Meet the 36 Superyacht Design Symposium 2017 speakers

Guillaume Rolland is presently in charge of Studio Liaigre’s yacht design division. Guillaume joined Christian Liaigre’s team in 2002 and became the principal in charge of the design studio and has since been involved in all the projects developed. Before this, from 1998 to 2001, Guillaume worked with Philippe Starck.

Guillaume Rolland is an active sailor. He has been cruising and sailing since his early childhood and races an olympic keelboat all year round. He frequently participates in regattas on maxi-yachts.

Guillaume Rolland graduated from the Paris Beaux Arts School in Architecture and Fine Arts.

Projects include: Wedge 2, Rosehearty, Vertigo, Seahawk, Cloudbreak

Richard Woolley is the studio director for Special Vehicle Operations, working under the direction of Gerry McGovern, Jaguar Land Rover board member and Land Rover’s chief creative officer.

Richard leads a team of creative designers looking at new product opportunities. This includes design responsibility for the Special Vehicle Operations business within Land Rover, which develops high-end luxury bespoke and extreme performance vehicles, including the range Rover SVAutobiography and the Range Rover Sport SVR. His significant design achievements include the 2003 Range Stormer Concept, 2004 Range Rover Sport, 2007 Freelander and 2009 Range Rover. He also led the design team working on the all-new 2012 Range Rover.

Before Land Rover, Richard spent time working in Detroit for Ford Design North America as well as the Rover Group on numerous passenger vehicle programmes including Rover, MG, MINI and Land Rover Vehicles. During this period he also worked in Tokyo, Japan and Munich, Germany.

Richard started his career in the UK, completing studies at Swansea University College of Art and Design before taking on his first design role at Airbus Industry in Hamburg, Germany.

Celia Sawyer is a renowned interior designer with clients across the globe. With an uninhibited sense of style, merging classical with contemporary, she is deeply inspired by architecture and experimental design. Being extremely hands-on in her Mayfair design studio, Celia has worked with an impressive roster of people, from film stars, musicians, leading business icons, not to mention names worthy of the Forbes rich list.

As an interior designer, Celia holds an impressive command over furniture design. Working from sketches of her own vision, Celia will create bespoke and beautiful pieces for clients. Her signature look encapsulates use of textures, colour and creativity, amounting to a design style that exudes opulence and sophisticated glamour.

Celia’s design intuition and personal connection to each project echoes throughout homes, aviation and marine across the globe. It is her attention to detail, unflinching dedication and dignified charisma that have contributed to the notable success Celia has achieved, both in and out of the public eye.

Celia is frequently in mainstream press and national television, alongside being an official columnist for the MailOnline, Hello! and the Huffington Post. She recently joined the Board of Advisors for Football for Peace. This is a global organisation that has had HRH Prince William and the Prince of Monaco, as well as various sporting legends, support the cause already.

Passion and precision embody Celia’s work life; many designers say there are not enough hours in the day, for Celia she always finds them. She intends to leave a legacy trailing behind her in gold and will continue to create bespoke, glamorous interiors for very special clients.

Tom Cheesewright is the founder of applied futurism practice, Book of the Future and creator of the Futurist's Toolkit, a suite of tools for agile organisations.

Through consulting, speaking and media work Tom helps people to see, share and respond to a coherent vision of tomorrow. Clients range from charities and public sector organisations to FTSE100 enterprises and global technology corporations, They include LG, Nikon, Sony Pictures, the NHS, Manchester University, the Institute of Chartered Accountants, and the Institute of Leadership and Management.

Tom followed a degree in Mechatronic Engineering with 14 years in the tech industry, working with global brands such as BT, EE and IBM, and subsequently founded a series of technology-driven companies. Most recently Tom co-founded venture-backed big data analytics start-up CANDDi, of which he remains a shareholder. He acts as an advisor to a number of technology-driven start-ups.

Tom is a frequent presence on TV and radio, appearing across the BBC from the Breakfast sofa to Newsround and World Business Report, and as a regular contributor to 5live and Radio 4. He has shared his thoughts on the future with Channel 4′s Sunday Brunch, Sky News, the Guardian, Evening Standard, Entrepreneur Magazine, Stuff and MSN.

Tim Heywood founded Tim Heywood Designs, with his partner Vanessa Reville, in 1996. New projects followed very quickly and he became involved in ever increasing sized yachts, M/Y Pelorus, M/Y Carinthia VII, M/Y Dilbar, M/Y Ice, M/Y Radiant, all built by Lürssen, M/Y Mayan Queen IV, M/Y Baton Rouge, M/Y Cakewalk, M/Y Kogo, M/Y Al Mirqab, M/Y Symphony and, again with Lürssen, M/Y Quantum Blue and M/Y Topaz, (being the largest yacht he has designed to date, at 147 metres.)

Tim’s working relationship with the Amels Ship yard and the Limited Editions series of yachts, now totalling over 30 yachts in the last ten years, has been extremely successful and continues to this day. Tim has worked with nearly all the major yacht building yards of the world, Lürssen, Amels, Feadship, (both Royal Van Lent and De Vries), Blohm & Voss, Kusch, Fincantieri, Icon, Alstom, Direcktor, Oceanfast, Oceanco, Benetti and Picchiotti.

The flowing lines of his exterior designs, often matched with twisting structures, large windows and large wing stations, give his designs an original, individual and strong presence that makes his designs stand out from their contemporaries. Tim’s work has been very influential, he enjoys pushing the building yards, gently and with good humour, to create, what he considers to be, timelessly, elegant yachts.

Tim entered the yacht design world in 1972 at the Chelsea studio of Jon Bannenberg, prior to this he studied Industrial Design Engineering.

A leading “disruptor” in UK media for more than two decades, Adam Leigh joined communications consultancy W in 2011. As Strategy Director at W – which has offices in London, Amsterdam and Singapore – he has developed brand and campaign strategies for clients including Y.CO, Princess Yachts, L’Oréal, W Hotels, Alphabet, Facebook, Hearst Magazines, and Unilever. Based at the company’s London HQ, his role encompasses C-suite counsel, media planning, content development, and crisis management.

Prior to W Adam worked at The Independent, where he was Deputy Editor and directed the paper’s award-winning coverage of 9/11, the Iraq war and the Asian tsunami. In 2010 Adam was central to the launch of i - the UK’s first new national newspaper in 25 years, which remains the market’s only growing title and in 2003 he led the Independent’s reinvention as Britain’s first “quality tabloid” (a move followed by dozens of papers around the word).

Charlie Hagan is Co-Managing Partner and Head of Training and Nutrition for luxury personal training and nutrition firm Hagan & Pappin.

Charlie spent several years in the health & wellbeing industry advising individuals, families and corporates on fitness & nutrition optimisation before setting up Hagan & Pappin in 2014. He has worked with leading international exercise labs and for private clients across the Middle East, the US and Europe.

Hagan & Pappin manages and optimises the health, nutrition and physical activity of individuals and families across the globe. The firm’s team works with designers to custom build bespoke fitness areas into clients’ Superyachts and private homes specially tailored to their needs and physiology. They also deliver nutrition training to on-board chefs and supply on-board trainers and physical therapists.

Charlie has an early background in the industry. His father is an Offshore Powerboat Racing World Champion and Superyacht designer. Charlie is a competitive offshore yacht racer with an RYA Yachtmaster.

He has a BSc, Chemistry from the University of Bristol. He qualified as a Personal Trainer in 2002 and holds successive advanced qualifications in fitness, nutrition and physiology. He was a corporate M&A lawyer in London before moving into health.

As head of AMELS’ in-house design and naval architecture department, Hans is intimately involved in the construction of luxury motor yachts of the absolute highest quality, working closely with the most renowned pedigree yacht designers and suppliers. As well as the AMELS Limited Editions range, Hans and his team of talented naval architects and experts in large yacht construction handle AMELS Full Custom design and proposal bids. Among the almost 60 AMELS yachts delivered, Hans has worked on milestone projects such as the first MCA-compliant TIGRE D’OR, the avant-garde EVENT and the recently delivered 74-metre PLVS VLTRA and 83-metre HERE COMES THE SUN. In his role, Hans applies his extensive production experience at AMELS as well as from his previous role in shipbuilding at a Fincantieri yard in Italy.

Before entering the superyacht world, Hans began his career as a Navigation Officer for Holland American Line (an affiliate of the Carnival Cruise Line Company). He is a graduate in both Marine Engineering and as a Naval Officer at the HZ University of Applied Sciences in Vlissingen, the Netherlands.

Sara Gioanola joined Heesen in 2009 as the role of PR and Press Officer. She shares her enthusiasm for the Heesen brand via the media, with extensive content in print publications, digital platforms, videography, events and trade shows. She has helped raise Heesen’s profile considerably thanks to her skills in communication coupled with a thorough understanding of luxury brands and marketing, all around the world.

Prior to Heesen Yachts, Sara worked with Baglietto as a fast motoryacht specialist and Perini Navi, the major superyacht builder specialising in large sailing yachts, from 2005 – 2008.

Sara graduated in 2001 with a Master’s degree in Philosophy. She has always been a passionate sailor and is fluent in three languages.

Ron Gibbs is the owner of a 35 metre yacht M/Y Elysium and has owned a series of motor yachts over the last 20 years. Ron has numerous international business interests, including being a founding shareholder and Chairman of Silver Arrows Marine Limited, which last year launched the new Arrow460 Granturismo with Mercedes-Benz.

In 2006 Ron became a Partner in the China National Aviation Fund, a founding shareholder and Chairman of Cammel Laird (Gibraltar) and the Chief Counsel and Chairman of the Board of Protectors to HRH Prince Khaled bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz. In particular, he was responsible for the tender, new-build and financing of the 124 metre M/Y Golden Odyssey which was delivered by Lürssen in 2015. He was also the legal advisor to the Board of the Khaled Bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation – which supports research of coral reefs world-wide.

As a solicitor and then partner with the international law firm Linklaters, Ron was the head of the Firm’s international Shipping and Aviation Practice, managing a substantial superyacht practice, including the new-build, refit and chartering of the yachts within the “Golden Fleet”.

Ron qualified as a lawyer in England and specialised in Aviation and Shipping Law at University College London. Ron is also a Yachtmaster and a Master Scuba Diver.