We have a great line-up of business speakers and industry experts. More will be added shortly.
Click on each speaker to find out more.
Bruce Daisley is a best-selling author of 2019 “The Joy of Work”, which was the Sunday Times number one business bestseller, his follow up book, “Eat Sleep, Work Repeat”, is a compelling manifesto for an era overwhelmed with work pressures. Bruce spent 8 years as EMEA Vice President for Twitter having joined the company in 2012. Prior to this, he ran YouTube UK at Google and worked at Emap/Bauer and Capital Radio.
Trevor Williams served as Chief Economist at Lloyds Bank for over a decade. Now an author, academic and consultant, he analyses the key trends and policies that shape the economy and markets. From energy and climate to how companies use their data to understand the wider economy, he brings clarity and relevance to an often complex and abstract field.
Trevor worked for the civil service whilst studying for his economics PhD, after which he went on to work for over 30 years as an economist in the City, most notably at Lloyds. His professional life has encompassed equity and foreign exchange, forecasting and financial analysis. Today he provides clear insight into how politics, demographics and trade shape economies and economic trends.
From earnings and inflation to stock markets and trade deals, Trevor explores what is going on in the economy and what it means to organisations and individuals. Looking at both the global and the local, the long and short term, he explains what the numbers really reveal. With a focus on interpreting the information as it is, not as people might think or wish it was, he considers the effects of disruptions like Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic, and how (and how quickly) economies can recover and what actions influence that recovery.
Trevor also studies what risks businesses and government face and how the economy will react. In particular, he looks at the political economics of climate change, including the risks for investors, insurers and the general population that this existential challenge could impose. He also examines the economics of energy; the likelihood, causes and potential effects of energy shortages and what decisions and policies have increased the risk of energy reserves running low, as well as the cost to businesses and consumers.
As rotating Chair of the Institute of Economic Affairs’ Shadow Monetary Policy Committee Trevor keeps a close eye on Bank of England decisions and direction of travel. He unpicks the impact of interest rates, monetary policy and quantitative easing and translates them into useful intelligence businesses can use to inform strategy. He also reveals how companies can use their own big data sets to reveal insights into the broader economy and their place within it.
Along with his own blog, Trevor writes regularly on financial and market matters, including a regular column in the personal finance magazine Moneyfacts. He is the co-author of Trading Economics, a clear guide to the statistics and indicators that underpin market economics. He is a Professor at St Mary’s University, London and Visiting Professor at the University of Derby.
With extensive planning experience across local authorities and the private sector, Mike Cole is a Partner at Bell Cornwell. He leads the London team of Chartered Town Planners and spends time with all the other 6 offices.
Mike’s diverse portfolio covers commercial and residential proposals. He is a commercially minded planner whose insight assists to realise a developments’ full potential. With a deep understanding of Use Class B8 requirements and policies Mike has successfully delivered approvals for self-storage operators of varying types from shipping containers, changes of use and purpose built facilities. He leverages his expertise in development management to steer projects through local policies and politics in both rural and urban areas.
By bridging the gap between planning policy and commercial viability, Mike helps developers and investors navigate the entire project lifecycle — from initial feasibility studies and site appraisals to securing full planning permission.
Self storage proposals can face many challenges, not least being wrongly perceived to offer limited economic benefits in retail or commercial areas. However, these facilities increasingly support start-ups, small businesses, van hire, removals, and delivery services as well as providing an invaluable service to domestic customers. Mike successfully conveys the significant merits and economic benefits of low impact self storage uses to local planning authorities, securing planning permissions nationwide.
Before joining the MLA in 2008, Justin had already established a reputation among UK locksmiths, thanks to his work at Squire, Mul-T-Lock, Expresslock, and Hoppe. As Technical Manager at the MLA, Justin is responsible for representing the organisation on over 30 committees for BSI and other industry bodies. He also manages the GVA testing conducted for BS3621and writes and updates test specifications for Sold Secure. Thanks to his expertise and experience, Justin is a valuable member of the MLA team, and his contributions have helped to maintain the associations position as a leading authority in the locksmith industry.
I am a corporate tax partner based in London with over 22 years’ tax experience. I have acted as Head of Tax for two FTSE listed companies and held senior roles in practice, where I have focused on advising entrepreneurial organisations across a whole range of tax and commercial matters.
I support companies on their growth journey through commercially focused and risk based solutions. I advise on the tax structuring of acquisitions and disposals on UK transactions, group reorganisations and shareholder advice and support.
Sarah Manning is Managing Director of Secure Stores Nationwide, supplier of shipping containers and related accessories.
Sarah has been in the container industry for the past 14 years, starting her career at Mr Box, which she ran and grew in to one of the largest market players. Mr Box was then acquired by Mobile Mini in 2016, who Sarah continued to work with for a further 4 years. Sarah has recently launched her own container business, Secure Stores Nationwide. Secure Stores specialist area is Self-Storage, with a strong focus on customer service.
Professional Expertise and Summary of Experience
Steffan has 11 years of experience in the Real Estate sector and has a wide-ranging skill set that includes brokerage, capital markets and valuation. Steffan is an RICS registered valuer with experience in valuation of retail, industrial, offices and alternative assets across the UK and Europe. Steffan is a former director of a small independent practice in Wales, and later joined Vail Williams concentrating on UK based operation occupancy and strategy.
Steffan joined Cushman & Wakefield to bolster the self-storage team in 2021 and has been a key part in dealing with valuations and transactional activity across the EMEA region. He has a significant network of agents, clients, and investors on a pan European level.
Cushman & Wakefield
Steffan is a Partner in the Self-Storage Team and now leads the Self-Storage Investment and Advisory initiative in the EMEA region.
Steffan works closely with Cushman & Wakefield’s most valuable self-storage clients offering advise and services relating to capital markets, investment and advisory, working closely with client on growth aspirations and portfolio strategy. His experience in valuing the asset class and transactional work makes him an invaluable resource to any client’s team.
Advising across the UK and Europe has meant that Steffan has developed an understanding of international capital flows, cross border operational intricacies and complicated corporate structures.
Developing key relationships with small, medium and large self-storage operators has been at the fore front of Steffan’s activity, understanding the complicated operational drivers of value of his clients’ businesses, developing the Cushman & Wakefield business consultancy offerings.
Portfolio strategy and growth have been a priority for Steffan, using client requirements, data and locational expertise to identify geographical voids and opportunities across the UK. deploying strategic teams across Europe, including the industrial and logistics and repurposing teams to unlock on and off market opportunities. Conversely his role as a portfolio strategist makes him well placed to advise on exit strategy and disposal, leveraging his team to advise on and deliver the best possible exit or restructuring for operators, investors and partners.
Advising on sell side and buy side M&A transactions on a single asset and portfolio level, his expertise on pan European advisory has enabled the development of a best in class offering for Cushman & Wakefield.
Capital Markets and Valuation work undertaken for C&W’s self-storage clients is pan European and coverage includes;
Susanne Samuel is an experienced HR professional with over 20 years’ experience working in self storage, retail, engineering and manufacturing. Driven by the belief that most people want to do a good job, that work should be enjoyable, and that creating a great place to work doesn’t need to be complex or expensive, Susanne is known for her straight-talking, bespoke and commercially focused HR support that saves time, reduces risk and boosts profitability.
Susanne founded Hillingdon HR (www.hillingdonhr.co.uk) in 2020 to partner with business owners who believe their people are their greatest asset and who are committed to building strong, engaged workplace cultures. With experience across the full employee lifecycle — from attracting great talent through to supporting people as they move on — she helps businesses put the right HR building blocks in place for long-term success. Whether supporting startups, growing SMEs or established organisations seeking a more strategic HR approach, Susanne provides tailored, pragmatic solutions.
Hunter bought his first self storage facility at 17, built custom tools to automate it, and sold it for $1M at 19. He's a GenZ storage manager, expert in Machine Learning & LLMs, and his dream is to make EU self storage more profitable and innovative than the US within 10 years. He is the Founder & CEO of Landlord storage software, where he helps owners achieve 100% automation so they can focus on buying more properties.
