Meet the Team

Alex Firmin, Tutor

Alex is a qualified occupational psychologist and specialises in leadership development.  He is also a highly experienced educational consultant and executive coach.  Alex is the Associate Director for Programmes at In Professional Development, and routinely teaches on MBA programmes for York, Chester, and Robert Gordon Universities.

For 12 years, Alex was an army officer (Major) and undertook several tours of Afghanistan. He supported the development and delivery of the Army’s Global Security, Leadership and Strategy programme at Sandhurst. Alex's hard work led to him successfully establishing the first Afghan officer training academy, in Kabul.

Alex has over 20 years’ experience of designing and delivering strategic training programmes as well as being a business consultant and manager. Making him an accomplished Leadership Consultant with cross-cultural experience and the ability to succeed in the most challenging environments. He has become well respected for delivering high impact, strategic Leadership and Management training for large scale commercial corporations. He uses proven techniques combined with innovation to provide creative and successful solutions for businesses.

Amanda Meehan, Tutor

Amanda Meehan has over 20 year’s experience in healthcare management with the last 12 years as an NHS Practice Manager. Passionate about the NHS and building a culture of continuous improvement and sustainability, Amanda also works as a Management Consultant in primary care and is an experienced Coach and Mentor for new managers and a Member of the International Coaching Federation and Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute. Amanda is also part of a team that have created a Virtual Practice Management Service and currently works as the Service Lead.

Amanda has also worked with PCNs and Federations undertaking successful quality improvement projects. Amanda is also a member of the Health Foundation's Q Community.

Andy Bate, Tutor

Andy is a qualified chartered accountant with in excess of 15 years’ experience working in corporate finance and private equity organisations, where he did multiple Merger and Acquisitions and fund raising transactions and has sat on 15+ Boards.

He made the cross-over in wanting to build his own businesses and in the last 10 years, is a founding partner of a fast-growing and successful e-commerce company, and in 2019, co-founded and launched an education software business around capturing and evidencing health and well being in children. Andy is also a founding partner of the consultancy/operating partners arm of Gunner Cooke Operating Partners.

The vast amount of businesses Andy has appraised and worked with in his corporate finance and private equity career, coupled with his own “at the coalface” learning experiences of starting, building and developing his own businesses, gives an invaluable insight into how businesses and Boards should function.

Andy is incredibly energetic, hungry with a strong desire to succeed in any business he supports.

Caroline Forman, Tutor

Caroline holds over 20 years of experience working in small and large businesses in HR roles. She started her career in Resourcing before moving into Talent Management, Leadership development and Coaching. She has worked in start - ups and small and large global businesses within a variety of sectors including Retail, Finance, Public Sector, Manufacturing and IT.

David Abbott, Tutor

David is an award winning international marketing speaker and author. He read Engineering Science and Economics at University College, Oxford University and then went on to complete the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s Diploma at Manchester Business School. He is a Chartered Marketer.

David has held a number of senior marketing and MD roles in a wide variety and sizes of businesses. His background covers multiple industries, includes public sector and private sector, and both B2B and B2C. David works as an interim marketing director for a number of businesses, helping them to develop and execute a marketing strategy to help them achieve their goals, and helping them to develop their marketing skills, processes and teams.

David Smith-Collins , Tutor

David is an inspirational Executive Coach and Leadership Mentor with two decades of experience in people development. He is a Law Graduate (LLB), a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD and he holds an MA in Coaching and Mentoring, a post graduate diploma in Criminology and an MA in Organisational Management and Economics. 

David has worked with colleagues at all levels in organisations in sectors including petrochemicals, telecoms, IT, banking and finance, construction, aviation, higher education, ministry, transportation, security, military and customer service. He has a motivational and supportive coaching style. 

With more than 30 years in policing, his career has involved strategic planning, performance delivery, security management, risk management and disaster recovery. He is an accomplished strategist. David has extensive experience of operating at a strategic level in public, private and third sector organisations, both in the UK and internationally, bringing a broad spectrum of knowledge, awareness and expertise across a wide range of subjects and disciplines. 

Fergal Roche, Tutor

Fergal Roche was a teacher and headteacher. He was also a leading entrepreneur in the business of Education. He grew a digital business from scratch to an EBITDA of £3.5m+ and sold it to a lead investor in 2018. Since then, Fergal trained as an executive coach at Henley Business School. He worked with the CEOs of 8 different organisations to help them through change. He is also a qualified mediator. Fergal has set up three companies over past three years and he has invested in two others.  Currently he is a chair of a multi academy trust of 12 schools. He has previously chaired three other organisations, and two of them are private-equity backed. 
He has also authored and co-authored 2 books. He likes to partner with leaders to help them gain clarity, confidence and conviction. 

Fitzroy Andrew, Tutor

With a passion for learning; high standards; committed to social causes; grounded humility; an unerring instinct for developing potential. These qualities are amongst the hallmarks of Fitzroy’s 40-year career, and they continue to drive him as he develops his portfolio of work with individuals and enterprises.

He knows what it is to climb the career ladder. An HR Director at 29, a charity CEO by his mid-thirties, author of an award-winning research report, and a leader at executive and non-executive levels of SMEs and social enterprises over the last twenty years. Fitzroy has accumulated a wealth of knowledge in strategy, leadership development, coaching and mentoring.

A gifted communicator, Fitzroy is turning his talents to focus in two key areas. The first is to work with individuals to make career and life success meaningful through strengthening and expressing what he calls their ‘Achievement Mindset’. This will be delivered through a tailored support package of coaching and self-presentation, and is equally relevant to employed and self-employed professionals.

The second arises out of his experience as a child of the Windrush generation, and is about helping corporate enterprises get the best from inclusive leadership. Teams in today’s workplace need to know how to maximise the contribution and effort from everyone; this places a premium on relationships. The most successful teams are the most inclusive teams, and Fitzroy is highly skilled at working with groups to help them unlock high performance through inclusion.

James Fowler, Tutor

James lectures in management and strategy at the University of Essex. He was previously an associate Lecturer at the University of York and a regular Officer in the Armed Forces. He has completed a PGCE in Further Education and an MSc in Educational Practice and Innovation. His published work covers the finance, governance and leadership of organisations in a historical context.

James has advised on the design and delivery of promotion courses for the Royal Engineers and for some foreign Armed Forces. He also had significant engagement with language teaching in the UK and the Middle East, serving as head of the language wing at the Defence College of Intelligence and Security.

James Willerton, Tutor

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.

Jo Haigh, Tutor

• Winner of The Sunday Times NED of the Year award in association with Peel Hunt.
• Non-Executive Director and Chair for a number of prestigious companies.
• Winner of Acquisition International M&A Awards - Most Innovative UK Deal Negotiator 2016 and The AI One to Watch in Corporate Finance.
• Winner of Non-Exec Director of the Year IoD Yorkshire & North East Awards.
• Winner of the CBI First Women in Business Services Award.
• Shortlisted for Inspiring Leader of the Year Forward Ladies and SME Business of the Year with Forward Ladies.
• Best-selling author of seven books, including An Entrepreneurs Guide to Starting a New Business.
• Since 1989, Jo has bought and sold over 400 companies, specialising in owner managed companies.

Julie Hall, Tutor

Julie Hall is a digital leadership and marketing consultant with over almost two decades of experience.

She is an experienced trainer in marketing, digital leadership and transformation and has worked with the Ministry of Justice, Barclays Bank, The Careers & Enterprise Company and Google.

She has trained and consulted with hundreds of organisations and individuals to support them with their digital projects. She is the Managing Director of Springmedia, a digital agency based in Surrey and The School of Marketing which mentors and supports businesses large and small with their Digital Marketing initiatives.

Julie believes that digital leadership is not just about technology, it is about working with your people, creating the right culture and developing mindsets across teams and people. It is collaborative, creative and about building capability during a time of uncertainty and change.

Justin Collinge, Tutor

Justin runs an award-winning training consultancy based in South Devon. He’s had a varied journey up to now, having been a school teacher (12 yrs), full-time pastor of a church (10 yrs), Crew Commander in the fire brigade (15 yrs) & business leader (15 yrs). He is the author of two books & has started 4 businesses, with the last one bought just recently by EY. His consultancy is focused on Leadership Development & Culture change. He’s partnered with businesses across several sectors, including media (e.g. Sky, The Discovery Channel), hospitality & entertainment (e.g. Wagamama, Merlin Entertainments), retail (e.g. The White Company, Harrods), & energy (e.g. nPower, EDF Energy). 
  

Kelly Beaumont, Tutor

Kelly is a Personal Performance and Executive Coach with seven years experience in corporate leadership. Supporting senior managers in creating and delivering cultural shifts, running management development programmes and engaging employees within organisations.  

Kelly specialises in female development and wellbeing and has worked with a range of senior female leaders returning to the working world following maternity.  

Most recently Kelly has been nominated for her work within the Women in Insurance industry with the awards ceremony taking place later in the year.  

Laura Burton, Tutor

From her background as a Business psychologist, leadership development facilitator and consultant and post-graduate supervisor at university, Laura’s interests are firmly rooted in leadership, learning and the empowerment of others.

With an extensive Corporate and independent career, she’s retained a whole host of clients within the public and private sector with international experience. 

Liam Moran, Tutor

Liam is a highly experienced and versatile Learning and Development consultant, trainer and coach. He brings over 25 years multi-industry expertise, both as a leader and manager himself and subsequently as a developer and deliverer of effective blended learning programs for all levels, including C-suite. Liam brings credibility and gravitas to the learning process, building excellent rapport and productive relationships. He is also an experienced interim manager and speaker at conferences and seminars. 

Martin Wright, Tutor

Matt Eld, Tutor

Matt is an expert in marketing strategy and business transformation. He is a senior leader with over 25 years’ experience of improving and growing businesses, gained from a variety of senior management roles. Matt has held MD and Director posts in a FTSE 250 organisation, Marketing and Communications agency and as a business owner. A CIM Marketer by background, Matt has amassed a wealth of commercial transformation and marketing communications experience. He is an accomplished communicator and is skilled at operating at all levels of the organisation, analyzing and quickly establishing business challenges and developing sustainable solutions. He has strong influencing and negotiation skills and can drive transformation change to success with authority and a clear vision. His broad range of experience covers multiple disciplines including marketing, communications and crisis management, commercial development, change management, organisational development, IT & technology deployment, project management and business improvement.

Matt is a director level project and transformation professional with demonstrated ability to create and translate strategy into measured operational performance improvement. He has extensive experience in marketing, customer acquisition, project management, organisational redesign and commercialization, which he has gained across direct and agency environments in Higher and Further Education, Media & Publishing and Local Government sectors. He is an accomplished leader and influencer from the boardroom to front line teams across multiple location.

Naomi Buthee, Tutor

Naomi Buthee is an experienced, CIPD qualified people management professional with experience of designing and deploying strategies across multiple sectors. Outside of her corporate experience, she works with various organisations and individuals, providing support and advice on a range of people and strategic issues. Naomi's knowledge, enthusiasm and energy brings her courses to life.

Nick Jerome, Tutor

After working in sales and marketing management in the publishing and consultancy sectors, Nick had an epiphany and discovered coaching.​

He has for several years been an executive coach, and facilitates leadership, management and coaching programmes.​

Nick has an MBA, and a Masters in Coaching from Warwick University. He can also facilitate and coach in French. He’s a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a member of the Association for Coaching​

Philip Barnes, Tutor

Philip is an internationally experienced trainer and change management consultant helping organisations improve performance, delivering change programmes at both the strategic and operational levels. 

Working in arenas as diverse as Governments in Sub-Saharan Africa, to Aerospace companies in the USA, to International Football tournaments in Europe, Philip has a unique range of experience crossing many sectors and cultures. 

Philip has delivered Conflict Resolution training to PhD candidates and he is a Supervisor in the University of Manchester’s Global MBA Programme. 

Pierson Stratford , Tutor

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.

Rian Bailey-Weir, Tutor

After completing an MSc in Digital Marketing, where he researched the relationship between social media and brand engagement, Rian now leads the strategy and delivery of social media and digital marketing campaigns for one of Liverpool’s most renowned communications agencies.

Working with a range of B2B and B2C clients, Rian specialises in formulating strategic social media and digital advertising campaigns with a strong focus on visual and written content. His work concentrates on successfully improving brand perception, creating strategic content and increasing stakeholder engagement. During his time at Kenyons, Rian has successfully managed campaigns for a number of organisations such as Transport for the North, The City of Liverpool College, St Johns Shopping Centre and Peel: Wirral Waters – along with running the day-to-day engagement and communications for over 25 platforms.

Stewart McCombe, Tutor

Stewart has a career background in corporate banking, and is a highly experienced commercial individual, who commenced a transition into the not for profit sector at the end of 2009. He now has a portfolio of Chair, Board and consultancy roles across not for profits and SMEs.

Throughout his career, Stewart has developed a proven track record in the North West corporate market. In roles covering both relationship management and business development, his key skills of brokering and relationship building ensured the management of multiple stakeholders, at all times undertaken with outstanding levels of integrity. Core to his roles at Bank of Scotland were the management of key entrepreneur relationships for the bank.

In recent years, he has rapidly developed a profile in the not for profit sector, maintaining key board roles across a range of areas, including leisure and social care

Stewart has a range of financial, operational and strategic experience in the private, public and not for profit sectors, including charities, local authorities, banking and venture capital. This has captured a range of areas, including direct roles in leisure, adult care, the arts, environment and recruitment, coupled with a wide range of sectors including manufacturing, service, retail, building products and housebuilding during his corporate banking career. Stewart is at ease in any environment, from start-up to PLC boardroom.

Susan Griffiths, Tutor

Susan worked for a large UK bank for over 22 years, in a variety of roles – customer facing and in back-office support functions. She worked in continuous improvement and Lean, focused on improving the customer journey, stripping out waste from end-to-end processes and making large scale efficiencies that would save time, money and make better working experiences for staff. She trained and coached Management teams within Operational Centres with skills and tools to deliver workplace improvement sessions.

Susan spent the last 10 years working as a Learning and Development Manager, focusing on identifying learning needs across a large, global business area, understanding their problems and what wasn’t working and designing and building workable learning journeys, making them engaging, simple and accessible. A big part of her role was strategic workforce planning. Building capabilities to meet the demands of the business in the future.

She is qualified with a level 5 CIPD Diploma in Management of Learning and Development, Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) Practitioner and currently studying her Master Certificate to be a breakthrough Coach. She has also completed her CMI level 7 training in Coaching and Mentoring.

Coaching is a big part of her service offering as she loves to help people grow and champion potential in others, especially those who are stuck in limiting thought patterns. 

Tim Evans, Tutor

Tim is an experienced coach and training development professional of 15 years working in behavioural change, personal development and organisational effectiveness. Operating at all levels of seniority with probity from C-suite through to delivery teams, customer service and sales teams, his focus is on building trust through consistent and supportive challenge of individuals to define and exploit their true purpose and potential.

Tim has a diverse range of skills enabling him to deliver considerable savings in efficiency and staff productivity. With first hand expertise in developing systems in the education sector, he is able to provide teams with the ability to apply strong leadership, improve job satisfactions and engagement, increase customer experience and achieve organisational KPIs.

Tim has experience building a rapport through a wide range of recognised business development and coaching methods – he helps clients to develop a deep understanding of their current practices and challenge their habits and beliefs to become more effective and fulfilled in their working lives.

Tom Robinson, Tutor

A versatile business leader having held 5 divisional MD roles and been Chief Sustainability Officer within a FTSE 250 plc, followed by 6 years as Chief Executive within a private, family-owned business. Now operating as a consultant and business advisor assisting organisations improve their performance.

Tom has been responsible for delivering projects and services to customers in both private and public sectors including communications, defence, retail, health and logistics. Businesses Tom has led include construction, facilities management, property development, architecture, vehicle and plant asset management, recruitment and training.

He has a track record of driving transformation and improvement and is driven by an enthusiasm for customer service and responsible business.

Tom is a member of the Advisory Board to the Lincoln International Business School.

Dr. Victoria Smith-Collins, Tutor

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.

William McKee, Tutor

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.