Hywel spent the first 10 years of his career in sales for the Financial Times and FT.Com. During his years with the newspaper he developed, grew, and managed multiple million-dollar client relationships. He also recruited and trained over 60 team members, ultimately managing a team of 25 and budgets of $50m.

After moving to the US in 2008, Hywel transitioned into the world of corporate training and public speaking. Over the next ten years, as the head of the facilitators network for Mind Gym, Hywel delivered over 1500 sessions to over 50,000 people all over the world, the largest being a group of 12,000 at the United Center in Chicago. Alongside many small and medium sized companies he worked with more than 200 of the Fortune 500, delivering to names as diverse as Nike, JP Morgan, and Microsoft, as well as startups like Etsy, Uber, and WeWork on wide range of topics from sales and leadership, to diversity, equity & inclusion, change, storytelling, and many more.

Founding Alicorn Learning in 2021 Hywel wanted to move the training industry forward by leaving all the old tropes and stereotypes of corporate training behind. Training shouldn't be something at which people roll their eyes. Instead, it should be something that excites people. Something that is a real bonus for working with a company big enough and caring enough to offer it. Hywel's belief is that running training for people that want to be there is no real trick. The skill is delivering that while winning over all the people who have have bad experiences in the past, or who may be there against their will. Everyone in the room should have a positive experience, and that is what Alicorn Learning strives for in each and every session.

Meet the team

Hywel Berry

CEO & Lead Facilitator

Richard Madeley

Master Facilitator

Annette Berry

Operations Director

Olivia Bialowas

Customer Service Manager