Keynote Speakers
Maggie Oliver
Maggie Oliver is perhaps best known as the Detective turned whistleblower who resigned from Greater Manchester Police in 2012 to expose the now infamous Rochdale Grooming Scandal.
Fighting her feelings of disbelief, fear, outrage, and anger she has fought tirelessly for 12 years to expose the truth about how the vulnerable victims of serial sexual abuse were being failed by our criminal justice system.
This led to her working tirelessly for 4 years as “The Programme Consultant” to bring multi-award-winning BBC 1 drama ‘Three Girls’ to our screens and more recently known for her appearance on Celebrity Big Brother 2018 -Year of the Woman, as well as Loose Women, This Morning, Lorraine, Dky News, BBC, ITV and many more media outlets including in France, Switzerland, Australia, USA etc.
Her first book ‘SURVIVORS’ was published on 11th July 2019, (available on Amazon) which tells the story of her life as well as the full horrifying truth of how generations of children have been failed from the unique perspective of an ex-police detective.
The Maggie Oliver Foundation is the next chapter of her journey. Totally exhausted with trying to help all those who contacted her, she realised there were only two choices left …. abandon those victims and survivors of sexual abuse who so desperately needed help, or build an army of like minded warriors alongside her to share the load and fight for much needed change in a broken criminal justice system. Maggie chose the second option and in 2019 her charity The Maggie Oliver Foundation was born.
Since then, The Maggie Oliver Foundation has grown to a team of almost 40 staff and volunteers who have provided much-needed emotional support and legal advocacy to over 4000 adult survivors of sexual abuse and rape. Survivors from all communities who have nowhere else to go, but who need a helping hand to help them move forward in their lives.
The legal advocacy work TMOF undertakes is led by Maggie and another ex police officer plus a survivor of abuse and is totally groundbreaking and unique. At the national forefront of pushing for much needed changes in a broken criminal justice system where victims are horrendously failed every single day, the cases they are involved in are regularly covered in many national news programmes and on the many podcasts, documentaries and interviews which Maggie undertakes every week.
Dr. Pawlet Brookes MBE
Pawlet Brookes MBE is the Founder, CEO and Artistic Director of Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage, a Leicester-based organisation committed to championing Black arts, heritage, and cultural equity in the UK and internationally. Under her leadership, Serendipity has become an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation and a national leader in archiving, producing, and programming work that makes the invisible visible.
A curator, producer, and advocate, Pawlet established Let’s Dance International Frontiers, an annual festival bringing global dance practitioners to Leicester, and has spearheaded major initiatives including the Living Archive, preserving Black British arts and heritage for future generations. She has published extensively through Serendipity’s imprint, creating platforms for Black British and international voices across dance, performance, and cultural history.
Pawlet serves on the Midlands Area Council of Arts Council England, contributing her expertise to funding policy and sector strategy, and is a regular speaker on equity and representation in the arts. In recognition of her contribution, she was awarded an MBE for Services to the Arts and Cultural Diversity in 2022. She was conferred with an Honorary Fellows from Northern School of Contemporary Dance in 2023, an Honorary Doctor of Arts from De Montfort University in 2025, and an Honorary Fellowship from Falmouth University in 2025, marking her impact as both a cultural leader and an alumna of UK higher education.
Her work is grounded in a clear vision: to reimagine cultural narratives, dismantle structural inequalities, and ensure that creativity is recognised as essential infrastructure for a fairer and more inclusive society.
Panellists
Sandra Pollock OBE, MA
Sandra is a multi-award-winning leadership and management consultant and coach, who brings more than thirty years of experience and knowledge spanning a wide range of sectors.
Her award-winning expertise includes Leadership, Management, People development, Organisational Change, Diversity, Inclusion and Membership growth. Sandra currently holds a number of NED roles and has Chaired various regional and national organisations. Her work on equality has seen her speak at the EU Committee on issues of flexible working, equality in the workplace and the benefits of getting women back into work. She has conducted many local, regional, and national business growth and other projects across England,
Scotland, and Wales, and in particular working to engage with underrepresented groups in the workplace and the community.
Sandra has worked with senior teams in a number of sectors including Banking, Human Resources, Transport, Manufacturing, Engineering, Police, Social Care, Higher Education, NHS, Membership, and the Voluntary sector.
In addition to Executive Coaching at senior level, her experience and skills incorporate discussion forums, facilitation, training, and development of programmes for Universities, Higher and Further education organisations as well as bespoke programmes for blue-chip companies.
Her business acumen has earned her numerous awards in recognition of her professional, community and business development contribution nationally. She attained the status of Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), Chartered Manager (CMgr), Fellow of the Institute of Consulting, having headed up this organisation for several years. Additional qualifications include 7407 & 7403 City & Guilds, Certificate Personnel Development CIPD, Level 7 & 5 Diplomas in Management, and a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Leicester.
Sandra is an international speaker, author, and equality activist working with senior leaders to recognise and incorporate the benefits of difference and creating equality within organisations. Sandra was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to Equality 2020.
Sandra is the Founder of The Women’s Awards.
Leanne Bonner-Cooke MBE
Entrepreneur | Board Advisor | Leadership Mentor
With over three decades of experience building and scaling businesses, I bring practical insight to leadership teams navigating growth, complexity and change.
My work combines commercial experience, behavioural insight and strategic clarity to help leaders build organisations that perform.
Debbie Moore
Debbie Moore is an international professional Coach with over 20 years of experience, supporting High Achievers overcome the blocks, barriers or limiting false beliefs that are getting in the way of them achieving ever greater success in their careers, work, relationships and/or life goals.
Debbie specialises in coaching High Achievers: successful leaders, executives, busy professionals, entrepreneurs and creatives using the latest developments and insights in coaching, she holds a safe and confidential space where her clients’ are seen and heard. They get to experience the way patterns of behaviour, limiting false beliefs or blindspots can create a ‘stuckness’ in their life or at work so that they can breakthrough the blocks and achieve even greater success, be more impactful and live a more fulfilled life aligned to who they really are.
Debbie is also an international author and public speaker whose mission is to empower 1 billion people locally and globally, the Winner of The Women’s Awards 2023 Outstanding Woman in Professional Services Award and through her company has been a joint Headline Sponsor for the past three years.
https://www.debbiemoorecoaching.com
Naz Williams
Naz is the Director and Head of Immigration at Afsar Williams Solicitors a woman-led, values-driven law firm she founded in Telford and Birmingham. With over 20 years of legal experience, Naz is a leading immigration and family lawyer who has built a practice rooted in justice, compassion and resilience.
Afsar Williams Solicitors is a woman-led law firm founded less than three years ago and already recognised with three legal awards. We specialise in immigration, family, and property law, with a strong focus on community outreach and inclusive legal access.
We recently expanded into central Birmingham. With a dedicated underserved community outreach service and over 65 successful case wins since January 2025, our firm is committed to empowering underrepresented clients with compassion, culturally sensitive legal support.
David Hayes BSc(Hons), FRAeS
David Hayes has many years experience in export controls and sanctions, both from an industry and regulator’s perspective. In addition to his own consultancy, David is the Director of UK Affairs for the Washington DC based trade consultancy The Trade Compliance Group (formerly MK Technology LLC).
After leaving the UK Export Control Organisation (now ECJU) in the late 90’s David worked in industry as Head of Compliance for Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 companies, with significant involvement in US export compliance under both ITAR and EAR as well as OFAC sanctions and DoE/NRC controls. He was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society for his export control work in the aerospace industry.
Since 2007, when he established his own consultancy, David has provided services to an international client base in a wide variety of industrial sectors, covering both dual-use and military products as well as providing specialist support and expert evidence to law firms in areas including M&A due diligence, criminal investigations, and extradition. Most new business is now by referral from previous or existing clients.
David was the founding Chairman of the Export Group for Aerospace and Defence (EGADD), which he developed into the UK’s leading trade body on export controls, and a widely recognised expert in his field. He stood down as Chair of EGADD in 2012 in order to devote more time to his consultancy business.
David is a regular speaker at national and international export control events and committed to effective compliance training. He was instrumental in developing the UK’s first externally accredited export control training, which is offered jointly by Cranfield University and EGADD.
In 2022 David was appointed to the Professional Steering Group of the Higher Education Export Control Association, the goal of which is to develop nationally available training in strategic export controls funded by Research England for use by the HE sector. Universities and research institutions also form a significant part of the client base.
David is a qualified helicopter pilot and also spent ten years as an Intelligence Officer with 7006(VR) Intelligence Squadron of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, specializing in Air Defence and Electronic Warfare. He is also a qualified Six-Sigma Green Belt.
Director, David Hayes-Export Controls® david@davidhayes-exportcontrols.comwww.davidhayes-exportcontrols.com