Rebecca Stephens MBE to open the Clanfield Challenge 2018

Sometimes we all need a little dose of inspiration to help us realise our potential. Luckily for us, we have Rebecca Stephens MBE joining us on May 20th for the opening of the races and the presentation of the winners trophies.

On 17th May 1993, Rebecca Stephens became the first British woman to climb Everest and was awarded an MBE for her achievement. The following year she went on to become the first British woman to scale the Seven Summits, the highest mountain on each of the seven continents. Her interest in climbing was ignited when, in her late twenties, she accompanied an Anglo-American expedition on Everest’s North East Ridge in 1989.

Rebecca’s early career was in journalism, working first as reporter and then deputy editor of one of the Financial Times magazines. It was writing for the FT Weekend that she was assigned to Everest and discovered her passion for climbing. Today, as director of leadership development company, Seven Summits Performance Limited, and adjunct at Ashridge Executive Education, Hult International Business School, she continues to draw on her experiences of the outdoors and business to coach, lecture and deliver workshops on leadership. Themes explored include vision and purpose, team, communication, engagement, decision-making and risk. As well as climbing, Rebecca has ventured to Antarctica on several occasions, once crossing the Antarctic island of South Georgia in the footsteps of Sir Ernest Shackleton, and explores the story of this remarkable man to draw lessons on leadership and resilience.

Rebecca has led numerous treks in the Himalayas – in Bhutan, Ladakh, Tibet and Nepal – and in Africa. For four successive years, she coached and led groups of international women MBA students studying at the Rotterdam School of Management, to climb Kilimanjaro on a new initiative, the RSM MBA Kilimanjaro Project, the aim of which has been to facilitate a behavioural transformation in leadership and collaboration.

Closest to Rebecca’s heart is the Himalayan Trust UK, a charity originally established by Sir Edmund Hillary to help Sherpas help themselves. It’s pay back time for Rebecca. She knows she couldn’t have climbed Everest without the Sherpas and wants to help where she can. Rebecca has been a trustee since 1995. She chaired The Himalayan Trust for three years from 2011 to 2014, and now continues her role as trustee.

If you are interested in learning more about Rebecca, you can read more about her on the following links:

• Rebecca Stephens MBE website - Seven Summits Performance Limited
• On top of the World by Rebecca Stephens - Amazon
• The Seven Summits of Success by Rebecca Stephens - Amazon
• Beyond your wildest dreams - Rebecca Stephens TED Talks on YouTube