The Downtown Den Podcast

The latest season of the Downtown Den podcast is all about leaders. In the latest episode Downtown boss Frank McKenna is joined by former Member of Parliament for Liverpool Wavertree, Luciana Berger.

Discussing a varied career, Luciana reflects on her career working in retail for Disney and in the NHS and what lessons she took from her experiences and finally what led her to a career in politics.

The latest episode in our 'leaders' series hears from CEO at Liverpool John Lennon Airport, John Irving.

In this fascinating discussion with Frank McKenna, John discusses his career from Procter & Gamble to LJLA.

A Geordie through and through, John discusses his role as Finance Director and Newcastle United Football Club and how he was able to separate being a fan with being a director. John also touches on his role at Newcastle International Airport.

From the Covid crisis through to deals with Lufthansa and Jet2, John shares his journey so far and the future of Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

In the fourth epsiode of the 'Leaders' series of the Downtown Den podcast, Frank McKenna chats with the chief executive of Birmingham City Council, Deborah Cadman.

Deborah discusses her vaired career, her experiences prior to taking on the chief executive role at Birmingham City Council, the lessons she has learned from leaders and her stint working for Mo Mowlam.

Deborah also shares her thoughts and opinions on how various government structures can change and reform to deliver better services for communities.

In the latest episode of the Downtown Den podcast, Frank McKenna chats with CEO of M & Gaucho Restaurants, Martin Williams.

Martin shares his pathway into hospitality, which began with a foray into acting, and his subsequent rise to head honch at Rare Restaurants.

Martin also shares some tips and advice on what he believes makes a good leader.

As the Linonesses head for a World Cup final (at the time of publishing), Frank Mckenna chats with Chief Executive of Women in Football, Yvonne Harrison.

In an extremely interesting discussion Yvonne discusses how she got involed with Women in Football, her difficulties in being a woman in a male dominated field and the growth of womens football.

Yvonne also offers her leadership advice and what she thinks makes a great leader.

Yvonne willl be speaking at the Business of Sport conference on Thursday 7th September 2023. Book tickets here.

In the first episode of Season Four of the Downtown Den Podcast, DIB boss Frank Mckenna chats with Managing Director of Make Events, Holly Moore.

In a fascinating conversation which looks at Holly's career and personal motivations, they touch on how 'Live Events' coped during and after lockdown, hybrid and virtual events, the struggle of employing the right staff and what the future holds for Holly.

Catch up on old Downtown Den podcasts with Holly Moore below.

https://downtowninbusiness.podbean.com/e/series-2-ep-1-holly-moore/

https://downtowninbusiness.podbean.com/e/ep52-downtown-den-a-frank-conversation-with-holly-moore/

 

Find out more about Holly's podcast 'Anything is Possible' at the below link.

https://makeevents.co.uk/portfolio/anything-is-possible-podcast/

Downtown Den Special.

DIBs political Editor Jim Hancock and Frank McKenna analyse the July 2023 by election results – and find out who were the winners and losers.

Downtown in Business is fortunate to work in partnership with some of the very best businesses across the country.

We wanted to give you the opportunity of getting to know them a bit better, and we have recorded a series of conversations in the Downtown Den with the personalities behind the brands.

In this episode DIB boss, Frank McKenna chats with Sean Keyes and Billy Baldwin who are Directors at structural and civil engineers Sutcliffe.

sutcliffe.co.uk

Downtown in Business is fortunate to work in partnership with some of the very best businesses across the country.

We wanted to give you the opportunity of getting to know them a bit better, and we have recorded a series of conversations in the Downtown Den with the personalities behind the brands.

In this episode Downtown in Business Director, Chris McKenna chats with National Framework Manager for Procure Partnerships Framework Faye Dolan, to find out everything about Procure Partnerships Framework.

https://procurepartnerships.co.uk/

This season of the Downtown Den Podcast focuses on The Business of Sport.

In episode ten, Downtown boss, Frank McKenna chats with Andy McIntyre from VSI Executive Education and host of a number of season three episode to get this thoughts and opinions on the stories and insights we heard in this series.

Reflecting on his conversations, Andy discusses some of his key takeaways from the series, such as Premier League winning Captain Wes Morgan's desire to move not into the coaching side of football but the boardroom post his playing career.

Andy also, reflects on his intimate and authentic discussion with David Thompson, who opened up on his mental health issues after suffering serious injuries whilst palying, his conversation with Chris Millard in making the Barmy Army a global sports business and Brendan Flood and Kenny Bruce on their ownership of football clubs.

One of Andy's highlights of the series was David Murray, who discussed in fascinating detail his involvement with the second Premier League TV rights deal for Sky TV.

On Thursday 7th September, Downtown in Business will host its inaugural ‘Business of Sport’ conference at Lancashire Cricket Clubs Emirates Stadium in Manchester.

FInd out more at https://downtowninbusiness.com/business-of-sport-conference/