— executive speechwriting

The speech that could only be yours.

Executive speechwriting for global leaders at pivotal moments. A selective practice — a small number of engagements each year, for the leaders and organizations where the words have to be right and unmistakably yours.

Brent Kerrigan, executive speechwriter, Geneva
— Based In Geneva | Engagements Worldwide
20+Years Executive Speechwriting practice
3UN Executive Secretaries
1,000+Speeches written & delivered
CEOsSupport for Fortune 500 Companies

Trusted by communicators at

UN Climate Change ITU Green Climate Fund Government of Canada Fortune 500 Companies Multilateral institutions
— The work, in one sentence

I write speeches for global leaders, and provide AI training to the communications teams who support them.

— The Premise

Distinctive leadership demands a distinctive voice.

I work with leaders who understand two things.

First, that AI can't capture a distinctive human voice, no matter how sophisticated the prompt.

Second, that this is an opportunity — because the leaders who invest in that voice now will stand out sharply against the flattened, AI-smoothed sameness of everyone else.

AI can enhance, augment, and help you get information rapidly and organize it efficiently.

But it cannot feel. It’s not you.

— selected voices

Crafted Together. Delivered with Impact.

António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, Petersberg Climate Dialogue 2020

António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, Petersberg Climate Summit, 2020

“These are dark days, but they are not without hope.”

Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary UNFCCC, 5th Anniversary Paris Agreement 2020

Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary, UNFCCC, 5th Anniversary of the Paris Agreement

“The Paris Agreement is a covenant of hope with humanity.”

Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary UNFCCC, Munich Security Conference 2023

Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary, UNFCCC, Munich Security Conference, 2023

“Investment in climate action is an investment in personal security and, ultimately, peace throughout the world.”

Mafalda Duarte, Executive Director Green Climate Fund, IIED Barbara Ward Lecture 2024

Mafalda Duarte, Executive Director, Green Climate Fund, IIED Barbara Ward Lecture, 2024

“While national sovereignty may provide rights of self-determination for nations to pursue their own paths, we cannot sever the threads that bind us on a fundamentally human level.”

Neerja Birla, Founder Aditya Birla Education Trust, Global Chair for Mental Health 2025

Neerja Birla , Founder and Chairperson of the Aditya Birla Education Trust & Global Chair for Mental Health, 2025

“True prosperity means more than money. A nation’s prosperity is measured in health, quality of life, security, education systems, and so much more — but each of those is built on a foundation of mental health. ”

Brent Kerrigan between drafts, Geneva
— Between Drafts
— How The Work Actually Happens

It starts with listening.

You don't capture a leader's voice from a brief. You build it together — over conversations about what you really believe, the words you actually use, and the cadence of how you think out loud.

The speeches that shift audiences come from that kind of partnership. Most of the work is listening; the writing is what comes after.

My approach is collaborative and tailored, never templated — and the result is a speech that sounds unmistakably like you, every time you step on stage.

— An engagement, end to end

A different approach to speechwriting.

i

A strategic conversation

I start where most speechwriters don't — with your voice. How you think, how you speak, what you believe. Then I define message, tone and audience. Who is being addressed, what they need to hear, and what you actually want them to do.

ii

Research & gathering

A focused phase of background work, including face-to-face conversations with subject-matter experts and stakeholders.

iii

A first draft

With enough flexibility to grow. The skeleton of an argument, not a finished artifact.

iv

Revisions until it lands

Shaped by your voice, your rhythm and the way you actually speak. I iterate until the speech is truly yours.

My approach is collaborative and tailored. I don't disappear, send a draft, and hope it lands. Every engagement is different — but most look something like this.

Why this matters

The real cost of a forgettable speech.

A templated speech doesn't just fall flat. It leaves even the strongest ideas stranded — the message blunted, the credibility quietly undermined, the moment gone before it was ever really seized.

The work I do is, very simply, to keep that from happening to the people who lead you.

Generic speeches

Fill a time slot.

Strategic speeches

Move people.

Who turns to me

Every message has an audience. I work with leaders who need theirs to land.

My practice is intentionally selective. I take on a small number of engagements each year, across a wide range of sectors.

i · Public sector

Government officials, diplomats & multilateral leaders

Strategic narratives and speech support that build action and trust. From ministerial addresses domestically to plenary speeches at the UN.

ii · Business

CEOs & business leaders

Messaging for high-stakes speeches and moments — especially for executives communicating in English as a second language, and for leaders presenting to international audiences.

iii · Climate & sustainability

Sustainability, climate & NGO leaders

Messaging on climate, development, biodiversity and global sustainability — crafted to resonate with funders, partners and public audiences alike.

iv · Philanthropy

Philanthropists & foundation chairs

Keynote addresses, public lectures and long-form thought leadership for philanthropy and mental-health advocacy.

v · International organizations

UN leaders & agency heads

Six years inside the UNFCCC at the highest level, work at the ITU, and continuing relationships across the wider UN system. Speeches in the language of multilateralism.

vi · ESL principals

Leaders communicating in English as a second language

Years of working with UN senior leaders for whom English is not their first language. Speeches and communications products customized to each leader's rhythm and style.

The UN and Beyond

The work moves across continents, sectors and stages.

Geneva may be home, but the engagements are everywhere. Climate diplomacy at COP summits. Ministerial speeches in Ottawa. Boardrooms in New York and Berlin. Lecture halls in Oxford. Mental-health advocacy speeches in Delhi.

Brent Kerrigan at COP25, Madrid 2019, UNFCCC Head Speechwriter
Madrid for COP25
Brent Kerrigan taking notes at COP26, Glasgow 2021
Listening To how it lands
Brent Kerrigan at his Geneva writing studio
Home · Geneva
Brent Kerrigan at COP26 climate summit, Glasgow 2021
At work · Glasgow
A word on AI

Yes, I teach people to use AI. No, that is not what this is.

I run workshops on how communications professionals can use AI effectively in their work. I believe it is a genuinely useful tool — for research, for structure, for editing, for the hundred tasks that surround the writing of a speech. I teach it because I use it, and because I have a clear-eyed view of what it can and cannot do.

What it cannot do is write your speech.

Not because AI is incapable of producing words — it produces them in abundance, and some of them are perfectly serviceable. The problem is that abundance and serviceability are the opposite of what a leader needs at a high-stakes moment. AI-generated speeches tend toward the generic. They flatten the specific qualities — the cadence, the conviction, the particular way a leader thinks out loud — that make a speech worth giving and worth remembering.

The leaders who have built careers, institutions and movements on their ability to communicate have done so on the strength of a distinctive voice. That voice took years to develop. It reflects everything they believe, everything they've experienced and everything that makes them credible to the people they lead. Using AI to draft their speeches doesn't just risk a flat result — it risks erasing the thing that made them worth listening to in the first place.

A great speechwriter doesn't replace that voice. They find it, protect it and put it on the page in a form the leader can actually deliver.

No writer worth their craft would try to replicate that digitally. And no leader worth their platform should settle for a speech that could have belonged to anyone.

Want to discuss?

Let's talk.

Get the tools, coaching and expert feedback you need to use AI in leadership communications — whether for yourself, your comms team, or your whole organization.

  • Free workshops · in-house team workshops · advisory sessions
  • Based in Geneva, working globally across time zones
  • Personal reply within 24 hours · confidentiality respected
Personal reply within 24 hours