Adrian Hayes is a British record-breaking adventurer, author, keynote speaker, leadership and team consultant & coach, documentary presenter, social commentator and campaigner.
An Arabic and Nepalese speaking former British Army Gurkha Officer, who also spent two years in the Special Forces, his adventuring achievements include trekking to both Poles, summiting Everest and K2, crossing the length of Greenland and the Arabian Desert, setting two Guinness World Records, writing two books, and featuring in three documentaries to date.
One of the few extreme adventurers in the world with a senior corporate background – including six years as an Airbus Middle East Sales Director – Adrian has been a global keynote speaker and professional leadership, team and executive consultant, coach & mentor for over 15 years, delivering speeches, seminars, and programs worldwide. He has also been an Advisory Board member for one of the future Mars projects.
In his social commentator and campaign work Adrian is an ambassador on economic, social & environmental sustainability – the ‘triple bottom line’ of People, Planet and Profit – and a patron of the Population Matters and CHASE Africa charities as well as several other causes, campaigns and charities. As a former qualified Paramedic, he is also involved in an ongoing project providing medical treatment and health & hygiene education in the remote areas of the Himalayas.
Adrian has presented or featured in three broadcast documentaries to date: The Greenland Quest for the National Geographic Channel, and Footsteps of Thesiger and In Inner Mongolia for the Discovery Channel, and is now an establishing television and documentary presenter. His first book, Footsteps of Thesiger, was published in 2013, and details his 44-day journey across the Arabian Desert. His second book, One Man’s Climb: A Journey of Trauma, Tragedy and Triumph on K2, was published in 2019. His third book, on human development and society, will be published in 2023 / 2024.
A Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, he has lived and worked in eight countries in the World and travelled to more than 100. Outside of mountaineering and expeditions, his interests include most sports, particularly rugby union, athletics and rock climbing, human development, politics & international affairs, medicine, health & nutrition, astronomy, science, film & music, and he is still an occasional singer and guitarist in a rock band.
