My guest this week is an inspiring woman and a brilliant leader, Fran Millar. Fran was recently appointed CEO of the UK fashion brand, Belstaff. Prior to Belstaff, Fran was the former CEO of Team INEOS (formerly Team Sky), the world famous cycling team. Fran led the development of the team’s operational and governance systems alongside all of the business and engagement strategies. Fran has been with team INEOS from the very beginning and during this time she has played a key role in the successes and gained considerable experience in all areas of the team.

She previously held a dual role as both Director of Business Operations and Head of Winning Behaviours at Team Sky. Returning to head up all the team’s ‘off bike’ functions in 2015, her responsibilities included overseeing the team’s marketing and communications strategy, stakeholder management, and all the commercial and legal aspects that come with running the world’s number one cycling team. Fran worked alongside the incomparable Sir Dave Brailsford for over a decade, as well as leading sports psychiatrist, professor Steve Peters.

Prior to working at Team Sky, Fran set-up and ran her own successful athlete and event management agency for 7 years, initially representing her brother, David Millar and going on to represent some of the UK’s highest profile cyclists, including 2011 Sports Personality of the Year winner Mark Cavendish and 2018 Tour de France winner and 2018 Sports Personality of the Year winner, Geraint Thomas. During her career in cycling, Fran had to deal with some tough challenges including getting caught up in tan infamous doping scandal that involved her pro cyclist brother David.

Fran’s story is a fascinating one, one that has twists and turns, one that would have left a lot of people behind but not Fran. Fran is tough, she’s tenacious, she’s inspiring.