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Mandy Hickson speaker – Suisse

Mandy Hickson – Former RAF Fighter Pilot | Leadership, Risk & Human Performance Expert | Keynote Speaker

Mandy Hickson is a former Royal Air Force fast-jet pilot who served for nearly two decades. As one of the UK’s first female Tornado pilots, she flew multi-million-pound jets in hostile environments, including patrolling the no-fly zone over Iraq. Her path into the RAF was not easy: she failed initial flying tests but persevered, ultimately succeeding through determination, mindset, and performance under pressure.

Today, she shares her extraordinary journey to inspire organizations to cultivate leadership, teamwork, decision-making under stress, and diversity. Mandy holds a Master’s degree in Sports Science and uses both her aviation background and academic training to create impactful keynotes tailored to business audiences.

🏆 Notable Achievements

  • Flew Tornado GR4 combat missions over Iraq and led operations in extreme conditions

  • One of the first female fast-jet pilots in the RAF

  • Author of An Officer, Not a Gentleman, a bestselling memoir on her aviation career

  • Trusted keynote speaker for global companies across sectors: finance, pharmaceuticals, tech, energy, and public service

  • Advocate for women in leadership, resilience, and human performance under pressure

Languages

  • English

🧭 Key Themes & Expertise:

  • Leadership and decision-making in high-pressure environments

  • Human factors and performance in safety-critical roles

  • Risk management and strategic thinking under uncertainty

  • Empowerment and resilience

Mandy’s storytelling is energetic, moving, and deeply authentic. She takes audiences inside the cockpit—both literally and metaphorically—to explore themes of courage, calculated risk, human factors, and inclusive leadership. Her presentations are backed by real-world mission experience and provide transferable insights for high-stakes business environments.

What makes her keynotes exceptional:

  • Live tactical decision-making insights with corporate parallels

  • High-resilience mindset building

  • Engaging storytelling with real mission footage and anecdotes

  • Strong female role model breaking barriers in male-dominated fields

  • Diversity, inclusion, and breaking the glass ceiling

  • Communication and trust in high-performing teams

Mandy Hickson Keynote Speaker Switzerland

Leadership
Risk & Decision-Making
Women in Aviation
High-Performance Culture

Mandy Hickson – Showreel