In conversation event with parkrun COO

Leeds University Business School held 'Corporate Wisdom' on 9 November, giving local professionals, academics, and MBA students the opportunity to come and hear from the COO of parkrun, Tom Williams.

The session took place in the style of a ‘fireside chat’ where Tom was asked about his experience of managing a global brand through a period of significant change having gone through a global pandemic, a climate crisis and geo-political unrest. 

Professor Helen Hughes and Professor Matthew Davis from Leeds University Business School led the session in a question-and-answer format which addressed Tom’s experience of leading a global volunteer workforce and how parkrun are planning for continued success in the future. 

 

Operations Manager of the Leeds University Business School External Engagement team, David Gardner commented: 

I would like to thank everyone who made the time to attend our recent Corporate Wisdom event, to listen to Tom Williams share his experience of his fascinating journey as COO at parkrun.  A huge thanks to Helen Hughes and Matt Davis for a superb job of co-ordinating the conversation. It was great to see so many people taking so much from this event. 

The SME sector was particularly well represented and delegates had the opportunity to network and create valuable collaboration opportunities. 

Relationship Manager of the Leeds University Business School External Engagement team, Anna France commented: 

I was delighted that the External Engagement team at the business school were able to host the first of our Corporate Wisdom in Conversation events and hear from Tom Williams, COO at parkrun about the development of parkrun and his involvement in it.  The event was a great way to bring different people together from different organisations and businesses who after listening to Tom had the opportunity to network together. After the positive feedback from the event we look forward to running more 'In Conversation' style events in the new year.

You can read the full Question and Answer session with Tom Williams here. 

Thank you to everyone who came along. We are looking forward to starting new partnerships with more businesses across the Leeds City Region, as well as continuing to work with our brilliant existing community. 

 

We are already looking forward to our Corporate Wisdom in Conversation event in 2023. 

If you would like to be involved in our next event then contact Anna France (a.france@leeds.ac.uk)  

To see more images from the event, visit the album on Flickr. 

Read more about how businesses can work with Leeds University Business School.