, part of Champions (UK) plc, where he leads global speaker, entertainment and talent bookings.

The agency account of his work is specific. It credits him with overseeing delivery for clients in 66 countries, and with helping grow a roster of more than 5,000 speakers that runs from elite athletes to business leaders. He was appointed a director of the group motivational speakers agency in 2012 and became a founding member of the European Association of Speakers Bureaux the following year.

Involvement in an industry body is worth noting. It suggests somebody thinking about how the whole booking market works, not only one desk.

8. Sophia Reed

Sales Director, Champions Speakers

Sophia Reed is Sales Director at Champions Speakers, leading commercial strategy and client growth within Champions (UK) plc.

Her published role description is a good picture of how a large agency actually delivers a booking. She works closely with in-house teams across marketing, public relations, events and talent management to put together tailored speaker solutions, with attention on client relationships and measurable return rather than one-off placements.

For an event team that is the difference between a bureau that fills a slot and one that treats the speaker as part of a longer conversation with the same audience.

9. Raleigh Addington

Managing Director, Chartwell Speakers

Raleigh Addington is Managing Director at Chartwell Speakers, and the agency lists his address as the direct email contact for its London office on Buckingham Palace Road.

Chartwell was founded in London in 2007 and now runs offices in London, Dallas, Chicago, New York, Singapore, Hong Kong, Dublin, Palm Beach and Dubai. The agency describes its approach as focusing on relevance where others focus on recognition, and matching clients with speakers who bring clarity, perspective and meaningful insight.

That is a real editorial position. A client who wants a substantive session rather than a familiar name is a natural fit for it.

10. Olivia Bodle

Head of Operations, Chartwell Speakers

Olivia Bodle is Head of Operations at Chartwell Speakers, listed with the London team.

Operations is the least visible part of a booking and often the part that decides how the day feels. The London team pairs her with a deputy head of operations plus contracts and operations coordinators, which is a serious bench for work that clients rarely see. Chartwell describes that work as managing logistics and contracts, preparing speakers and clients for the event, then supporting delivery and follow-up.

If you have ever had a speaker arrive under-briefed, you already understand why this role belongs on the list.

Conclusion

Three themes run through this group.

The first is that this is not one job. The same responsibility sits under sales at one bureau, account management at another and operations at a third. If you are choosing who to brief, the title matters far less than whether that person will own the outcome.

The second is breadth. Several of these people cover technology, economics, politics, sport and wellbeing in the same week. That range is what allows a good agent to hear the question behind the question, which is usually about a change the organisation is trying to make.

The third is that the interesting work happens before the shortlist. Briefing calls, contracting, logistics and speaker preparation decide whether an audience gets something they can use on Monday. Event teams who invest in that conversation tend to get far more from the same budget.

About the Author

Jonno White is the author of Step Up or Step Out and a Certified Working Genius Facilitator. The Working Genius framework was created by Patrick Lencioni and The Table Group. Jonno is based in Brisbane and works with schools, organisations and leadership teams around the world.

Related Reading

If you are weighing up which bureau to approach, our guide to speaker bureaus for leadership speakers compares bureaus and platforms across North America, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, Asia and beyond, and explains how bureaus charge. You can read more of our writing on leadership, culture and building teams people want to stay in at Consult Clarity.

If you are booking a speaker for a leadership audience and want the session to change something rather than fill an hour, write to me with the audience, the decision you want them to make and the constraints you are working with. My email is jonno@consultclarity.org.