Menu
Matt Lindley is a pioneering diversity and inclusion keynote speaker, blending decades of elite aviation experience with a powerful personal journey of resilience and authenticity. As one of the first openly gay pilots in the Royal Air Force, Matt’s story is a compelling testament to the importance of inclusive leadership in high-performance environments. Today, he is also a British Airways Boeing 777 Captain, delivering keynote speeches that leave a lasting impact on audiences across corporate, healthcare and government sectors.
After graduating with a commerce degree from the University of Birmingham, Matt began his career at the Ford Motor Company as a Japanese Management Consultant, developing a sharp understanding of cross-cultural communication and organisational performance. In 1995, he was selected to become an RAF Fast Jet Pilot, achieving a lifelong ambition during a time when LGBTQ+ personnel were banned from serving openly. Matt navigated this chapter of his life in silence, a personal challenge that fuelled his commitment to psychological safety and inclusive leadership. His talent and resilience saw him promoted to the RAF’s Royal Squadron, becoming a VIP Training Captain responsible for flying The Queen, the Royal Family and the UK Prime Minister. He also served in high-pressure operational theatres including Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone, and became a qualified flying instructor.
In 2007, Matt transitioned to commercial aviation, joining British Airways as a Boeing 747-400 Pilot, later moving to the Boeing 777 fleet in 2020. In tandem with his flying career, he turned his attention to human performance and leadership development. In 2012, he founded Propel Performance, followed by his appointment as Director in 2013. His work focuses on translating aviation safety and error reduction models into the healthcare and corporate worlds. In 2019, Matt became Partner & Head of Human Performance Factors at Verpora, applying flight deck principles to boost performance and reduce critical errors in other high-stakes industries.
As a speaker, Matt is known for his warm, relatable style and an ability to connect deeply with diverse audiences. Since 2018, when he began his keynote journey with TLC Lions, he has been inspiring leaders to embrace vulnerability, authenticity and inclusivity. His talks tackle topics like inclusive leadership, speak-up culture, decision-making under stress, and mental health. Drawing from a career shaped by both excellence and adversity, Matt equips teams to build safer, fairer, and more effective workplaces – delivering talks that resonate long after the final word.
“I cannot recommend Matt highly enough. He talked to the Close Brothers community about his journey and it resonated incredibly well with all colleagues, not just those from the LQBQT community. His candour and honesty really connected with people, and the ties with wider mental wellness and resilience were incredibly topical given the current pandemic. His humour shone through and it was one of the best received external speakers we have had to date. A thorough recommendation…”
“Matt is a very engaging speaker who really knows his stuff – he uses diverse case studies across sectors to illustrate his points expertly well. I left the training as if I had really learnt something”
“I was fortunate enough to listen to Matt speak at a recent LGBT diversity and inclusion event. Matt shared his own journey as a gay man growing up and achieving his dream to be a pilot which took him the macho world of the RAF and how throughout this time he kept his sexuality bottled. He was able to thread into this the impact that sustained stress and stressful events can have on your performance and if left unchecked the catastrophic outcomes that can result. He sincerely described how having to hide one’s sexuality is a significant source of sustained stress in one’s life providing a compelling reason why being inclusive is so essential to avoid this unnecessary situation. It also served as a reminder that each and everyone one of us faces stress and stressful situations everyday whether it be about being LGBT, a difficult family situations, illness the list goes on and reminded me how embracing diversity and being supportive of each other is beneficial to our overall well-being.”
The Diversity and Inclusion Speakers Agency has been one of the UK’s leading bureaus for inspirational figures of different races, genders, sexualities and abilities since 2020. We supply speakers for corporate and public events across the world, and cater to both in-person occasions and online webinars. Our roster includes athletes, psychologists, celebrities and more, to ensure that audiences of all industries receive tailored, impactful advice on diversity and inclusion.
Copyright © 2025 The Diversity & Inclusion Speakers Agency. All rights reserved.
