René Carayol

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Last Updated: 22 Sep 2026

Executive Vice President of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)

London, GB

Profile Verified by The Marque

Last Updated: 22 Sep 2026

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In Their Own Right

Biography

René Carayol MBE is one of the world’s leading leadership speakers and executive coaches.

A passionate and inspiring speaker, René Carayol is an expert on leadership, culture, and transformation. He has advised world leaders including Tony Blair and Mikhail Gorbachev, as well as some of the world’s most powerful CEOs. René’s work focuses strongly on inspirational leadership amongst executive teams in order to improve business performance.

René is often asked “are leaders born, or are leaders made?”. In his experience, the answer is neither, leaders are found. The best indicator of tomorrow’s leaders is who can influence and persuade without authority. René has had the privilege of ‘finding’ many leaders over the years.

Early in his career, René was given some advice: that he would benefit from having a Black male mentor who had served on boards and been a chairman, but at that time none of those existed in the UK.

In 2001 he was appointed to the Board of the Inland Revenue as it merged with Customs and Excise to become HMRC. At the time there were no diversity or inclusion programmes, but René found it exhilarating to be in a ground-breaking and pioneering role. It was where he first met the burden of being a role model, which energised him to be the best that he could be.

René is co-author of the bestselling books Corporate Voodoo and My Voodoo. His book, SPIKE, focuses on identifying things we excel at to build self-esteem and confidence.

The range of René’s experience and audience is vast. He is a regular guest on BBC Radio 4, Radio 5 Live, ITV, Sky, Channel 4 and BBC TV as a business commentator. He is a contributor to various publications and broadsheets on the subjects of leadership and business transformation.

René received an MBE in 2004 for his outstanding contribution to the business community.

The Record

Background

2000 — Present
Global Leadership Keynote Speaker & Chief Executive

René Carayol

René is a world-renowned executive and leadership coach; inspirational leadership speaker; advisor to CEOs and heads of state, as well as a bestselling author and commentator. He specialises specifically in business transformation and leadership development.
2021 — Present
Executive Vice President of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)

Medallia

Medallia is an employee and customer experience management company headquartered in California with offices worldwide including in London, Munich, Paris and New York. Medallia’s supplies its software to retail, hospitality, financial services and business-to-business companies around the globe.
2006 — 2023
Founder & Chief Executive

Inspired Leaders Network

Inspired Leadership Network was a conference and events company that focused on leadership.
1999 — 2000
Managing Director of IPC Electric

IPC Media (became Time Inc. UK)

René served as Managing Director of IPC Electric, the internet business which led the Management Buy Out (MBO) of £860 million, still the largest MBO in Europe, and led to the successful sale to AOL Time Warner in 2000.
1992 — 1995
Systems Director at Pizza Hut

PepsiCo

Pizza Hut was a subsidiary of PepsiCo, which had acquired the chain in 1977, until 1997, when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant division into a new independent company.
1983 — 1992
Senior IT Manager

Marks & Spencer

Marks & Spencer is a leading UK retailer that sells food, clothing, home products and offers financial services.

In The News

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