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Chas Howes
Chas achieved the peak of his career when appointed as Superdry CFO. Asked to drive enterprise value through controlled growth, he led the organisation to list as a public company on the main market of the London Stock Exchange, taking the business from sales of £25m to £314m. After looking back across his career to examine how professional and personal life can be influenced by depression, and vice versa, he turned his attention to mental health in business, considering what individuals and companies can do to be part of meaningful change.
About Chas Howes
During his time with Superdry, Chas’s life was turned upside down. His wife fell ill and was suddenly in hospital with a life-threatening heart condition, and Superdry had run aground after three profit warnings in quick succession. Lined up as a scapegoat, Chas was unceremoniously fired.
He was soon spiralling towards a gravity well of depression, multiple suicide attempts, and an eventual diagnosis of depression in December 2016.
In the years since, he has grappled with a highly publicised end to a job he loved; confronted a past of being bullied at boarding school, and a family history of mental illness and eventually putting himself into therapy. He is in a much happier place having discovered a cocktail of changes to his lifestyle that is right for him, but he is not better.
After looking back across his career to examine how professional and personal life can be influenced by depression, and vice versa, he turned his attention to mental health in business, considering what individuals and companies can do to be part of meaningful change. The mission is to create a psychologically safe environment for everyone, particularly, those at senior management and board levels, where speaking out is not met with stigma, but compassion and support.
He has written a book about his story, is an accomplished speaker, and hosts a weekly show on FUBAR Radio titled “Just Not Good Enough” which discusses mental wellbeing, particularly in business. He now realises he doesn’t suffer from depression; he lives with it.
Chas has pursued a finance career at several companies (Cadbury Schweppes, TI Raleigh Cycles, Plessey Telecoms, Grand Metropolitan, Debenhams and The Burton Group), followed by 16 years in senior finance roles within alcoholic beverages (Diageo, United Distillers, Guinness, Allied Domecq Wines & Spirits and The Fosters Group), gaining a wide range of industry, international and functional experience.
To book Keynote Speaker Chas Howes, contact The Speakers Agency on +44(0)1332 810481 or email enquiries@thespeakersagency.com
Chas’s speech topics include, but are not limited to:
- Superdry – The Story of Growth, How it Became so popular and How to Keep it Alive
- How to grow a retail brand internationally?
- Inspirational Leadership
- Entrepreneurial Business
- Growth with Confidence
- The Highs and Lows of Launching an IPO
- Mental Health
