Liam Black

Chair, The Conduit
Liam Black

Famous for his bluntness and honesty, Liam likes sharing tips on how to attempt the tricky task of balancing ambitious social change goals with the unforgiving realities of starting and scaling businesses. He has also spoken often about the loneliness of leadership and how to deal with anxiety and conflicting demands.

Founder, CEO, chair, speaker, writer, investor and mentor, Liam has done it all during thirty years in the UK’s social enterprise movement.

He has created and led over a dozen purpose driven businesses in the non-profit and private sectors. In the 1990s he ran Liverpool’s furniture recycling company FRC which led to a spell as CEO in the Jamie Oliver Group.

Following this he ran his own global leadership development company Wavelength exiting in 2018. As Executive Chair he transformed the fortunes of digital mental health business Togetherall.

Currently he chairs members club for those working towards social change The Conduit and is a trustee of the global social innovation group The Amani Institute.

Liam has published several books, the latest of which is ‘How to Lead with Purpose‘. He co-founded the Social Enterprise Coalition which evolved into Social Enterprise UK, helped create Impact Ventures UK which has invested £40 million early stage growth capital into social enterprises and ran Muhammad Yunus’s global solidarity campaign. He has four grandchildren who make him very happy.

Liam Black