Available to book
Ollie Thorn
Transform organisational resilience with Ollie Thorn, speaker and disability inclusion specialist. Ollie works with leadership teams to build inclusive cultures, develop psychological safety, and implement change management strategies, delivering impactful frameworks backed by his para-athlete experience and Valuable 500 expertise.
Ollie Thorn transforms adversity into opportunity as a disability inclusion specialist, endurance athlete, and keynote speaker who helps organisations build resilient cultures through authentic leadership and inclusive practices.
Following a life-altering motorcycle accident that ended his British Army career, Ollie rebuilt his life to become a professional para-athlete in downhill sit skiing, raised over £1 million for charity, and completed remarkable endurance challenges, including a 70.3 Ironman. As head facilitator for the Valuable 500's Generation Valuable program, he guides executive mentoring partnerships between senior leaders and disabled talent.
Ollie's firsthand experience navigating extreme change translates into practical strategies for organisations facing disruption. He demonstrates how developing psychological safety fosters high-performing teams, while his expertise in disability inclusion helps companies implement effective strategies that attract diverse talent and promote belonging. His approach combines personal resilience techniques with organisational culture development.
Audiences leave Ollie's presentations with actionable frameworks for building resilient mindsets during uncertainty, practical tools for creating psychologically safe team environments, and strategies for implementing meaningful disability inclusion initiatives that drive business performance.
Book Ollie to transform how your organisation approaches change, builds resilience, and creates truly inclusive cultures where everyone can thrive.
Topics, sessions and talks
Ollie Thorn explores how to reframe adversity as a catalyst for growth, drawing from his own extraordinary journey of recovery after a life-changing spinal injury. Having rebuilt his life through elite sport and global leadership roles, he shares practical lessons on resilience, adaptability and purpose. With a powerful blend of raw honesty and tangible insight, Ollie offers a compelling framework for navigating uncertainty, shifting mindset, and embracing personal responsibility in the face of rapid change.
Ollie Thorn demonstrates how inclusive leadership can transform team culture, performance and wellbeing. Having led across high-pressure environments while navigating his own challenges with disability, he unpacks the psychology behind inclusive teams and why vulnerability and trust underpin high performance. His blend of lived experience and practical insight highlights the small shifts leaders can make to foster contribution from all voices. Ollie’s open style creates space for honest reflection and meaningful behaviour change.
Ollie Thorn brings an unfiltered and practical perspective to disability inclusion, rooted in both personal experience and global advisory work. From rebuilding his identity after spinal injury to launching major inclusion initiatives for leading organisations, he dismantles stigma and demystifies the conversation around disability. His engaging, clear-eyed approach makes the topic accessible, relevant and urgent. Ollie offers simple strategies that drive genuine progress, challenging teams to shift from awareness to action with empathy and accountability.
Ollie Thorn delivers a powerful exploration of courage in the face of life-altering adversity, drawing on his journey from British Army recruit to adaptive athlete and global inclusion leader. After a near-fatal accident, he rebuilt his life through grit, teamwork and a refusal to let limits define him. With a grounded, human approach, Ollie shares lessons in resilience, determination and collaboration that inspire individuals to meet challenges head-on and lead with conviction.
Ollie Thorn reflects on how trauma reshaped his life, mindset and mission. At 23, a devastating injury left him confronting an uncertain future, yet it became the start of a new path. Sharing the emotional reality of recovery and rediscovery, Ollie reveals how purpose, gratitude and small daily actions can build lasting courage. His calm intensity and relatable honesty encourage audiences to step into discomfort, embrace growth and redefine what’s possible.
Ollie Thorn combines his extraordinary journey from British Army soldier to para-athlete with practical expertise in disability inclusion to help organizations build resilient, high-performing teams through authentic leadership and inclusive practices. Book Ollie to transform how your organization approaches change and creates truly inclusive cultures where everyone can thrive.
often considered together
Lucy Edwards
Disability Awareness
Diversity and Inclusion
Resilience
Syreeta Challinger
Adversity
Resilience
Effective Leadership
Steve Brown
Olympics
Adversity
Diversity and Inclusion
frequently asked questions
Something we've not covered here?
To book Ollie Thorn, email ollie.thorn@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 Ollie'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.
Ollie Thorn structures his sessions around a first-person recovery narrative — from spinal injury sustained in a motorcycle accident through to elite para-sport and executive advisory work — which he uses as a scaffold for delivering frameworks on resilience, inclusive leadership and disability inclusion that audiences can apply directly.
Ollie Thorn speaks on mindset and resilience in adversity, inclusive leadership and team culture, and disability inclusion. He is a disability inclusion specialist and head facilitator for the Valuable 500's Generation Valuable programme, having rebuilt his career following a spinal injury sustained in a motorcycle accident that ended his British Army service, going on to compete as a professional para-athlete in downhill sit skiing and raise over £1 million for charity.
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.
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