Available to book
Gillian Drakeford
Transform organisational culture with Gillian Drakeford MBE, speaker, global retail leader and diversity advocate. Gillian works with businesses to drive strategic implementation and inclusive leadership, delivering expertise from her executive roles at IKEA UK, Ireland and China.
Gillian Drakeford MBE is a global retail leader, chair, advisor, and speaker. She has enormous experience bringing together people and systems to deliver success with a purpose. She has led IKEA in the UK, Ireland, and China and driven the superbrand's global retail experience programme.
Gillian is recognised for translating strategy into reality through solid communication skills and storytelling and shaping a genuinely effective organisational culture through connecting, engaging and mobilising people. She strongly advocates for true meritocracy in the workplace, supporting true diversity and inclusion.
Topics, sessions and talks
Gillian Drakeford shares insights on fostering leadership and growth in organizations driven by purpose, emphasizing the importance of aligning values and goals for impactful development.
Gillian Drakeford emphasizes the importance of recognizing customers as multifaceted individuals, beyond just their digital interactions, to truly understand and meet their diverse needs.
Gillian Drakeford discusses the importance of adopting a customer-centric approach, emphasizing mindset shifts and organizational focus to enhance customer satisfaction and business success.
Gillian offers your team insights from a global retail leader. Benefit from her expertise in transforming strategy into reality, fostering a meritocratic workplace, and driving success through diversity and inclusion. Elevate your organizational culture and inspire your team to achieve greatness with purpose.
often considered together
Sacha Romanovitch
Diversity and Inclusion
Effective Leadership
Workplace Culture
Cynt Marshall
Effective Leadership
Diversity and Inclusion
High Performance
Alex Mahon
Effective Leadership
Change Management
Diversity and Inclusion
frequently asked questions
Something we've not covered here?
To book Gillian Drakeford, email gillian.drakeford@getapeptalk.com or call PepTalk on +44 20 3835 2929 (UK) or +1 737 888 5112 (US), and one of our speaker agents will contact you within hours to confirm Gillian's availability and speaking fee. If you can, please include your budget upfront – it helps us fast-track your request. It’s also helpful to know the date, format (virtual or in-person), location, and about your audience.
Gillian Drakeford translates strategy into practice through storytelling, drawing on her experience leading IKEA across the UK, Ireland, and China to ground organisational and customer-centric principles in real-world retail examples.
Gillian Drakeford MBE speaks on purpose-led leadership and organisational development, customer centricity and mindset, and understanding customers as whole human beings beyond their digital behaviour. She led IKEA across the UK, Ireland, and China, and drove the brand's global retail experience programme.
No. PepTalk adds no booking fee, so you pay the speaker's fee and nothing beyond it. The service, from shortlist through to contracts and event-day logistics, is included. For repeat or multi-event bookings, PepTalk can agree preferential rates with your procurement team.
Share your event date, audience, format, objectives and budget, and PepTalk sends a hand-picked shortlist within 24 hours. Each suggestion comes with a profile, a fee and a recommendation on the strongest fit. Once you choose, PepTalk handles contracts, travel and logistics through to event day.
The typical fee range is the speaker's standard in-person fee in their home market, shown in their local currency. It moves with format, location, date and session length: virtual sessions and shorter slots usually cost less, while international travel and peak dates cost more. Send your brief to PepTalk and the team will confirm the exact fee in your currency.
Not all of them, and it makes no difference to your booking. PepTalk's network of 15,000+ speakers covers talent the team works with directly alongside speakers represented by agents and agencies worldwide. PepTalk approaches the speaker, negotiates the fee and handles contracting either way.
Three to six months ahead is comfortable for most events, and 12 months is better for large conferences, peak-season dates or one specific in-demand speaker. Shorter timelines are workable, and PepTalk regularly fills last-minute and replacement bookings within days. Availability is the constraint, so get in touch as soon as you have a date.
Get the right person
Tell us what you’re working on and we’ll match you with the talent your audience won’t stop talking about.
