Niluka Kavanagh

Niluka Kavanagh is the Founder of ImagineThat and The Modern CEO, where she helps leadership teams evolve how work gets done.

With a background in corporate and entrepreneurship in London, Asia, and Europe, Niluka Kavanagh brings a rare blend of behavioural strategy, global insight, and real-world experience to the future-of-work conversation.

Through The Modern CEO, she works with forward-thinking companies to break free from outdated systems and build workplaces that attract, engage, and retain top talent. Her work focuses on modern leadership, culture-led innovation, and creating environments where people and performance thrive.

She also helps leaders and teams present with confidence and communicate more effectively, drawing on her extensive experience coaching professionals in public speaking and workplace communication, helping them improve their content, delivery and style.

Having previously built KPMG’s Behavioural Science Unit and internal innovation initiatives, Niluka Kavanagh knows what it takes to spark change from within. She also draws on her own nomadic journey to help leaders lead with empathy, communicate across generations, and keep pace with shifting expectations in a radically changing world of work.

Niluka Kavanagh’s recent speaking engagements include opening the Future of Work Conference 2025 (in Athens) and running workshops for KPMG LLP.

Booking is easy with Great British Talent. To find out availability and fees for Niluka Kavanagh or any other talent for your corporate event or project, contact our Great British Talent agents via [email protected], or call us on +44 1753 439289. Alternatively, fill out our talent enquiry form here . We’ll aim to respond within the hour. Our knowledgeable team of experts can handle all aspects of your booking to ensure it runs flawlessly.

Type Of Speaker

Business & Finance Cost of Living / Finance Employment & Recruitment Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Female Speakers Future of Work Gen Z High Performance Keynote Leadership & Teamwork Personal Development Speaker Virtual Speakers

More About Niluka Kavanagh

Background | Niluka Kavanagh

After graduating from Oxford University, Niluka Kavanagh began her career as a consultant at KPMG, working with global clients including Lloyds Bank, Mastercard, The London Stock Exchange, and Tesco. She founded both the firm’s first Behavioural Science Unit and KPMG FutureThinkers, a tech and future of work initiative which hosted speakers from HSBC, The BBC, and more.

After leaving KPMG, Niluka transitioned into entrepreneurship, successfully running two businesses while working from over 14 countries around the world, including Chiang Mai, Lisbon, Tokyo, and Valencia. Her tech start-up was featured on BBC Radio 4 and in The Scottish Sun, while her public speaking coaching business helped over 500 clients improve their presenting skills worldwide. Her experience of building businesses while working from anywhere led her to create ImagineThat – The Business School for Nomadic Entrepreneurs, which now has a thriving community of over 1,000 members and was recently spotlighted by Oxford University in an entrepreneurial feature.

Since then, Niluka Kavanagh has lectured at top universities, including Trinity College Dublin, the University of Edinburgh, and Somerville College, Oxford. Her work has been published by The World Financial Review and Cambridge University, and she hosts the YouTube channel @BreakingBoundarieswithNiluka. She holds a BA Honours from the University of Oxford and an accounting certificate with CIMA.

Niluka Kavanagh | Keynote Topics

The Future of Work: Key Trends Reshaping Careers and Businesses

The world of work is evolving rapidly, from AI advancements to shifting employee expectations to alternative work models. This holistic talk provides an overview of the key trends shaping the future of work today, what they mean for businesses, and how leaders can adapt to stay ahead.

Communicate With Confidence: Speaking and Presenting with Clarity and Impact at Work

In today’s workplace, clear and confident communication is no longer optional – it’s a leadership skill. This keynote explores how professionals can present ideas that resonate, improve their public speaking skills and create impact and influence through speech. Drawing on years of experience coaching global leaders and teams through her public speaking company, HelpMePresent, Niluka shares practical tools to help teams speak with impact, connect authentically, and communicate like modern leaders.

The Intrapreneur Within: Unlocking Hidden Talent in Your Teams

This keynote explores how organisations can harness intrapreneurial thinking to drive innovation and performance from within. Niluka shares real-world examples from her time building KPMG’s Behavioural Science Unit and running innovation sprints, showing how to cultivate ownership, creativity, and initiative. Ideal for companies looking to unlock dormant talent and future-proof their culture through internal entrepreneurship.

From Emperor to Modern CEO: Rethinking How Work Works

Too many leaders are still operating like it’s 2012 – stuck in systems that alienate their best people. This keynote challenges outdated leadership mindsets and explores what it really takes to build a high-performing culture today. From async-first communication to rebuilding trust and autonomy, Niluka unpacks how to evolve your organisation before your people outgrow it.

The Future of Leadership Is Human: Building Trust, Autonomy, and Cultures That Last

In an age of remote tech, AI, and generational shift, leadership can no longer rely on top-down control or rigid processes. In this keynote, Niluka shares how forward-thinking companies are creating environments where people want to stay – by leading with empathy, communicating across generations, and designing modern work systems that support wellbeing and innovation.

Gen Z and Millennials at Work: What They Want and How to Lead Them

Today’s emerging workforce isn’t just younger—it’s wired differently. This keynote unpacks the values, expectations, and communication styles of Gen Z and Millennials and explains why traditional leadership no longer works. Drawing on cross-cultural experience and behavioural insights, Niluka offers practical tools for leaders to better engage, retain, and inspire this talent before they walk out the door.

Call +44 1753 439 289 or email Great British Speakers today to book Leadership Speaker Niluka Kavanagh for your corporate event.

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Testimonials

Niluka Kavanagh truly excels in both her analytical and creative thinking. She applies both simultaneously to solve client challenges with a refreshing ease and elegance that few possess. Always articulate and compelling, Niluka is a great storyteller, able to land her ideas persuasively, and as such is an excellent manager of others. Importantly, she is also a super nice person with a great deal of integrity – if you have the chance to work with her, grab it with both hands.

Joanna Stringer, CMO, Marketing, Sales and Pricing, Director and Partner, BCG (Boston Consulting Group)

Thank you for your participation and invaluable contribution to The Future of Work conference. You gave an excellent presentation. You are clearly well-educated and highly experienced. The attendees all praised your expertise!

Konstantina Mavridou, Conference Producer, Boussais Events

It’s rare in your professional life to come across an individual like Niluka Kavanagh. And over the past few years, I have watched her grow from strength to strength. Niluka is brave, passionate, entrepreneurial, strategic and creative, along with being an exceptional communicator. She is also very humble, down to earth and kind, which are qualities I value and admire hugely. The results that Niluka achieves for her clients are matched in spades by the way she delivers them and her ability to build highly personalised relationships that she continues to nurture. Anyone who has the pleasure of working alongside Niluka is incredibly lucky!

Gill McLaughlin, Strategic Transformation Leader, CX Lead at Phoenix Group, Advocate for Women in Technology

Niluka Kavanagh gave an excellent, thought-provoking and insightful presentation at the CBCC 2024 Conference, exploring the future of work and the rise of digital nomadism. She covered a variety of relevant topics, including how individuals can pursue self-employment and embrace the freedom to work from anywhere. As a speaker, she was highly engaging, holding the audience’s attention with her informative yet relatable style. I was impressed by the depth of her insights and knowledge, which were grounded in both her personal experiences and current industry trends. I’m confident the audience found her equally compelling, and I look forward to hearing her speak again.

Noah Levy, Partnerships Lead, Former TEXx Speaker, Driving Sponsorship Revenue for a TV Show on Peacock & Global Brands