The Sport Performance Summit

Christian is the Team Principal of Formula 1 team Red Bull Racing, where he has lead the team since 2005. His motorsport career started as a racing driver, before he switched roles to become Team Principal of FIA F3000 and later GP2 Series team Arden International Motorsport in 1999. Christian is one of the most successful team principals in the sport, where he has led Red Bull to four Constructors’ Championships and four Drivers’ Championship victories, all won by Sebastian Vettel.

Trent is the Head Coach of the recently crowned NRL Champions, Sydney Roosters. He is also an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and has previously held coaching positions at Toulouse Olympique, Newcastle Knights and the Catalans Dragons. When Trent was appointed as Head Coach in 2013, at the age of 35, he was the youngest coach in the NRL. Impressively, he capped this historic season by leading the Roosters to the Premiership title and to the Grand Final victory, becoming only the sixth rookie coach Premiership winner.

Simon is the Performance Director of the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA). He took up the role in 2016 following the Olympic Games in Rio, where he fulfilled his final duties as the Performance Director of UK Sport. Prior to his role at UK Sport, Simon spent two years with the England and Wales Cricket Board, firstly as Head of Science & Medicine, followed by the role of Head of the England Development Programme. Simon was also Skeleton Performance Director of the British Bobsleigh & Skeleton Association from 2000 to 2006.

Sara became Performance Director at England Netball in 2015 and recently led the England Roses to a historic gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Other career junctures include a six year stint as Performance Director at Archery GB, three years at UK Sport as a Performance Advisor, two years as a Business Manager in the City & three years as a police officer working in Nottingham inner city. Presently she is Vice Chair of the UK Performance Director Strategic Group & a NED on the British Boxing Board.

Lorena is the first female Director of High Performance in MLB, in addition to being the first ever Director of High Performance for the Seattle Mariners. She is responsible for coordinating all aspects of physical and mental training approach of players and staff, including oversight of the entire organisation’s high performance departments.

Prior to joining the Mariners, Lorena was Director of Sports Performance Analytics for the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers. Lorena is also the author of Sports Performance Measurement and Analytics that is widely recognised in the world of sport science and sports analytics.

Stephen is the Chief Race Engineer of Porsche LMP1. He assumed the role in 2013 after spending his first season with the team as a race engineer. Stephen is responsible for ensuring all drivers, race engineers, data engineers are aligned throughout the team with regards to preparation, test and the race seasons. Stephen arrived at Porsche from Red Bull Racing in Formula 1 where he operated as a data and performance engineer.

Carlo is the Head of Team Management for Porsche LMP1, where he is responsible for all organisational matters around the test and race team, management of athletes, human performance elements and other areas such as crisis communication and organisational strategy. Carlo joined Porsche in 2013, making the move to the organisation from BMW, where he took a major role in building the DTM programme and served as leader of the BMW Motorsport division.

Will joined the Saracens Academy in 2005 aged just 14. A member of the famed ‘Class of ’08’ alongside the likes of Owen Farrell & Jackson Wray, he went on to make 83 appearances for the club and was a part of the team during the 2015/16 European & Premiership Double. After a glittering playing career, Will was forced to retire from playing in 2017 following a neck injury. Since his retirement, Will has become the Director of The Saracens Way where he is the organisation’s cultural driver both internally and externally.

Lachlan is the current Director of Performance at the NRL’s Melbourne Storm. Lachlan has an incredible CV, with clubs including the Golden State Warriors in the NBA; the Sydney Roosters, where he served as the Head of Performance for three years; and the Brisbane Lions Australian Rules Football team, where he held the role as Head of Physical Preparation for six years.

With over 20 years of experience in the field of athletic performance, he has also held positions in a wide variety of sports, including working with over 80 Olympic athletes across five different Olympic Games.

Aaron Williamon is Professor of Performance Science at the Royal College of Music, where he directs the Centre for Performance Science, a partnership of the RCM and Imperial College London. His research focuses on skilled performance and applied scientific initiatives that inform music learning and teaching, as well as the impact of music and the arts on society.

Aaron is founder of the International Symposium on Performance Science, chief editor of Performance Science (a specialty section of Frontiers) and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) and the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). In 2008, he was elected an Honorary Member of the Royal College of Music (HonRCM).

Associate Professor Sam Robertson has been the Head of Research & Innovation for the Western Bulldogs – Victoria University partnership since 2014, and was part of the Western Bulldogs 2016 Premiership. His joint role consists of overseeing sports science practice and research across both organisations.

Sam is most well known in sporting and academic circles for his work and research in the application of machine learning to improve decision-making. He has published more than 80 refereed scientific articles and prior to his current position held academic roles at Deakin University and Edith Cowan University.

Meg is the Director of Athlete Wellbeing & Performance for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League and the Toronto Marlies, the Leafs American Hockey League affiliate. Prior to this, she worked for two seasons as the Personal & Professional Development Coach for players and staff on both teams.

Meg is the first woman ever to hold a director-level position within this historic hockey franchise. She also served as a faculty member within the School of Leadership and Social Change at Brescia University College, where her teaching and research focused on socio-cultural sports studies, organizational behaviour and leadership, and youth subculture.

Bryan is the Head of Performance Science at Quebec-based performance company Cirque du Soleil, world renowned for its high-quality, artistic entertainment. He has been with Cirque du Soleil since 2007 and works with both internal and external partners leading research on factors that affect workload, fatigue, and recovery.

Bryan also manages the integration of Strength & Conditioning, Nutrition, and Psychological services and was a 2015 nominee for LiP’s 40 Under 40 award. Prior to his move to Cirque, he served as the Head Athletic Trainer / Strength & Conditioning Coach for the Saginaw Spirit of the OHL for four seasons.

Veronique currently operates within the mental performance team at Cirque du Soleil, where she supports artists to optimise their performance and ensure their wellbeing. Additionally, she is an associate researcher at the National Circus School in Montreal, working on several social innovation projects.

A large focus of Veronique’s research concentrates on the effects of creativity enhancement on motor performance and psychological adaptation, and she has designed a program to stimulate creativity combining movement improvisation, creative problem-solving and collective ideations with organisations around the world such as Cricket Australia and NXT WWE.

Craig is the EIS’s first ever Director of Athlete Health, a role he took back in December 2016, where he leads the department which works to provide injury and illness surveillance and analysis that can be used to inform individualised training programmes and medical plans.

Craig has extensive experience as a physiotherapist and sport medicine consultant and currently works alongside the International Cricket Council (ICC), Welsh Rugby, and as a programme Director for Sports & Exercise Medicine at Cardiff Metropolitan University. Prior to this, he was the Chief Physiotherapist at UK Athletics and the Head of Physiotherapy at the England and Wales Cricket Board.

Paul is the Vice-Chancellor of the Royal College of Art, the world’s number one art and design university as rated by the QS World University Rankings in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, and the only art and design university in the UK operating exclusively at postgraduate level. Prior to 2009, Paul was Director of the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York, and Director of the Design Museum in London.

Jonnie is the Director of Teaching & Learning at Eton College, and also holds the role of Director of the Tony Little Centre for Innovation and Research in Learning. Jonnie has been at Eton for 31 years, where most notably he held the role of House Master.