Deborah Ogden

Personal Branding

Deborah Ogden is an internationally respected speaker on personal branding and making an impact.

Whether it’s building profile and visibility, winning contracts or presenting with confidence, Deborah has delivered breakthrough results time after time for businesses and individuals.

She has 25 years of extensive experience in communications; as a Media Manager in professional sport and working on the PR and image of some high-profile names. She now supports organisations and individuals, sharing the power of personal branding on a corporate and individual level. Her approach centres around building confidence with an authentic personal brand (be yourself – but make it the best you!) and communicating this to raise profile, visibility and increase impact.

Having trained as a solicitor, Deborah has a strong background in professional services giving her an in-depth and real world understanding of the importance of backing up content with strong presentation. Deborah is host of the Podcast, ‘On Brand With…’, sharing personal branding through the stories of her guests, and is a regular commentator for BBC Radio and the press, featuring in national publications including; the Daily Mail, Express, Essentials and Stylist magazine.

Howard Blagborough

Councillor of Calderdale

Having just won my fifth election victory during May 2022, I continue to serve as a councillor for Calderdale, representing the people of Brighouse. As a councillor, I wear many hats, and these are just a few of the bodies I serve:

I am the Chair of the Adults Health and Social Care Scrutiny Board
I am a Director and Trustee of The Piece Hall Trust.
I am a Director of the Brighouse Business Improvement District
I am Co-Chair of the Brighouse Town Deal Board an organisation set up to oversea the spending of £19.1m for regeneration in Brighouse.
I am a member of the Inter Faith Council
I am chair of the local political party

As we as being a councillor I am Senior Parliamentary Assistant to Craig Whittaker MP, a position I have held since he was elected in 2010. The world of politics is never dull and is full of challenges.

Jen Redfern

Physiotherapist

Jen Redfern owns Plus Health Company in Calderdale and it has just celebrated it's 15th year! Jen is a Chartered Physiotherapist and Plus Pilates Teacher.

She's worked in the public and private sector for the last 20 years and specialises within the musculoskeletal, occupational and pelvic health specialisms.

Physiotherapists aim to restore mobility and function in people who may have had an injury, operation or long-term health condition so they can get the most out of life.

Jen chatted about the routes in to physiotherapy, the different areas physiotherapists can work in, how to strengthen an application and the attributes a good physiotherapist needs to be successful in their work.

Janis Hambling

Head of Customer Resolution - Finance

My names Janis Hambling I currently work for Shawbrook Bank as Head of Customer Resolution. I have worked in Financial Services for around 25 years in both large Banks like Lloyds Banking Group, Building Societies and from this year a small digital bank.

In Financial Services there are lots of different careers and I started out as a graduate trainee following University, training to work in Human Resources and have carried out a mixture of different roles most recently looking to improve the service we give to customers. I work alongside people with a variety of backgrounds and journeys into their role so I can share perspectives on traditional and less traditional routes into this industry.

My talk focused on the different careers you can hold in Financial Services, anything from Accountants to Lawyers to Customer Service to Risk to HR alongside what we look for in potential candidates. I told you what recruiters are looking for in potential candidates and the different forms of assessment you will undertake to secure roles in this sector. I also gave you some tips on what to think about when starting out in your career and what to consider when you aren’t sure.

Nick Connor

Film Director / Producer

Nick Connor is a former Rishworth student and now an English filmmaker. He began his journey in the industry in 2014 (aged 14), working initially as a production assistant, runner, camera assistant and script supervisor, before taking the leap into writing/directing. During this time he has worked on productions such as Star Wars: The Rise of Skywaker, Pokemon Detective Pikachu, Hitman 2 (Video Game) and Devs (TV Series). His work as a writer and director has screened at over 50 film festivals globally where he has personally won 37 awards with 64 nominations. His experience also spans directing animation, motion capture and LED virtual production.

Nick's talk included (but not limited too):

• Routes to break into the industry
• The various media worlds (Animation, Documentary, TV, Factual/Reality TV, VR and Film)
• Training, Education and Opportunities
• Skills shortages (Accountants to Producers and VFX)
• How unexpected subjects such as physics, music, IT, DT, English and maths can transfer into various different film jobs

DCC Catherine Hankinson

Deputy Chief Constable - West Yorkshire Police

Catherine joined West Yorkshire Police as Assistant Chief Constable in May 2017 and had portfolio responsibility for Local Policing and Safeguarding across the county. During this time, she chaired the West Yorkshire MAPPA Strategic Board and led the partnership work on Local Safeguarding Children’s Reform. She is passionate about improving life chances and aspirations of young people and is the Police Ambassador for Onside Youth Zones.

In 2021, Catherine took responsibility for Operational Support in West Yorkshire; Catherine is a specialist Firearms Commander, Public Order and Multi-Agency Gold Commander and was co-chair of the Local Resilience Forum.

In 2022, Catherine took up post as Deputy Chief Constable.

Catherine is the National Police Chief Council’s lead on Missing People – a huge area of risk and demand for UK Policing. She works with national charities, academic institutions and partners to develop and improve the response to missing people.

Catherine went to University in Hull and has a degree in Criminology and an MSc in Criminal Justice.

Prior to moving to West Yorkshire, Catherine served with Greater Manchester Police for 22 years and has worked in a variety of roles including Divisional Commander at Oldham and South Manchester and latterly as temporary Assistant Chief Constable with responsibility for Public Contact, HR, Specialist Operations and Intelligence.

Eorl Crabtree

Professional Sportsman, TV Commentator and Property Development Business

Eorl Crabtree is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. He played at representative level for England, and at club level in the Super League for the Huddersfield Giants, Crabtree announced his retirement as a player in 2016 to become an ambassador for the Giants. He also makes regular appearances as a commentator and pundit for BBC Sport's rugby league coverage and has his own property development company – Estate 8 ltd.

Mr & Mrs Blincoe

Business Owners - Red River Consultancy

Christopher & Alexis Blincoe run sales & marketing consultancy Red River Consulting having followed careers in small , medium and large brand led food, personal care and health companies including Seven Seas, McVities, Danone, Cussons Imperial Leather and Holland & Barrett. They have each followed very varied careers which have taken them all over the world. Latterly they bought a company called Bickiepegs Healthcare which owned two small baby care brands which are sold in major retailers such as Boots, Sainburys and ASDA.  If you are thinking of following a career in business and in particular the manufacture of consumer products, this session will explain what a career in this sector may look like and what you might expect to be involved in. They will also give an idea of what courses at university may best prepare you for this path and how best to get a foot into the main companies.      

Karen Clarke

Lawyer

Karen Clarke has been a lawyer for 23 years and made her way through the ranks to senior equity partnership at CMS.  Part of her role at the firm is to assist in early talent recruitment and Karen also leads the Diversity & Inclusion strategy for their global business. Karen Clarke is a partner in the Construction team specialising in the drafting and negotiation of construction and facilities management contracts. She has experience of drafting, negotiating and advising on construction contracts, consultant appointments and ancillary contract documentation for contractors, developers, institutions and public sector clients on various education, residential, office, retail and leisure projects.  The majority of Karen’s work has related to large-scale development projects and covers a wide-range of procurement route and contract bases, including NEC, JCT and ICE forms of contract.