Paul Cayard

A seven-time sailing world champion, five-time America's Cup veteran and two-time Olympian, Paul Cayard is one of the world's most accomplished athletes. Having been the first American skipper to win the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1998, Cayard's ability to lead a team, which is faced the most demanding conditions, is unrivalled in the world of sailing. As CEO of his 2000 America's Cup entry, AmericaOne and his recent success leading the Disney entry Pirates of the Caribbean in the 2005-2006 Volvo Ocean Race, Cayard demonstrated not only his leadership, courage and determination as an athlete, but also his understanding of the commercial value that sport can bring to business.

Through his 25 years of competing at the highest levels of sailing, Cayard has developed a wealth of experience in team building, team management and sports marketing. Teams in the America's Cup or Volvo Ocean Race often number more than 100 team members specializing in many different disciplines ranging from; aerodynamics to engineering, law, accounting, physical training, logistics, sail making, nutrition and boat building. Cayard has coordinated, motivated and managed the many diverse personalities on his teams to develop strong, cohesive and unified teams which have achieved very successful results year after year.

Sailing is an inspirational and adventurous sport, with many parallels to the demands of the business world. Paul Cayard is an accomplished motivational and corporate speaker. Cayard has the ability to captivate, engage and inspire any audience. His speaking engagements have included Volvo, McKinsey, IBM, HP, Ford, Q8, The Walt Disney Company and many others.