- Conference Speakers
Topics:
- Business
- Leadership
- Sales/Customer Service
- Women In The World
Barbara Cassani
Barbara Cassani is a brilliant leader with an inspirational style of management - she is in great demand around the world as a lively and engaging speaker, drawing upon her experiences in the airline sector and at the Olympic bid.
Go Airline & 2012 Olympics Bid
Barbara founded the low cost airline Go and spearheaded the successful London 2012 Olympic bid. Having decided she prefers working on and in business rather than sitting on boards, she co-founded 3x + y Ventures which is pursuing hotel sector opportunities in the UK.
How The Career Panned Out
After starting her career in management consulting then working at British Airways for ten years, she founded budget airline Go in 1997. Go was started-up with a £25m investment by British Airways and was profitable in less than 3 years. Barbara then headed a £110m management buyout and a year later Go was sold to easyJet for £374m. In 2002, Barbara was named Veuve Clicquot UK Business Woman of the Year and was voted UK Entrepreneur of the Year among the readers of the Daily and Sunday Telegraphs.
In June 2003, Barbara was appointed Chairman of London's 2012 Olympic Bid, building the team from scratch and overseeing the bid winning finalist status then served as Vice Chairman from mid 2004 until the bid was won.
In 2003 Barbara wrote her best selling book, "Go – An Airline Adventure." Readers voted it the WH Smith Best Business Book in 2004.
