11 Speaker Bureau Leaders Serving the United Kingdom

Booking a speaker for a UK event rarely starts with a name. It starts with a conversation about the outcome you want, the audience in the room and the budget you are working with, and that conversation usually happens with someone at a speaker bureau long before a shortlist appears.

This guide brings together 11 current leaders from six UK speaker bureaus in 2026, drawn from the chairs, managing directors, founders and heads of operations who set the direction for their teams. Each one is shown on their bureau's own team page, so you can confirm the detail before you get in touch.

Use the list as a starting point rather than a final answer. When you contact a bureau, share the outcome you want, the audience, the date, the format and any practical limits, and a senior contact can point you toward the right person on their team for that brief.

1. Ellis Watson

Chairman, JLA

Ellis Watson chairs JLA, one of the largest speaker bureaus in the United Kingdom. A chairman's role sits above day-to-day account work, which makes him a useful point of contact when a brief needs a senior view of the bureau relationship itself.

JLA works across conference speakers, business speakers and corporate entertainment, and a conversation at chairman level can be the fastest way to understand how a large or unusual brief fits that range.

2. Jamie Hill

Head of Marketing and Lead Generation, JLA

Jamie Hill leads marketing and lead generation at JLA, which means enquiries into the bureau typically pass through his team before they reach an account manager. That makes him a useful first contact for organisers who are still shaping a brief rather than ready to book.

Understanding how a bureau's front door works can save an event team real time, particularly when the brief is still open on format, topic or budget.

3. Kate Lossius

Head of Boardroom Advisory UK, London Speaker Bureau

Kate Lossius leads boardroom advisory work at London Speaker Bureau, a global bureau with team members across more than 20 countries. Her focus sits with senior, closed-door conversations rather than large public conferences, which suits organisations planning a board retreat or a private leadership session.

A background in banking before joining the bureau gives her a practical read on what boardroom audiences expect from a speaker, beyond simply filling a time slot.

4. Oliver Chittenden

Global Ambassador UK, London Speaker Bureau

Oliver Chittenden represents London Speaker Bureau internationally as its Global Ambassador, a role built around the bureau's worldwide speaker relationships. He is also the founder of Headtalks, a mental health and wellbeing platform, which gives him a genuine link to wellbeing programming alongside more traditional keynote bookings.

That combination is useful for organisers who want a bureau contact who understands both the commercial side of a booking and the wellbeing themes many UK events now want to include.

5. Karen O'Donnell

Managing Director, Europe, Chartwell Speakers

Karen O'Donnell leads Chartwell Speakers' European operations, part of a bureau with offices spanning the UK, the United States, Asia and Ireland. A European managing director role gives her oversight of how briefs move across borders, useful for organisations running events with international delegates.

Chartwell describes its focus as relevance over recognition, matching clients with specialists rather than only well-known names, and a conversation at this level is a fast way to test whether that approach fits your event.

6. Ellis Trevor

Co-Founder, Chartwell Speakers

Ellis Trevor co-founded Chartwell Speakers in 2007, when the bureau began as a small team working closely with a handful of speakers and clients. Nearly two decades later, that same bureau operates from nine offices worldwide, and a co-founder brings the clearest possible view of how it has grown.

For organisers weighing a newer or boutique-style bureau against a long-established one, speaking with a founder is a direct way to understand the values behind the business.

7. Nick Gold

Managing Director, Speakers Corner

Nick Gold leads Speakers Corner, a London bureau that works with more than 12,000 speakers and describes itself as friendly, honest and completely committed to client service. As managing director, he sets the direction for how the whole team, from sales through to events, handles a booking.

Speakers Corner is also B Corp certified, which can matter to organisations weighing supplier choices against their own sustainability or governance commitments.

8. Rebecca Matthews

Head of Operations, Speakers Corner

Rebecca Matthews heads operations at Speakers Corner, overseeing the practical work that happens once a speaker is booked. That includes the logistics, timing and on-the-day detail that decide whether a booking runs smoothly or becomes a source of last-minute stress.

For events with complex travel, tight turnarounds or multiple moving parts, an early conversation with the operations lead can surface risks that a sales conversation alone would miss.

9. Jane Farnham

Founding Director, Great British Speakers

Jane Farnham co-founded Great British Speakers, a boutique bureau built on a background in broadcast and corporate presentation. She also runs her own voice-over business alongside the bureau, giving her a practitioner's understanding of what makes a speaker or presenter land well in front of a live audience.

That first-hand experience on the other side of the microphone shapes how she and her partner Steve Denison brief speakers before an event.

10. Steve Denison

Founding Director, Great British Speakers

Steve Denison co-founded Great British Speakers after spending more than 30 years running his own audio-visual production company, working with blue-chip organisations on live events and content around the world. That background gives him a technical, production-side view of what a speaker booking needs to succeed on the day.

Together with Jane Farnham, he positions the bureau as a presentation partner rather than a simple supplier, which suits organisers who want production input alongside a shortlist of names.

11. Holly Kerley

Director, The Speakers Agency

Holly Kerley is a director at The Speakers Agency, a Derby-based bureau founded in 2001. She joined the events and marketing world through Hilary Devey's company Pall-Ex, where she spent years organising the firm's conferences and sourcing speakers, hosts and entertainers before moving into bureau work herself.

That background on the client side of event planning gives her an unusually practical read on what organisers actually need from a bureau relationship, rather than only what is easiest to sell.

Conclusion

Three themes run through this group. The first is range: the six bureaus represented here span a global operation with offices on several continents through to boutique partnerships built by two founders working closely with clients. The second is proximity to the work itself, since several of these leaders came into bureau life through event production, broadcast or marketing roles rather than sales alone.

The third is access. Chairs, managing directors, founders and heads of operations are not always the first person an event team reaches, but they are often the fastest route to a straight answer when a brief is unusual, urgent or high stakes. In 2026, with UK event budgets under real scrutiny, that directness has genuine value.

Whichever bureau you approach, the same discipline applies. A clear brief, shared early, gives any of these teams a far better chance of finding the right person for your event.

About the Author

Jonno White is the author of Step Up or Step Out and a Certified Working Genius Facilitator, a framework created by Patrick Lencioni and The Table Group. Based in Brisbane, Jonno works with schools, organisations and leadership teams around the world on keynotes, workshops and facilitated leadership sessions. He can be reached at jonno@consultclarity.org.

Next Read

If a bureau conversation leads to an actual shortlist, choosing a high-stakes keynote speaker sets out the questions worth asking before you book, especially for leadership events where the goal is behaviour change rather than applause. For leadership teams already exploring the Working Genius framework, building the case for leadership buy-in is a useful companion piece once the event itself is booked.

If your event needs a speaker who can turn a leadership brief into a session people actually use afterwards, I would be glad to talk it through. Email jonno@consultclarity.org and let me know what outcome you are working toward.