ConnectEd Partnership Leadership Conference 2024

8.00 – 8.45 Breakfast and exhibition
8.45 – 9.00 Welcome and update on the work of ConnectEd
9.00 – 10.15 James Healy – Influential Leadership
10.15 – 11.00 Coffee and exhibition
11.00 – 12.15 Sinéad Mc Brearty – Education Support
12.30 – 13.30 Lunch and exhibition
13.30 – 14.30 Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson
14.30 – 14.45 Wolvolympic torch relay
14.45 Conference close

James Healy
James joined Oliver Mythodrama as an experienced programme leader delivering courses to a wide variety of global businesses as well as the not-for profit and public sectors. His specific areas of expertise are communication and presence.
Trained at The Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London, James began his career as a Communications Skills coach and Facilitator and has over 24 years’ experience working in the Corporate and Public Sector.
Covering Mind, Body and Voice his passion is for translating the skills learned as a professional actor into an empowering set of communication techniques that can be employed by individuals, teams and organisations in a corporate context.
Shakespeare’s great story of politics, intrigue and honour serves as a compelling invitation to participants to step up their ability to influence. Using influence effectively is a key attribute of the wise leader and this programme focuses on its practical application within the increasing complexity of organisational life. It seeks to answer the question: “How can I influence others to do what I believe is right – and should be done?” Drawing lessons from the characters of Julius Caesar, Brutus, Cassius and Mark Antony, we explore the nature of politics and help participants to operate effectively within both organisational power structures and external political contexts. We engage participants with the story of the play before exploring the leadership challenges most relevant to them.
The theme of this programme is influence: how to cultivate it and how to use it wisely. Julius Caesar may have been written over four hundred years ago, but its themes and insights remain astonishingly relevant. The handling of politics, both internal and external, is a crucial aspect of leadership. This programme helps you identify the key sources of power working both for and against you while providing you with opportunities to practice new skills to enhance your abilities to exert influence. It also stresses the importance of forging successful coalitions and the shrewd timing of interventions.

Sinéad Mc Brearty – Education Support
Sinéad Mc Brearty is CEO at Education Support, the mental health and wellbeing charity for the education workforce across the UK. She advocates for a systemic approach to wellbeing for the education workforce, attending to the individual, the workplace and the wider policy environment.

Sinéad began her career at KPMG before moving to leadership roles in the not-for-profit sector. She has worked as an organisational development consultant and a lecturer and has been a trustee at a number of charities including Kaleidoscope Trust and Groundswell. She is a currently a governor of a south London primary school.

Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson
Not only is Tanni Grey-Thompson Britain's most successful paralympic athlete in wheelchair racing, she is an esteemed ambassador for disabled athletes and was awarded the prestigious honour of a DBE in 2005.

At the 2000 Sydney Paralympic Games, Tanni added a brilliant four gold medals to those she accumulated in past Paralympics, winning the 800m, 400m, 200m and 100m. Overall, she has won 11 gold medals, 4 silvers and 1 bronze in four different Paralympics. Tanni also holds the world record in the T53 (the category in which she participates) for the 800m event.

Tanni's interest in athletics began when she was a youngster. At 15, she won the Junior National Games representing Wales in the 100m. Having performed at a world class level for over a decade, she has been a consistent medal winner in World Championships. She has won the London Marathon six times between 1992 and 2002.

Tanni is also highly regarded off the track, she was a key part of the BBC’s team of presenters for the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, she has appeared on TV programmes such as “Question of Sport”, “This is Your Life” and “Onside”. Tanni is a respected authority on disability sporting issues and a regular television and radio broadcast journalist. She is also in the prestigious position of being a crossbench peer in the House of Lords.

She is an active member of Women Sports Foundation, UK Sports Council, Philip Lawrence Trust Award Panel and the National Disability Council. Tanni is also a Non-Executive Director of the BBC and Chancellor of Northumbria University. She was an active member of UK Athletics, encouraging British youth to take up sports.

Her incisive and well-informed views have made her a very popular conference speaker. Every year, thousands of people enjoy listening to Baroness Tanni speak on the topics of motivation, diversity, overcoming adversity and achievement.