About Hannah
I spent 15 years running teams before I ever held a mic.
Before the stage, I was a COO at Northbank and spent fifteen years leading people through restructures, mergers and long change. I speak about what that taught me: how teams keep going when the plan stops working.
Speaker · Author · Former COO
Leeds · 2025
22
countries
2
books
The story so far
01
The operations years
I started in a warehouse office in Leeds and ended up running operations for a bank. Fifteen years of rotas, budgets and people who needed a plan that worked on a Tuesday, not just on a slide.
It taught me that most problems at work are not strategy problems. They are tired people trying to do too much with too little time.
02
The team that burned out
In 2019 my best team fell apart in the middle of a merger. Nobody was lazy. They were exhausted, and I had not noticed until two of them left in the same week.
I rebuilt how we worked: shorter meetings, honest Mondays, and a rule that nobody carries a project alone. Within a year the team was the calmest in the bank.
03
The first stage
A colleague asked me to tell that story at an internal conference. I said yes before I could say no. Eighty people, one clicker, and hands that would not stop shaking.
Afterwards a queue of managers wanted to talk. That queue is the reason I left my job in 2021 to speak full time.
04
Now
Today I speak to leadership teams, conferences and company kick-offs in 22 countries, in person and online. I still keep one foot in operations through advisory work.
Every talk starts with a call with you, so the stories and the tools fit your people, your theme and the week they will go back to.
Milestones
Twenty years, one through-line
For event organisers
Speaker kit
for your programme.
Short bio · 50 words
Hannah Okafor is a keynote speaker on leadership and change. A former COO at Northbank, she led 900 people through two restructures before leaving to speak full time in 2021. She has spoken on more than 300 stages in 22 countries and is the author of Built to Bend.
Long bio · 150 words
Hannah Okafor spent fifteen years in operations before she ever held a microphone. She started in a warehouse office in Leeds, rose to COO at Northbank, and led 900 people through two restructures and a merger. When her best team burned out in 2019, she rebuilt how it worked: shorter meetings, honest Mondays and a rule that nobody carries a project alone. The story of that year became her first talk. Since 2021 she has spoken full time to leadership teams, conferences and company kick-offs in 22 countries, in person and online. Her book Built to Bend (Northbank Press, 2023) is now in four languages. Every talk starts with a briefing call, so the stories and tools fit the audience and the week they go back to.
Host intro · read out by the MC
Our next speaker spent fifteen years running teams before she ever held a mic. She was COO at Northbank, led 900 people through two restructures, and wrote the book on keeping teams going through change. Please welcome Hannah Okafor.
AV and room needs
Lapel or headset microphone
Wireless clicker
Confidence monitor facing the stage
HDMI input for a laptop (slides 16:9)
15 minutes for a sound check before doors open
Headshots · high resolution
Books & resources
Take the ideas home
Hannah Okafor
Built to Bend
Book
Lapel
Book
Built to Bend
The book behind the keynote: how ordinary teams get through big change without breaking. Published by Northbank Press.
Hannah Okafor
The Monday Questions
Free guide
Lapel
Free guide
The Monday Questions
A one-page guide with the three questions from the talk. Print it, pin it up, use it every week.
Hannah Okafor
Calm Under Pressure Workbook
Workbook
Lapel
Workbook
Calm Under Pressure Workbook
The workshop workbook: decision routines, meeting scripts and a pressure plan you fill in yourself.