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Lessons from the Summit
Insights from Kenton Cool
At our next Unique Perspective event, we are delighted to welcome Kenton Cool, a world-leading high-altitude climber, ice climber and adventurer. With a record breaking 18 summits of Mount Everest and experience leading complex expeditions across the world’s most dangerous terrain, Kenton brings unparalleled expertise in risk management and critical decision-making.
Drawing on these experiences, he will explore the challenges of leading teams in life-threatening environments, the importance of strategic planning and risk assessment, and the resilience needed to lead teams safely though uncertainty.
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Kenton Cool is world-leading high-altitude climber, IFMGA World Mountain Guide, ice climber and adventurer.
He has vast climbing experience and has been the first ascendent of peaks all across the world. He has successfully summited Mount Everest a record-breaking 18 times, meaning he has achieved more ascents of the world’s highest mountain than any other non-Sherpa. In 2013, Cool was the first climber to complete the Everest Trilogy without returning to basecamp. He completed the three Himalayan giants; Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse, of the Khumbu Triple Crown, in a single expedition.
Kenton Cool has become a world-leading climber in spite of a major physical setback. In 1996, he fell from a rockface in Wales and shattered both heel bones. Having been told he might never walk unaided again, he spent weeksin hospital and months in a wheelchair. Whilst he continues to be in pain and sometimes struggles walking, his determination and appetite for adventure spur him on.
Cool became a national hero in 2012 when he fulfilled a 90-year Olympic pledge, committed by a British climber Edward Lisle Strutt in 1922, to take an Olympic medal to the summit of Everest.
He has a reputation for being an excellent guide and leader. In 2007, Cool successfully guided Sir Ranulph Fiennes up the North Face of the Eiger, raising £2.7 million for charity. In 2009, he successfully guided Sir Ranulph Fiennes to the Everest Summit.
Kenton Cool was made an honourary Doctor of Laws by the University of Leeds in July 2018. He obtained a BSc in Geological Sciences from the University of Leeds in 1994, which is where he developed his passion for rock climbing.
In 2008, he Co-Founded Adventure Base, a worldwide adventure company, with Andy Egglelston.
In 2003, Cool received a Pilot d’Or award nomination, mountaineering’s Oscar, for a route on Annapurna III.
Luis is President of the London and MENA region at Liberty Specialty Markets, where he is responsible for setting, owning, and executing the strategy for the London insurance business.
Luis has over three decades of experience in the insurance industry and has held various underwriting, risk management, and leadership positions.
Luis joined Liberty in 2023 from AXA XL, where he was Chief Underwriting Officer (CUO), UK and Lloyd's, and the Active Underwriter of AXA XL's syndicate at Lloyd's. Having joined Catlin in 2008, he progressed through various senior roles while the firm transitioned through two acquisitions.
Luis recently obtained an MBA from Cambridge Judge Business School.
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