Group In-House Training

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.

Fitz’s 45-year career encompasses director and CEO-level experience since the mid-1990s, award-winning research, and strategic leadership and governance roles with agencies tackling some of society’s most complex challenges including sustainability, community development, and youth violence and knife crime.

His outlook combines enduring and related interests in leadership and inclusion, grounded in a belief that they are foundational to each other – creating inclusion requires leadership, and leadership at its best requires an inclusive approach. Fitz’s work incorporates open and bespoke programme design and facilitation, alongside leadership coaching.

Fitz continues to play a significant role at INPD as a key subject lead on inclusion, evolving a philosophy which goes beyond a more commonplace ‘EDI’ narrative.

Andy Bate, ACA, is a chartered accountant (ICAEW) and holds a Diploma in Corporate Finance. He brings over 15 years’ experience in corporate finance and private equity, and has held more than 15 board appointments across healthcare, education technology, e-commerce and consumer goods, learning and development and content and communications.

His board roles have spanned PE-backed companies, owner-managed SMEs and early-stage ventures. Across his career, Andy has worked with in excess of 200 businesses in different capacities – as an investor, founder, non-executive director, board advisor and consultant.

Andy is a founding partner of Gunner Cooke Operating Partners, where he works with portfolio companies on governance, value creation and board effectiveness. He has also co-founded and built two businesses: a direct-to-consumer e-commerce company and, in 2019, an education software business focused on capturing and evidencing health and wellbeing outcomes in children.

His programme content is shaped by direct boardroom experience. Andy has led boards through fundraisings, served on PE-backed boards with an exit focus, guided companies through restructurings, and been involved in multiple buy-and-build strategies.

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.

Kerry describes herself as a hybrid professional working on the intersection of cultural development, improvement science and positive performance delivery. Kerry has a strategic focus, emphasising strategy into action through operational delivery. 

 Kerry’s career has spanned equally the private sector and NHS, having worked in logistics, food manufacturing, telecommunications and oil research across a range of technical disciplines.  Kerry is a chartered management accountant, green belt six sigma improvement trained, Kings Fund Top Management Programme Alumni.   

For 13 years Kerry was employed in the NHS, six years as a Board Director, also Senior Responsible Officer for MSK care in a forming integrated care system.  Kerry’s portfolio has spanned strategy, organisational development, quality improvement, research, project management. 

Kerry now has a portfolio career being both a practitioner and a trainer in her mix of consultancy and training work ensuring she stays up to date with current theory, context and practice. Kerry is also a sessional lecturer teaching improvement science and organisational development at Masters level for several universities.  

Kerry has a strong belief in bringing training to life through practice to embed in the grain of their organisations. 

Having operated in both the public and private sector through an incredibly successful career, Suzanne has developed a unique skillset for being able to take an outside-in view of an organisation and the eco-system it operates within, to work with leaders to deliver key success.  

Suzanne brings a fresh lens and energy to discussions, exploring alternative strategies to identify pivots that make ‘good’ organisations ‘great’, and increase their success. With the key to success being a strong offering alongside the right people, processes, and technology in place – to maximise that landscape and stay ahead of the curve, she works with leadership teams to ensure these are delivered in a sustainable way through a blend of consultancy with challenge, mentoring, coaching and professional development. With a real passion for helping drive an organisation forward from within, bringing a newfound ‘spirit of adventure’ into the organisation, to ensure a winning and growth culture is fostered for all.