One of the highlights of last year's Conference Cumbria was our young entrepreneurs panel. Needing to top last year we’re delighted to announce the below panelists speaking on this year’s theme ‘Be Bold Be Courageous’.
All volunteered without requiring any persuasion, we’re in for a thought-provoking and inspiring discussion.
Steve Randles – Brathay Trust
Steve has worked in the education sector for over 25 years in roles including practitioner, teacher, head of centre, and senior leadership.
Throughout his career, he has focused on creating environments where people feel empowered to take smart risks, challenge the status quo, and speak openly. The best outcomes rarely come from playing it safe; they come from diverse perspectives, honest conversations, and, most importantly the willingness to try something new.
For Steve, success is not just about delivery, it is about the impact. It is about helping people and organisations move forward with intent, clarity, and the confidence to take bold steps when it matters most. He has learnt that courage is not about big, standout moments; often it is in encouraging others to believe in their ideas and be resilient in the face of setbacks.
Maria Whitehead MBE – Hawkshead Relish Company
Maria is the co-founder of Hawkshead Relish, the Lake District producer of award-winning Relishes, Pickles and Preserves . She and her husband Mark established the business in 1999 growing it from a small café sideline into a family run brand with over 120 different products all made by hand in a 16th Century barn on the edge of Esthwaite Water and sold to independent stores throughout the UK and worldwide with stockists as far away as the Middle East, USA, Canada and closer to home in France and Greece.
Maria was appointed an MBE in the Queen’s honours list in 2011 for services to the food industry in Cumbria, and her latest award was in September 2025 when she received a Golden Fork Award from the prestigious Guild of Fine Food for her Contribution to Food & Drink. Maria has also served the Food and Drink industry as a representative for SME’s advising on the UK Food and Drink Export programme with UK Trade and Investment, and remains as an Ambassador for the North West Exports with the Department of International Trade.
Richard Rankin – H&H Group plc
Richard has spent nearly eight years as CEO of H&H Group plc — the UK's largest livestock marketing business and a diversified rural services group handling close to £300 million in gross annual throughput. He came into the role in 2018 as a complete outsider to the agricultural sector, having spent twenty years in corporate finance at Deloitte and Armstrong Watson advising businesses on their most significant transactions. That outsider perspective, he'd be the first to tell you, turned out to be the point.
Under his leadership, H&H has delivered four years of record results, grown turnover by 73%, and significantly strengthened its balance sheet – while continuing to invest in people, infrastructure and long-term capability. That includes H&H's Future Leaders programme, which builds the next generation of management from within, and Farmstock Futures, which brings young people into conversations about the future of British agriculture at a national level.
Originally from the Northeast, Richard has made Cumbria his home since 2002 and has been an active contributor to the region's business community — including a decade on the board of Cumbria Tourism, championing Nourish Cumbria and his current role as a Director of Cumbria Chamber of Commerce.
Claire Aindow – University of Cumbria
Claire is the university’s pro vice chancellor for growth and development. She has responsibility for oversight of the university's growth agenda including ensuring that the university's portfolio responds to and is integrated into regional and national need. Claire's portfolio also includes collaborative provision partnerships (including transnational education), international student recruitment and leading on the university's international college development.
Claire has worked in higher education for over thirty years, first as a lecturer and senior lecturer in law, running Law and Business Studies pathways at Bolton Institute of Higher Education and teaching at the Open University. Latterly, she was Dean of the Off Campus Division at the University of Bolton, managing the university's partnership operations, and Head of Academic Partnerships at Ravensbourne University, London. Claire also worked for 13 years as a communications consultant, specialising in new media for the public sector; a diversity of clients leading to expertise in the operation of public sector organisations in the northwest.
With a degree in Law from the University of Cambridge and a Master's in Development Education and Global Learning from UCL, Claire has an academic interest in Global Learning and sustainability, and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, and acts as co-chair of the university's Athena Swan initiative. Claire is also on the Board of Carlisle College.
Tom Scaife – Knights
Tom provides commercial and strategic advice to businesses in relation to employment issues, disputes and Employment Tribunal claims. Tom regularly conducts advocacy in the Employment Tribunals where appropriate.
Tom has expert knowledge of the hotel and leisure sector and the employment issues which commonly arise in the sector.
He also has strong links to the nuclear industry via his position as Legal Director for Britain’s Energy Coast Business Cluster.
Tom works with a range of businesses from SME’s to FTSE listed PLCs.
Examples of how Tom has supported clients include:
The panel is just one part of the day – we also have keynote speaker Sir Clive Woodward, Lou Kneath of PLUS3K will deliver a session ‘When Pigs Fly: The Courage to Believe in Impossible Things’ and Sara Murray of Beyond Bendrigg will deliver a session ‘Trust Beyond Boundaries – creating change, one adventure at a time’.
This promises to be a day not to be missed - you can book to join us here
