The BMF has announced the first Industry Forum Speakers for this year’s All-Industry Conference, taking place in Istanbul in June.
The Industry Forum is billed as being one of the most popular sessions at the BMF’s biennial Conference, bringing together influential leaders from diverse industry sectors to debate key business issues of the day. The scene is set with initial presentations by four industry experts before the debate is opened to the floor, and the BMF has now confirmed Howard Luft, CEO of Selco Builders Warehouse and David Craddock, Founder of the VerdeGO Group (formerly Elite NuGEN), as the first two names to take part in the much-anticipated Industry Forum debate.
Howard Luft is currently Chief Executive Officer of Selco Builders Warehouse part of the Grafton Group, a leading business in our sector with 75 branches and the “aspiration to be a truly national player.” Before joining Selco, Howard was Managing Director of Travis Perkins’ insulation and dry lining distribution business, CCF for six years. Prior to this he was MD of Buck & Hickman, and also worked extensively in the paint industry as MD of Crown Paints and Commercial Director of Dulux Trade.
David Craddock, meanwhile, has been involved in property development over 35 years and has extensive experience in Advanced Closed Timber Panel offsite manufacturing systems both in the UK and Europe. He helped to found EBS Elk, which “became part of the largest producer of offsite manufactured buildings in Europe, importing over 1000 units.” With EBS Elk he was a founder member of the Passiv Haus Trust, sits on several housing industry panels including the Future Homes Hub, and is a member of the CLC subgroup on housing.
David (pictured, right) set up his own manufacturing company producing timber frame buildings in 2019, winning two Best Sustainable Development Awards in 2021, and a Silver Award for the Best Small Housebuilder. His company VerdeGO Timber Frames is now geared to produce 600 homes a year.
John Newcomb, BMF CEO said: “I look forward to hearing from Howard and David as part of this year’s Industry Debate. With our Conference theme of Creating Connections we will be exploring how our industry can thrive by working collaboratively.”
John added: “I’m delighted to announce that this year’s Conference is now fully-booked.”
The BMF had also recently announced that Professor Kevin Fong, a specialist in risk, decision-making and innovation, will be speaking at the event.
Kevin is a Consultant in Anaesthesia at London’s University College Hospital (UCL) and part of its Emergency Response and Major Incident Planning Team. He was seconded to NHS England as National Clinical Advisor in Emergency Preparedness Resilience and Response for Covid-19.
He has also worked as an academic and completed training rotations at America’s leading Space Centers, before founding the Centre for Altitude, Space and Extreme Environment (CASE) Medicine at UCL, which looks at the parallels that exist between critical illness and the physiology of extreme environments.
From space travel to emergency medical response, Kevin has combined insights into planning, human reactions and behaviours, engineering, and psychology to understand risk and decision making. His broad range of interests and experiences means he can address how teams work and operate, offering perspectives on how those that work every day under pressure, under stress and with high risk deal with it to make the right calls, and quickly learn from mistakes.
Kevin holds degrees in astrophysics, medicine and engineering and is also a science and medical broadcaster and writer. He is a regular contributor to programmes on the past, present, and future of space travel and has presented numerous editions of BBC 2’s Horizon including Back from the Dead and How to Avoid Mistakes in Surgery.
The sold-out BMF All Industry Conference takes place in Istanbul from 15-17 June 2023. Further information on the event is available on the Conference website, www.bmfconference.co.uk
