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A dynamic young Welsh company, Defier, has forged strategic partnerships with some of the world’s largest and most influential technology companies namely Dell and LinkedIn well as establishing an enviable client base of leading global brands to include Microsoft, GE, Intel, PwC,  VMware, Associated British Foods as well as Welsh based Certus Technology Group, IQE and Circle IT.

Defier is owned by its Founding Chairman Hywel Loveluck. He and his team operate the highly acclaimed Dell Management Challenge hosted annually in Brecon Beacons National Park (25-27 September 2015). Complementing Defier’s strategic partnership with Dell are sponsor partnerships with LinkedIn, the world leading University of Cambridge Judge Business School Executive Education, Ordnance Survey and  Welsh Government.

The Dell Management Challenge is a unique 4 dimensional competitive event involving teams of 7 corporate executives aimed at optimising management team performance and delivering positive charitable outcomes comprising:

1. Two day Adventure Race involving teams competing in challenges to include canoeing, mountain biking, trail running/ hiking, navigation )
2. Management development including learning and development delivered by renowned   Cambridge Judge Business School Executive Education and  Olympic icon Greg Searle MBE
3. Charity challenge – to include a Management case study task and fundraising to benefit 3 partner charities.
4. Senior level networking forum

Said Tim Griffin, CEO of Dell UK,

“We are delighted to extend our title and strategic sponsorship of the Dell Management Challenge with Defier. Hywel and his team deliver a unique competitive learning and development experience for our clients and partners to enjoy and benefit. Along with Defier, we are also excited about our research and development partnership with Cambridge Judge Business School Executive Education and the positive outcomes their efforts will deliver to our partner charities. Last but by no means least, we very much look forward  to progressing our commitment and partnership with the Welsh Government to include developing this annual event over the next three years”.

Welsh Government Economy Minister Edwina Hart said: ” Hosting this prestigious event in Wales provides a great opportunity to promote what Wales has to offer from a tourism and business perspective.

“Teams from leading global and UK corporate brands will be participating and bringing around 300 senior leaders to Wales from companies working across a number of our priority sectors. This tried and tested format involves competitive sporting activities, management development and charitable challenges that create the perfect environment and opportunity to network,  meet potential inward investors and talk business.

 “I am delighted that a number of Welsh Government Anchor companies are participating and wish all the teams every success

Said Rhys Williams, Government and Business Relations Leader at GE Aviation Wales,

“Our organisation has been supporting the Dell Management Challenge for a number of years and indeed our team came second in 2014! The format has evolved considerably over recent years as has the quality of the competition and business benefits delivered to participants. Our 2015 team are very much looking forward to improving on last years position  as well as supporting Duke of Edinburgh Awards in Wales, which is our nominated event charity”.

Said Hywel Loveluck, Chairman of Defier

“ We are thrilled to extend  our partnership with Dell  as well as our other new partnerships  established in 2015 including Welsh Government. Our 2015 event theme is #TeamOptimisation. Team members will get to understand the underlying principles of #TeamOptimisation and gain a  unique insight from Olympian Greg Searle MBE and also be part of a fascinating Cambridge Judge Business School Executive Education research project on the theme. The team outcomes will involve applying collective  learning in the Team Adventure Race and Management Task to benefit themselves, their returning organisations and partner charities.

Finally we wish to thank the Cambridge Judge Business School Executive Education for donating the prize for Winning team  who will win 7 Executive Education 2 day courses worth circa £15,000 at the business school”.

Ends

 

Just a reminder that an important aspect of the Dell Management Challenge is to raise valuable funds for our 3 partner charities Action for Children, Clic Sargent and Transformation Trust – for donation information see http://www.managementchallenge.co.uk/charity-challenge/

 

We were delighted to attend the recent Dell Channel Partners conference at Millbank Towers, London. The event was hosted by Dell UK CEO Tim Griffin, EMEA President Aongus Hegarty and Sarah Shields, Head of Channels.

Channel partners were provided with technical updates from a number of Dell experts as well as an impressive business update from Tim and Aongus. (photos of business update and Dell Mangt Challenge stand at #Dellfastforward)

The theme of Dell Management Challenge 2015 is #TeamOptimisation. Team members will get to understand the principles of #TeamOptimisation, apply their learning in the team Adventure Race and Management Task to benefit themselves, their organisations and beneficiary charities.

We are delighted to confirm the participation of Greg Searle MBE on 25-27 September 2015 at the Dell Management Challenge.

The Dell Management Challenge is a unique 4 dimensional competitive event aimed at optimising management team performance and delivering positive charitable outcomes. Over 40 teams from Global and UK corporates such as Barclays, PwC, GE etc will compete in teams comprising of 6 plus 1 ‘Team Enabler’, in:
1. A 2 day Adventure Race (canoeing, mountain biking, running, hiking, map reading)
2. Management development challenges
3. Senior level Networking opportunities and forums
4. Charity development and fundraising activities

Greg is a Olympic icon, winning a gold in 1992 Olympic rowing final of the coxed pairs . Greg staged a sensational comeback for the 2012 Olympics, aged 40, and won World Cup Gold and Olympic Bronze. Greg will draw on his successful Olympic and Executive Coaching experience on the importance of a clear vision, shared values and at a performance level, contracting to a common cause to enable #TeamOptimisation.

The 2015 event theme is #TeamOptimisation. Team members will get to understand the principles of #TeamOptimisation, apply their learning in the team Adventure Race and Management Task to benefit themselves, their organisations and beneficiary charities.

To pre-register your team, visit www.managementchallenge.co.uk.

The dates for 2015 Dell Corporate Challenge will be the 25-27 September 2015. This follows the comprehensive feedback we gratefully received on the 2014 event. So, one of the developments involves registration taking place on the Friday afternoon followed by an evening function. More to come…….

We are currently revamping the website for the 2015 which will include a photo gallery and outline details of the 2015 event. We shall notify you of the changes over the next week or so.

In the meantime please pre-register your teams on http://www.managementchallenge.co.uk/register-now/.

Please enjoy this 20 minute video of the 2014 event

Dell Corporate Challenge 2014 – Initial timetable

Dell Corporate Challenge Team & Personal Objectives

We are very grateful to GB triathlete and coach Mark Whittle of www.Whittlefit.com for preparing an 8 week training guide for this years event on 27/28 September in the Brecon Beacons National Park – DellCorpChallengeTrainingGuide2014

1 Tell us about the MBA – why do it, how is it going?

After retiring from my racing career I wanted to set myself up for the next phase of my life and an MBA seemed to be the ideal way to learn a lot in a compact one year course.  It’s going really well, I enjoy the course at Cardiff Business School and have made some great friends.  It’s been challenging at times, particularly not having done exams for many years, now I’m looking forward to September and hopefully start putting what I’ve learnt in to practice.

2 What aspects do you enjoy most and least?
I enjoy the wide range of business modules that we have covered  – Group work and presenting as well as discovering the academic world and just browsing through the library

 What have I enjoyed least?  Everything has been really positive, I can’t think of any bad bits.  It’s true I don’t have much free time due to the work load, but it is just for one year and it’s all time very well spent so there’s no complaints.

3 What cycling are you doing currently? Any plans to do any events?
I ride to university five days a week from Wick, that’s about 25 miles each way so I’m doing a fair amount.  Some days I’m quite tired if the lectures finish at 6pm, but I tend to do a lot of thinking when I’m on the bike so it’s a great way to finish the day.  In August I will be taking part in a  pro-am charity event.  There will be three stages in the Pyrenees, taking in the Col du Tourmulet which is where I clinched my second Tour de France victory in 2007 so it will be wonderful to return there.
4 What aspects do you miss about being a pro-cyclist and least?
I think back to the great moments, the races and successes and I’m really pleased of what I achieved, but I don’t wish I was still racing.  I’m happy that I gave it my all for 15 years and achieved more than I dreamed of and now It’s nice to move on and look to the future.  It was sad seeing a lot of opportunities present themselves to take women’s cycling to higher levels, and to see them being missed or the door slammed shut. While there is some progress, it’s about time a minimum wage was put in place for female cyclists, like there is for the men, and to bring back the women’s Tour de France after it sadly ceased to exist in 2009.

 5 Will you be watching Le Tour in Yorkshire this year? Your predictions for a winner? 
I will be in Yorkshire catching up with friends as the Tour, or a world championships is always a great time for meeting people. On Sunday 6^th, I will be at the Yorkshire Festival of Cycling at Harewood House presenting the Street Velodrome event where the public can take part, set a qualifying time, and then if they are in the top 4 men/women, they can race against the pros on the pop-up outdoor velodrome. There’s still a few rounds left in the series this summer if people are interested, and the series will be shown on Channel 4.

The Tour looks like a head to head between Chris Froome and Alberto Contador, given the confidence as the defending champion I think Chris Froome will finish first.

 6 What are your goals for the next 1,2,3 years
Right now, I’d like to finish the MBA well and then settle down in to the next phase of my life.

 7 When does your autobiography come out? What can we expect in terms of content – any clues?
The book is being printed and will be released on 31 July.  There will be a mini tour of book signings around Britain at the time of the release and it would be great to meet the fans and people who have supported me all through my career. In terms of the content, here’s a flavour from journalist Brendan Gallagher who has followed my career from the early days.http://www.tourofbritain.co.uk/news/9771.php#.U7RelLE6v3B

 “Women cyclists were scarcely tolerated and the British cycling world certainly wasn’t ready for an athlete of her exceptional calibre when she burst on the scene at the end of the 1990s. The incompetent support and occasionally outright hostility her rise to prominence sparked off was extraordinary. Broken contracts, broken promises, unpaid wages, Machiavellian plots against her, Cooke often had to overcome all that before she even reached the start line.

In her training methods, approach to racing, tactical awareness and appreciation of equipment and technology the schoolgirl prodigy from Wales was way ahead of most of the male coaches she came into contact with. No wonder Cooke could occasionally appear a bit chippy or strident, she was living her life on the front line, not only fighting for herself but battling for the integrity of women’s cycling generally.”

8 Quick fire answers

• Froome or Wiggins – pass
•  Emma Johansson or Marianne Vos – Marianne Vos
• Dragons Den or Apprentice – Apprentice
• Boris or Cameron – Boris
• Campag or Shimano – Shimano
• Water or isotonic drinks – water
• Apple or Microsoft – microsoft
• In Europe or out of Europe – out of the EU parliament, in the European market
• Mountain riding or flats – Mountains
• Alps or Dolomites – Alps

Nicole Cooke MBE will be speaking and undertaking a Q and A session at the Dell Corporate Challenge on the 27^th September in Brecon. This event will support the Action for Children Charity (main beneficiary charity) as well as the Duke of Edinburgh Awards.

www.corpchallenge.co.uk

twitter @corpchallengeww