Conference Speakers

Sally Gunnell OBE; the Farmers girl who captured the hearts of a nation. She remains the only woman ever to hold four major track titles concurrently – Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth. Since retiring from international athletics, Sally developed a new career path as a keynote speaker and wellbeing advocate.

Sally’s honest, down-to-earth approach has won her many admirers over the years.  She has written four books and her latest gets right under the skin of what makes a successful, fulfilled person.  For the first time, she brings together in one place all the themes that have brought success in her sporting, business and family lives.  ’10 hurdles for life ‘is for anyone who knows they have something to accomplish in life and is focused on enabling it to happen. The only limit is our imagination, understand this and the game of life becomes more fun and less hard work.

Based in the Peak District National Park, Piers works with senior and middle managers from a wide range of business sectors. A skillful coach and facilitator, he helps organisations manage change, develop their talented people and set strategic direction.
As a coach he holds up the mirror of self-awareness, using his technique, skill, experience and presence to raise his clients’ self-perception. As a facilitator, he draws the essential messages and direction from a group with sensitivity and is not afraid to challenge when appropriate. In his role as a leadership and management skills trainer he is insightful and energetic and likes to create positive and memorable learning experiences both virtually and face to face.
Formerly, Piers worked at the Home Office developing leaders and teams in Police Response Units. He takes his own leadership very seriously in his role as an expedition leader, taking clients to challenging locations including the Arctic Circle, Namib Desert, jungles of Costa Rica and high mountains of Patagonia. He volunteers weekly as a listener with Samaritans. The Samaritan’s mission is for fewer people to die by suicide.
Piers enjoys CrossFit, mountain biking and growing as much fresh produce in his garden as possible. He also cares deeply about sustainability issues and has made a personal commitment to avoid flying whenever possible. His last flight was August 2019 and he has not taken a personal or business flight since then.

Professor Sophie Scott CBE is Director of the Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London. She studies the neurobiology of human vocal communication, from speech and sound to social interactions and non verbal emotional expressions, such as laughter.

She is an accomplished presenter, moderator and host, having given talks at school prize-givings and been a master of ceremonies for a British Science Association dinners. She was the 2017 Royal Institution Christmas Lecturer and she was awarded the Royal Society’s Michael Faraday prize and lecture in 2021.

Sophie has appeared on The One Show (BBC1) and Sunday Brunch (C4) Horizon (BBC2), David Baddiel: Social Media, Anger and Us (BBC2), and she has presented her work on Mary Beard’s Inside Culture Show (BBC2).

Sophie is an accomplished public speaker, her multiple TED talks have amassed a million views online, and she has presented at the World Economic Forum, The Royal Institute and the Wired UK conference. She has performed science-based stand-up comedy and has appeared at the Hammersmith Apollo, the Bloomsbury theatre and Latitude festival.

Sophie is a recognisable voice on BBC Radio 4, a series regular on the Infinite Monkey Cage, host of In Their Element (on episodes Sodium and Lithium) and has appearances on the Museum of Curiosity, the Third Degree and Inside Science under her belt. She also regularly stands in on the Maths of Life feature on Lauren Laverne Radio 6 Music. In podcasting she co-hosts The Neuromantics, broadcast on Soho Radio monthly, and she has appeared on the podcasts of Sarah Brown and the NPR show, Hidden Brain.

Sophie is also a Fellow of the British Academy and the Academy of Medical Science and has published over 130 scientific papers.

Having studied window dressing and display in the heart of London’s West End, Helen started working as part of the display team for DH Evans in Oxford Street where she worked with the whole range of merchandise from throughout the store.
After a few years she started her own Visual Display Consultancy and continued to design and install window displays for retailers both large and small, first in London and then in York following her move north.
Due to popular demand, Helen created Made You Look! specifically to help struggling High Streets by showing their businesses just what was possible in making their shop fronts more appealing, and for those with window displays, just where to start and what to do with that space to generate interest – and of course sales. With the art of display broken into simple, manageable steps, she focusses on what is achievable with little or no budget, not just for retail but service industries too.
She has held the position of both Vice Chair and Director for the British Display Society, the society under whose guidance she studied and qualification she gained all those years ago.

Dan Scott comes from a family of independent opticians and is extremely passionate about supporting independents in creating USPs in their practice to separate their practices from the high street and online stores that dominate the marketing space for the general public.

Dan has featured in the Financial Times, and a plethora of magazines ranging from Brood, VIVA and Attitude mag, to industry publications such as Optician Magazine and Dispensing Optics.

Since running the Fashion Show at 100% Optical in 2023 hosting his own Catwalk on eyewear style, as well as chairing panel discussions on industry topics from sustainability to modern frame materials, Dan has gone on to become a preferred supplier to the BBC and ITV for some of their premiere TV Shows.

Ros is a highly skilled professional with over 35 years experience in the industry. In practice she works as a CLO with a special interest in dry-eye disease management and combines working in practice with a range of advisory, educational and professional services roles. She has been shortlisted for many industry awards and has long been involved in business development as well as clinical development within the independent and multiple sectors she has worked with. Ros is a strong advocate of Peer to Peer learning, and believes it is invaluable in a trusted learning arena. Shared experiences of exposure to everyday clinical practice along with the commercial forces we face and the extensive regulation in our industry, combined with the latest clinical knowledge makes for a stronger industry. This belief in our industry is highlighted by her latest role in industry with The Body Doctor as their learning and development manager. Outside of the working arena, Ros leads an an active and social lifestyle, holds the Freedom of the City and is a trustee for a charity.

Richard is a director of RM2 – a specialist adviser of employee ownership, established over 25 years ago. Richard leads RM2’s EOT advisory team and is considered one of the predominant authorities on employee ownership trusts in the country. He is regularly asked to speak on employee ownership, and has advised Government and regulators. He has helped over 100 companies become employee owned.  Richard came to the advisory sector late in his career, having spent the first 25 years of his career as a finance executive in quoted and private companies, including extensive experience of working with Private Equity. He is a chartered accountant, qualifying at PwC. As an accountant he worked in a variety of sectors, including retail/wholesale, media, logistics and professional services.

David worked in independent practice for over 35 years, firstly as a Dispensing Optician and Contact Lens Practitioner, then as the business grew as Managing Director. David and his team grew Eyesite to become one of the most respected and progressive independent groups in the UK.

He is a life-long learner, and as well as completing is optical qualifications, has also completed a Marketing Degree and an MBA from Reading University. He has also completed numerous courses and workshops, through his involvement with Vistage as a member for over 15 years.

David’s work as a SightCare Premium Business Coach, independent optical business owners to improve the performance of their practices as well as helping them be better leaders and make better decisions for themselves and their businesses. As CEO of Storm, David provides the suite of Business Management Tools which form an integral part of SightCare Premium Membership Program.

Peter is an optometrist, coach, and leadership consultant. He has a wealth of experience in primary eyecare, management, training, and leadership.

Peter works part time as a locum optometrist. The rest of his time is spent coaching (he is one of the SightCare Business Coaches); developing and delivering leadership and communication training (including GOC accredited CPD); running team building workshops (he is a Belbin Team Roles accredited practitioner).

Peter is a regular contributor to features and CPD articles in Optometry Today and has been a guest on The OT podcast Episode 7 Link:

Peter is the Events and CPD lead for Gloucestershire LOC and Clinic Team Lead for the Gloucester Branch of Vision Care for Homeless People.

Peter’s core values are Connection, Contribution, and Contentment. Peter welcomes connecting with you and is always interested in your story.  Do reach out to him at www.petergreedy.com or (2) Peter Greedy | LinkedIn

Gavin Rebello is an optometrist and has been a practice owner for 25years. He specialises in turnaround, increasing business value and exit.  He is a business mentor helping independent business owners improve the financials of their practices without compromising clinical integrity. He also delivers leadership and management workshops for NHS consultants and surgeons.

Gavin is one of 4 Sight Care business coaches delivering workshops and 121 coaching sessions.

Meg started her journey with social media in 2020, engaging millions of people and amassing over 62,000,000 views since. Meg began managing an independent optician’s online presence in 2022 and her methods won the practice an Award later that year for Social Media. With an academic background in Media Studies and Fine Art, Meg has a natural passion for creativity and loves designing both digital and print products. Meg launched OptiSocial to help other businesses optimise their digital space.

David describes himself as a ‘Change Agent’. By building on his own life experience, he set up his own business acting as a coach, mentor and consultant and has helped 100’s of business owners to develop themselves and their businesses.  David was introduced to Optics about 10 years ago when he was invited to lead the SightCare Evolution programme. This successful programme helped many SightCare practices better understand their values and purpose and helped them to go on to realise their potential.  David started his career in the Royal Air Force serving as a Communications specialist.  His final corporate role was as Head of Centre at a 300 Bedded Activity Centre where he secured £3M to develop the facilities to ensure the centre delivered the highest standards of Customer Service.  David now acts as a SightCare Premium coach and Data Protection Officer. He is passionate about both businesses and people realising their full potential.

Guy Bartlett has over 3 decades of SME business experience – from starting and growing 3 separate 7 figure companies to acquiring over £26m of revenues across 12 separate companies he understands this “moment of the heart” intimately.  His talk explores what that moment means, how you can plan for what comes next and ow finding the right buyer is like a great marriage.  Guy will share his myriad of deal experience – over 150 deals worked on and counting – and give you ideas that might save you sleepless nights and lots of tax!

Jean is a multi-award-winning Optometrist based in Northern Ireland with a deep passion for children’s eyecare. The owner of a successful independent Opticians, Eglinton Eyecare, she has built a strong reputation for excellence in paediatric optometry. She has been an active member of SightCare since 2005, and has supported other members in their practices within SightCare business mentoring groups for 10 years.

An accomplished entrepreneur and author, Jean has published a children’s workbook focused on eyecare, aiming to educate young minds on the importance of looking after their eyes. An active community leader, Jean is passionate about educating children on the importance of healthy eyes. She regularly delivers workshops to primary school children, empowering them to take charge of their eye health. She has created unique resources to help engage young minds during these workshops.