Jonny Combe

Jonny Combe is Chief Executive of PayByPhone UK.

Born and raised in rural Scotland, Jonny’s natural entrepreneurial spirit was evident from an early age, starting a car washing business in his neighbourhood at just 14 years old.

While studying marketing at the University of Stirling, Jonny had several business ventures, including buying and selling used cars to generate extra income.

At the age of 20, Jonny joined the highly competitive BMW Graduate programme.

Following several promotions, Jonny was made General Manager of Digital and Innovation within BMW Financial Services at the age of 28, the youngest among his peers to reach this level of seniority.

In this role, he led the team that delivered the BMW Innovation Lab, an award-winning corporate accelerator and the first of its kind within the industry. He subsequently spearheaded the BMW Intrapreneur Lab, an internal innovation programme to foster a culture of innovation within the business.

Having made an impact during his 14 years at BMW, in 2018, Jonny Combe was headhunted to become Chief Executive of PayByPhone UK.

PayByPhone is a global mobile parking payment provider and one of the fastest-growing digital payment platforms in the UK, wholly owned by Volkswagen Financial Services AG.

He has since delivered a 30% year-on-year growth in a dynamic and constantly evolving industry.

Passionate about innovation, in 2020, Jonny was recognised as “One of the UK’s top ten business game-changers”. Furthermore, he has been featured in numerous publications such as HuffPost, The Economist and the Scotsman.

An innovation and leadership keynote speaker, Jonny Combe has shared his insight and experience with a wide range of brands, including Barclays, Disney, Asset Finance International and Baillie Gifford.

Jonny’s keynote speaking topics include:

Innovation and Influencing
Anyone who has tried to “go against the grain” in a big corporate organisation knows only too well the feeling of getting nowhere.

Drawing on his experience of launching two award-winning innovation programmes at BMW,  Jonny shares how he navigated the “corporate immune” system that exists to kill off new ideas which don’t conform to the status quo, along with the learnings of what made both programmes successful.

Leadership
Jonny was headhunted to become CEO of PayByPhone UK at 32, taking on a brief to lead the rapid growth of a technology company.

Using his experience as a young CEO in the digital world and his 14 years at BMW, Jonny shares what he considers to be some of the key ingredients to effective leadership. Furthermore, he exposes some of the “old school” leadership styles that dramatically hold back organisations.

Customers
Customer expectations seem to increase year on year, meaning that resting on your laurels is never an option.

Jonny explains how understanding the customer journey is the key to engaging effectively with your customers and how to ensure that your organisation’s offering remains competitive in an age when no industry is safe from the threat of digital disruption.

“We found Jonny to be a professional and polished speaker. His story inspires audiences with its unique and informative perspective. His entertaining and engaging presentation style stimulates audiences to explore innovation, creativity and leadership. In summary, his presentation was new, useful and well crafted.”
Andy Wilkins, Honorary Senior Visiting Fellow, CASS Business School