The Advanced Management Accelerator Programme

With more than 10 years of business consulting and professional service experience, James has developed a well-rounded and practical perspective on strategic development and human capital development at all levels and cross-industries both nationally and internationally.  With a focus on innovation in strategy development, James is a certified 'exceptional trainer’.  He has a diverse background in business management, innovation, strategy development, organisational development, recruitment and operations. 

During his role in recruitment, James applied advanced psychometric techniques and personally assessed over 1,000 candidates for client’s businesses, as well as his own. Combined with coaching, this has given him an advanced experience of dealing with the human psyche and obtaining optimal results for human capital and organisational development. 

James has a very approachable manner, with valuable real-world experience as an employer and a senior consultant to a wide-range of industries and organisations.

Dr James Fowler is a lecturer in strategy and the Deputy MBA Director at Essex University’s Business School. He was formerly a regular Officer in the Armed Forces where his appointments included running the language wing of the Defence College of Intelligence and Security and advising the Royal Engineers’ training and development team. In his academic career James has published a series of books and journal articles in the field of business and management history. Alongside his academic work he is also frequently in contact with business via consultancy and executive education. In those capacities he has advised and worked with Brusov University, the TALE - Haven Gateway Partnership, Transport for London and the c2c rail franchise.  

Dr Victoria Smith-Collins, Managing Director of Smith-Collins International, is one of our most experienced trainer-facilitators and coaches.

Victoria has over 20 years of academic and corporate experience that spans international markets.  She has trained/supervised academic programmes up to MBA level (including delivering lectures, tutorials and dissertation supervision). Victoria has also worked extensively with the Chartered Management Institute, delivering programmes, examining and verifying assessment work.

Victoria specialises in leadership/management development, with a focus on strategic leadership, consumer psychology (the subject of her Ph.D), organisational development and change management.  She has worked internationally for 13 years, where she has worked for an international training institute and has headed the Learning and Development function at one of the Middle East’s largest regional banks.

Whilst at the training institute, Victoria grew and developed a number of professional UK based programmes (including those from CMI and CIM).  She logged over 1500 hours of training/facilitation, training professionals from the financial services sector and other public and private sector organisations.  Before moving  to the bank, Victoria took on a senior business development role which primarily involved consulting with key clients (cross-sectors) and partnering with them to understand their development needs and tailor programmes to fulfil those needs.

Whilst at the bank, Victoria also took the role of HR business partner which involved working closely with departments on strategic change management projects.  The role involved many hours of coaching at multiple levels, from junior up to senior executives.  Trained as a coach through the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM, UK), Victoria has over 1500 hours of international coaching experience that crosses industries.  Executive coaching is indeed one of her passions and her track-record of results is outstanding.

Alex is an experienced and dedicated education consultant and trainer. His core skillset is the design and delivery of engaging personal and professional development programmes. He is adaptable and comfortable working at any level in the organisation, from front line leaders to the Board.

Prior to working in consultancy Alex was an army officer (making it to Major). A natural diplomat, Alex studied Pashto (the language of Southern Afghanistan) and held a leadership role in supporting reconstruction and development, primarily in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.  Alex supported the development and delivery of the army’s global Security, Leadership and Strategy programme, and later worked to establish the curriculum for Afghanistan’s Officer Training Academy, in Kabul.

Alex has built a consultancy business and delivered a diverse portfolio of organisational development projects. He works across all sectors and his clients include the NHS, NATO, Barnardo’s, Home Bargains, a variety of Academy Trusts and schools, and many smaller businesses and charities. Alex has worked closely with the Chartered Management Institute, and routinely lectures on MBA and Director Development programmes for the Universities of York, Chester, and East London. Alex maintains a high level of currency and is currently developing programmes focussing on Distributed Leadership, and Managing Neurodivergent Colleagues.

Alex holds three Master’s degrees: Educational Innovation, Psychology, and Occupational Psychology. He is married to Katherine and has two children and two Labradors.

Pierson has 15 years’ experience as a consultant and facilitator, specialising in leadership, management and coaching. Experienced in the design and delivery of people development, Pierson uses coaching psychology to engage with leaders at all levels, supporting them to; be, have and do more. 

Highly experienced in talent development, from managing large graduate programmes to developing directors and senior leaders for global brands at an international level, Pierson adds value by making learning stick, while turning new knowledge into practical skills.

Starting out as a civil engineer responsible for large infrastructure projects, William became fascinated with the people side of business. Now a qualified business psychologist, and executive coach, he aims to bring a refreshingly practical approach to culture, people and performance. Over the last 10 years, he has worked with leaders and managers in organisations like British Airways, the Met Office, Bombardier, the NHS and multiple local authorities. He also spent time supporting SMEs and start-ups as well as working in the Middle East with one of the world’s largest food producers. As a result, he can relate to a wide range of people and organisational contexts. 

Credentials: 

• Member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and holds the Associate Certified Coach (ACC) credential 
• Lecturer with Henley Business School, teaching on its Professional Certificate in Executive Coaching (PCEC) programme 
• Holds a Team Coaching Certificate from the Academy of Executive Coaching (AoEC) 
• Holds a foundation certificate in Nancy Kline’s Time to Think coaching method 
• Recently interviewed for the book Coaching with Research in Mind on utilising psychometrics with coaching, as he aims to strike a balance between practical ‘rules of thumb’ and the latest evidence-based research.