Examining Kevin Gaskell’s track record surprises some people. As CEO of four successful world class brands and as a serial entrepreneur who has built international companies from ‘a good idea’ Kevin has created over £3 billion in shareholder value – and yet has still found time to climb the world’s highest mountains, walk to both North and South Poles, compete in international sport and play in a rock band.

Kevin has a passion for actions that get results – in everything he does. He has led businesses in sectors including automotive, branded goods, technology, data, professional services, marine and landscape gardening! His energy and leadership has helped companies including Porsche, BMW, Lamborghini, epyx and EurotaxGlass’s to achieve world class levels of customer service and financial performance. He passionately believes that ordinary people can deliver extraordinary results given the invitation to believe in the goal and the opportunity to contribute towards its achievement. He has always built success with the team developed inside the company. Today he actively chairs, invests and partners with a small number of companies helping them to achieve market leading growth and to manage change successfully.

Kevin is a natural communicator with the ability to lead, build and motivate a management team and to engage the team throughout an organisation. His drive and passion were apparent from an early age when he qualified as an engineer, then as an accountant and completed his MBA before pursuing a career that took him through the construction industry, the chemical industry and then into the automotive sector, where he was appointed UK Managing Director of Porsche at the age of 32 and BMW GB at the age of 37. He has been widely recognised as one of the outstanding leaders of his generation.

Speaker
A great speech has many elements, but it needs to do two things:

Engage the audience from start to finish
Energise them to take action
The second won’t happen without the first and the first alone doesn’t get results!
Kevin has a unique talent for engaging audiences – and for inspiring them to take action. His experiences of driving turnarounds, achieving 500% profit growth and transforming local companies into global players were acquired within the corporate environment. His entrepreneurial experience of founding businesses, acquiring underperforming companies and transforming them into market leaders has allowed him to develop a complementary set of skills and knowledge.

Adventurer

The joy of life comes from encounters with new experiences
Like many people who enjoy outdoor activities, Kevin became an adventurer ‘by accident’ or rather by degrees. Growing up in the mountains of North Wales he was always looking to spend the weekends exploring the paths and rock climbs of Snowdonia.

As his ambition to explore the wilder parts of the world grew so he looked to travel wilder and further. Following the loss of his sister to cancer he decided to use his exploring to raise monies for charitable causes. Since then he has helped to fund a new cancer treatment centre and to support Alan Chambers MBE in the development of Extreme Classrooms™ an outdoor learning experience making a difference to the lives of vulnerable teenagers.

The adventurers continue, usually with his son Matt, an extreme athlete who encourages Kevin to go the extra mile, or two, or three… or thirty three! In 2019 Kevin and Matt plan to row, unsupported, across the Atlantic Ocean to help the fight against plastics in the oceans.