Cardiff Business Club has hosted a series of exclusive lunch events designed to bring together business leaders to hear from high-profile speakers from across the region.
The invite-only Chairman's lunches were hosted in collaboration with restaurateur Giovanni Malacrino at Giovanni's Cardiff Bay.
The first event saw attendees hear from Alun Williams, Chief Executive of Swansea Building Society, with Frank Holmes, Founder and Partner at Gambit Corporate Finance, speaking at the second lunch.
Nigel Roberts, Chairman of Cardiff Parkway Developments, which is overseeing the project to build a new mainline railway station in the St Mellons area of the city, spoke at the final lunch.
Cardiff Business Club Chairman Phil Jardine said:
“Our hugely successful main events schedule runs between September and June and brings together more than 100 members and guests each time to hear from world-class speakers who share their perspectives on business, leadership and global trends.
“Our summer lunches have been designed to complement this by bringing together a much smaller gathering of selected guests to hear from an invited speaker and to discuss topics of paramount importance to the economic prosperity of our city and region.
“They have also given the Club the opportunity to showcase the first-class hospitality which our city boasts, and we thank Giovanni for the warm welcome to his excellent restaurant in Cardiff Bay.”
Giovanni Malacrino said:
“As a regular attendee at Cardiff Business Club's events I know how valuable it is for business leaders to have such a forum to network with one another and to hear from a range of excellent speakers.
“We are proud to serve the city from our collection of award-winning restaurants in The Hayes, Park Place and Cardiff Bay. Partnering with the Club on this lunch series has been an opportunity to showcase our first-class facilities for private dining and al fresco dining, which are perfectly placed for Cardiff's well-connected business community to come together and network over fine Italian cuisine.”
Cardiff Business Club's 2026/27 season will kick off with lunch and a talk by Ruth Patterson, Vice President and Managing Director of HP Inc.
Originally from Cardiff, Ruth is responsible for leading HP's UK and Ireland business, overseeing strategy, sales, operations, and growth from HP's UK Headquarters in Thames Valley Park, Reading, Berkshire.
Ruth previously served as Global Head of the Advanced Compute Solutions Category Organization at HP Inc. In this role, Ruth partnered across global markets and functions, as well as externally with partners, alliances, and customers, to drive innovation and growth across a diverse portfolio, including Mobile and Desktop Performance Workstations, Retail Industrial Solutions, OEM, Data Science, and AI Solutions.
Throughout her career Ruth has held multiple global leadership positions and was based in the USA for more than 20 years. She has also held leadership roles in Europe and worked at Xerox UK.
Ruth holds an MBA from the University of Bath, a bachelor's degree from the University of Glamorgan, and has completed Stanford's Executive Leadership Program as well as HP's Accelerate Berkeley Executive Program.
The lunch takes place on Thursday September 24 at Cardiff Marriott Hotel and will start at noon with a networking drinks reception followed by Ruth's keynote speech and a Q&A session. There will then be a two-course lunch.
The event is open to members, non-members and guests, and is ticketed only. Tickets are priced at £49.00 + VAT for members and £65.00 + VAT for non-members.
