Keynote SpeakersSebastian Sheppard is a senior leader operating within the world’s most competitive high-performance technical environment: Formula 1.
With over 20 years of leadership experience across diverse, high-performance technical sectors, including aerospace, cybersecurity, defence, data science, and telecoms, Seb Sheppard brings practical, high-impact insights on leadership, resilience, and motivation to businesses and leaders.
Seb’s career foundation is unique and global. He grew up in Chile, attending school in Santiago and is a native Spanish speaker. Before his military career, he spent two years doing expeditions in Patagonia.
His leadership skills were forged in high-pressure environments, starting as a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, where he flew anti-submarine helicopters. He also worked with the Spanish & Chilean Navies.
Recently, Seb led over 150 engineers at Alpine F1, a role he carried out for over six and a half years.
At Alpine F1, Seb led the technical team responsible for the time-critical design and engineering of F1 race cars. He developed a world-class, high-performing team of specialists in all aspects of the car. Drawing on this demanding environment, Seb champions the philosophy that high performance is achieved by consistently getting the best out of motivated people, not merely assembling experts.
Empowering High Performance, Resilience, and Transformation
His philosophy is about empowering and motivating people, cultivating a culture of psychological safety. He defines resilience as a mindset, stressing the ability to transform inevitable setbacks into valuable learning opportunities.
His experience spans multiple high-tech industries and countries. He served as the Head of Transformation & Integration at Altran (now Capgemini) UK & Northern Europe, directing post-merger integrations. His approach focuses on protecting the value of high-tech firms by applying a people-based perspective during integration.
Previously, he held senior management roles at Airbus, overseeing the A400M Wing Final Assembly Line in Seville, Spain, and successfully managing the turnaround of aerospace logistics operations.
Seb Sheppard is a visiting lecturer at prestigious institutions, including the Universities of Oxford, Edinburgh & Melbourne, delivering insights on Leadership, Motivation, and Driving High Performance Cultures.
Sebastian Sheppard’s stories and lived experiences span countries, languages, cultures and industries, making him a diverse and popular keynote speaker.
Seb Sheppard Speaking Titles and themes include:
- Be the Leader you always wanted to have.
- How to lead and retain High-Performing Teams.
- Leadership at the cutting edge.
- How AI and Data Science are changing and powering F1.
