Our Consultants

Val Alexander

Val is a highly motivated, enthusiastic and professional consultant working in Leadership, Management, Learning and Personal Development. She gained an Advanced Diploma in Training and Development in 2004, has over 19 years experience in Learning and Development, and many years experience of management.

Val is a member of the Chartered Management Institute, the Institute for Learning and is also an Affiliate of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development. Val specialises in four main areas, Management, Assessment and Accreditation, Learning and Personal Development.

"Excellent, thoroughly enjoyable, very well presented, supportive and encouraging."

Alastair Alford

Alastair has enjoyed a career in consultancy for over 20 years.

Over the past eight years he has facilitated 'vision goal setting' and used the Myers Briggs Type Indicator for 'team-building' and 'personal development'.

As an NLP Master Practitioner, Alastair has become involved with mentoring, coaching and counselling both in the business environment and in private practice. He tends to specialise in stress management, negotiation, communication and visioning.

"Exceptional! Alastair was easy to approach and knowledgeable. He has great presentation skills and looks as though he really enjoys his work."

Jane Almond

Jane is a Business Psychologist and Training Consultant with a decade of experience. She has an enthusiastic and professional approach to her work and a person centred approach to training and coaching, this allows her to support different learning styles ensuring full competence and skill acquisition is transferred from a training environment in to the workplace.

Jane is qualified to administer and feedback all psychometric tools. She uses her professional background to support all aspects of selection, assessment and personal development.

As a member of BPS and a founding member of BPS special coaching group, she specialises in Emotional Intelligence and Solution Focused Interventions. Working in private, public and multinational organisations many of her clients remark on the versatile, flexible and calming approach she provides.

"awaiting quote"

Helen Barton-Hanson

Helen has considerable experience in the Voluntary, Community and Public Sectors and has worked in designing, developing and delivering training packages. She has a Certificate in Further Education teaching for adult learners, and is a member of the Institute for Learning.

As a freelance trainer, Helen specialises in work on listening and advice skills, her major clients including Citizens Advice and the Telephone Help Lines Association. Her work has taken her around the UK and Republic of Ireland and, more recently, has included consultancy work with the Ministry of Justice and Contact Council on the new Performance Management Framework for helpline providers.

Helen ensures she puts her own skills into practice by continuing to work as a telephone helpline volunteer.

"awaiting quote"

Ruth Bass

Ruth is a Training and Development specialist with 20 years of experience in both Training and HR Management.

Over the years clients have included organisations within the Finance Sector, Service and Leisure Industry and the NHS.

With a BA (Hons) Degree in Social Science and Psychology, she is qualified in SHL Psychometric Testing and Personality Profiling and Myers Briggs type Indicator. Ruth is also an NLP Practitioner.

In addition, Ruth has extensive experience of Assessment and Development Centres while her prime focus in recent years has been on the design and delivery of Management Development Programmes and Personal Skills Training.

"awaiting quote"

Trisha Bennett

Trisha's progressive career has provided her with diverse skills, extensive knowledge and a positive attitude. This includes strong leadership, self-motivation, reliability, enthusiasm, a good sense of humour, tenacity and a commitment to all her work. She has highly developed presentation and communication skills and works with people at all levels within the private, public and voluntary sectors.

A human resource and training professional with experience in general management, marketing, consultancy and research, underpinned by recognised qualifications.

"Trisha was very open and friendly. I felt she was very supportive towards the group."

Jane Boyd

Jane is a lively energetic consultant with 22 years experience of Training and Development gained primarily in financial services. She became the Training and Development Manager of a well-known bank and a Development Specialist in what is widely acclaimed as the world's number one contact centre.

Since she became a consultant in 2000, she has worked across a wide range of public and private sector organisations and she is a Chartered Member of the CIPD.

Jane has designed and delivered many programmes on a wide range of subjects including Management Development, Personal Skills and Communication as well as working with teams to develop processes and solutions which meet the needs of their business.

With a First Class Honours BA in Creative Writing (2007) and a children's book and a number of poems published, she has developed her talent into a passion for using creativity in businesses to develop people, processes and customer satisfaction. Her programmes are innovative, fun and achieve results.

"Thanks for a great course, you know your subject well and made the programme interesting and very relevant."

George Boyer

George Boyer is a consultant specialising in management consultancy, training and the development and implementation of management development solutions. He has designed and delivered a wide variety of management training events. His particular areas of expertise are the management of change within the public sector, accredited learning for managers and the delivery of management training.

George has been working in this field for twenty years.

"George was very professional and he knew his subject well. He is a very easy going and approachable trainer."

Sandra Ellington

Sandra is an extremely motivated and enthusiastic consultant and trainer. She offers the combined benefits of experience, professionalism and positivity.

Sandra holds Chartered MCIPD status from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and has worked in the field of HR and training in both the Public and Private Sectors for over 14 years.

Her main areas of speciality include Personal Development such as Leadership Skills and Performance Review (train the trainer), Presentation Skills and the Management of Customer Relationship.

"Inspirational! She is a very knowledgeable trainer who also used a variety of training techniques."

Sue Fu

Sue has extensive experience and background of the customer service industry, having operated at the forefront of a multi-cultural international airline for 15 years. Her reputation for professionalism, her ability to achieve results, her friendliness and her approachability saw her rapidly promoted to a supervisory position. This position required her to motivate customer service teams to achieve customer service targets.

"Sue clearly knows her stuff and is very good at what she does."

Eric Galloway

Eric is a graduate with experience in a wide range of industries. He has 35 years experience in management, training, personnel, consultancy, trade union negotiation and change management. Personal qualities are tough minded, ability to see tasks through, good negotiating, influencing, communications and team working skills.

Eric specialises in the delivery of management development, personal effectiveness, team building and human resource training.

"Excellent delivery! It's amazing how much we covered in just 5 days."

Sarah Galway

Sarah is recognised as an enthusiastic and dynamic communicator with a consultative "hands on" approach

Sarah is a lively trainer who believes that high quality training and development, tailored to individuals needs, will improve performance of managers and staff, increase job satisfaction and reduce staff turnover.

She works in several areas which include Management Development, Personal Skills, Customer Service and Relationship Selling.

In the programmes that she delivers, Sarah will ensure that the theory discussed will be linked to the practicalities of demonstrating this in the work place.

"A fantastic course, Sarah made the day interactive and ensured it met our needs"

Helen Geoghegan

Helen Geoghegan has been a Training and Development Consultant for 9 years.

Helen's fields of expertise are Leadership, Management Development, Personal Development, and Team Building. She offers a wide range of skills in Material Design and Delivery, Coaching and Facilitation.

She is a qualified NLP Master Practitioner and is also a member of the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM).

"Helen is very approachable and friendly. Thanks for a really great workshop."

Amanda Gibson-Smith

A professional Management and Development consultant with 20 years experience gained in commercial and public sector organisations.

Amanda is highly motivated and effective in the design, delivery and evaluation of skill and capability solutions for individuals and teams.

Specialism's include Process and Productivity Improvement, Sales and Service, Team Development, Problem Solving and Decision Making and Interpersonal Enhancement, including Assertiveness and Personal Evaluation.

"She is a very good facilitator. She made the sessions enjoyable and got everyone involved."

Eileen Goodall

Eileen is a highly experienced HR Consultant with specific skills and experience in Recruitment, Selection, Assessment, Performance and Talent Management.

Until 1994 she was Human Resource Director for Adecco and has since held the position of Director, Professional Services for Lee Hecht Harrison, one of the world's top Career Management Consultancies.

Eileen develops and delivers creative and up to date programmes across the management arena using a variety of accelerated learning methods. In addition to being a Chartered Member of the Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD) and awarded Fellowship of the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management, Eileen also holds qualifications in Workplace Counselling, Assessment, NLP and Conflict Management (Mediation).

She has facilitated a wide range of interventions in top 500 FTSE and Public Sector organisations, sat as a Member of the Industrial Tribunals and regularly chaired selection panels for Government Legal Services.

"Eileen is well extremely knowledgeable, well presented, reassuring and extremely helpful which all added to the enjoyment of the event."

Anna Guest

Anna is an enthusiastic, highly motivated and achievement-focused coach, trainer and facilitator. She has a wealth of experience in designing and delivering participative, goal-oriented development programmes with a view to facilitate each individual in achieving their potential. Her clients range across small businesses, global companies and Public Sector organisations. She has extensive European and international experience.

Anna’s focus is on soft skills, including coaching skills for managers, sales and customer service skills and effective communication. She wrote the chapter on coaching for the IOD’s ‘Growing Business’ handbook, published by Kogan Page in 2002.

She is a member of the Society of Authors, an associate member of the Institute of Directors and a Fellow of the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management (FInstSMM). She has been a commentator on the development of the coaching and mentoring profession as co-founder and director of the Coaching & Mentoring Network, the UK’s leading independent information resource for coaching and mentoring.

"Exceeded expectations! There is only one word to describe this training – excellent."

Vincent Guy

Vincent has more than 20 years' experience as a consultant, trainer and writer on communication and collaboration in international business. A skilled linguist, fluent in French, German and Spanish, Vincent also has a keen interest in the non-verbal aspects of communication.

Vincent has designed and run training events for business people on such topics as Creativity, Self Management, Team Building and Change Management.

"Excellent trainer! He knew his subject inside out."

Alan Henney

Alan is a conscientious and enthusiastic trainer and assessor, committed to the practice of continual improvement - for himself and for his clients.

Alan's focus over many years has been the assessment and development of people and organisations across a broad range of enterprise including academic, public service, commercials, industrial, financial and charitable. His roles have entailed both in company adviser and manager and external consultant.

He has covered the entire system of training from assessment of organisational need, to evaluation of impact. He has done this within organisations and also with national government funded training schemes.

Alan has worked comfortably and effectively at all levels of very small and very large organisations, from the shop floor to the most senior executives.

Alan is a Chartered Psychologist whose range of experience is reflected in his being an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society and also a member of the British Computer Society.

"Very competent, very professional and very good to work with."

Kate Hill

Kate is an enthusiastic and professional self-employed training and business consultant with a wide breadth of experience across a variety of industrial sectors. Kate's experience has been focused around design and delivery of both bespoke and standardised training programmes for a variety of clients. In addition she has also been involved in business development consultancy, event organisation and developing staff in training, presenting and selling skills.

Core subjects for training would include Team Building, Management Skills, Assertiveness, Communication Skills, Negotiating Techniques, Reception Skills, Presentation Skills, Managing Meetings, Financial Accounting and Budgetary Control.

"Excellent! She was very professional, knowledgeable and supportive."

David Hughes

David has more than 30 years experience as a professional trainer and management consultant, working in both private and public sector organisations. Although he has helped to develop people to maximise their potential through a wide range of planned interventions, his particular expertise lies is in the fields of leadership, teambuilding, coaching, management development, strategic management and change management.

He has worked with a number of blue chip companies, both as an internal training manager and as an external consultant. Latterly, he has designed and delivered progressive management and leadership development programmes to the British Fire Service.

"David is clearly expert at his job. He knew all the subjects well and the delivery style and pace were just right."

Jenny James

Jenny is a lively, enthusiastic trainer who believes that high quality training and development, tailored to individuals' needs, will improve performance of managers and staff, increase job satisfaction and reduce staff turnover, thereby optimising results. She works mainly with soft skills and develops programmes that make it easy for learning to be transferred to the workplace.

Jenny's portfolio covers many aspects of management, communication and interpersonal skills.

"Jenny was excellent. She was clear and concise and kept the course moving smoothly. The pace was just right."

David Jenkins

David's work since the 1960s has involved a high degree of analysis. He has shown himself able to interpret detailed customer requirements as well as policy documents and manuals. He has also had to evaluate written proposals, tender documents and directives from Government as part of his involvement in procurement of equipment and services.

David has operated as a freelance training consultant since 1997 and in this role he has worked in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

Since his time as a HR Manager, David has maintained a keen interest in workplace counselling and outplacement.

"Excellent trainer with obvious in-depth knowledge of the subjects covered.  A thoroughly enjoyable workshop."

Jennifer Kennedy

Jennifer has been supporting private and public organisations in adopting a comprehensive approach to selection through use of assessment centres for the last 15 years.

Jennifer Kennedy has fifteen years practical experience within training and recruitment backed up with a genuine passion for improving improving the capabilities of organisations.  She has designed, delivered and evaluated training at all levels and is known for her captivating and high energy sessions which enable delegates and companies to make improvements they have requested.  She has designed, facilitated and evaluated a number of assessment centres in both the private and public sector.  She has a post graduate in Human Resource Management and is Level A and B qualified (SHL and Myers Briggs).

"A thoroughly enjoyable workshop."

Andy Littley

An experienced freelance Training Consultant who has been involved in the design and delivery of training interventions for both the public and private sector. Andy also does item writing for several financial services companies and has been involved in 'open' courses covering a range of skills and competencies including Leadership styles / concepts (inc Situational Leadership), Performance Management, Coaching & Mentoring, Project Management and Effective Communications (written and verbal).

"Andy is a very honest and approachable trainer. He made the course fun."

Brian Lomas

Brian is a business consultant and trainer of some 17 years standing - during which time he has also had four business books published (with a fifth due out late 2009) and been a visiting lecturer at Southampton University's Business School. His CV includes senior international line management roles before becoming Head of Marketing & Business Development for a major UK retailer.

As a trainer/consultant, he has one key tenet: the real value that customers want from a business consultant/trainer is that the learning, the output, is readily transferable to the workplace to enhance the performance of the individual, team and organisation. His style is therefore highly participative, positive, challenging and encouraging of others to question and challenge him to maximise the potential benefit that learning experiences should provide.

"Brian was very friendly and approachable throughout the course."

Melody Metcalf

Mel is a professional trainer with 20 years experience of training and development. She has worked with many teams at different levels and always aspires to meet their needs alongside the professional/corporate requirements.

She brings a great deal of energy, enthusiasm and a very open style to her training delivery. She encourages all team members to be honest and to express how they feel without making them feel as if they are "on the spot".

Mel has a down to earth style that people relate to and they know they can trust their judgement to include activities that will enchance the learning experience.

Mel particularly dislikes the use of jargon and endeavours to relate to people in a way that encourages them to be themselves and not merely "performing" for the audience.

In recent years, Mel has developed and delivered numerous programmes covering MBTI, Leadership, Team Building, Coaching, Image and Impact and Train the Trainer.

"Mel was clear, knowledgeable and engaging. She has a relaxed, fun and professional style."

Valerie Middleton

Valerie has 20 years experience in developing people; initially working in the Private Sector and since 1992 when she became a freelance Training Consultant working in both the Private and Public Sectors.

Latterly Valerie has become involved in the Voluntary Sector where her work centres around Community Mediation, Primary Health Care and Support for Carers.

Her business experience, from her first career in Information Technology and from running her own business, gives her credibility with clients and with her workshop participants. Valerie is self motivated and believes in continuous personal development both for herself and for others.

She is an NLP Practitioner embedding NLP when designing, developing and delivering programmes. Valerie also quality controls materials.

"A very good course, expertly delivered by Valerie. I would recommend this course to all."

Anita Morris

Anita is a Business Psychologist specialising in Leadership Development, Executive Coaching and Emotional Intelligence.

She has a wealth of experience in behavioural change within a wide range of organisations across all sectors.

Anita has degrees in Business and Applied Psychology, a Masters in Occupational Psychology, is a certified Master Coach and a visiting lecturer at LJMU.

With a background at the "sharp end" of business having run a multi-million pound turnover site as part of a large manufacturing group, she brings real world experience to her training and development programmes.

Anita is qualified to administer and feedback a wiede range of psychometric tools. She is a member of BPS and a founding member of the special group in coaching psychology.

"The whole day was totally enjoyable and informative. I have been on various courses run by different consultants, but your course totally blows all the others away!"

Anne Morrison

Anne is an enthusiastic and experienced facilitator and Personal Development professional. She is passionate about the work she does and gets a buzz when a client has a "light bulb" moment.

She considers her roles, whether as a trainer or in one to one situations, as a facilitator to provide the "right" environment for learning and change to happen.

She combines her business experience with that of Personal Development and brings that understanding to her work. As well as achieving her MBA from the Open University, she is a qualified coach, NLP Master Practitioner, Clinical and Cognitive Behaviour Hypnotherapist.

Her areas of expertise include Leadership and Management Training and Development, Evaluation Training, Communication and Interpersonal Skills Training and Development.

"awaiting quote"

Dianne Murray

Dianne is a highly motivated and enthusiastic learning and development specialist and HR Manager with 15 years experience in fast paced, customer focussed environments. She has effective and resourceful problem solving skills and works to the highest standards.

Dianne is a CIPD member, currently working towards FCIPD, and has designed and delivered a wide range of learning interventions, including management development, customer service, train the trainer and hr management.

"Dianne always makes training enjoyable and relevant with practical solutions to take back to the workplace."

Mark Norris

Mark is a Human Resource and Staff Development Specialist with significant General Management and Customer Services experience. Practical operational skills in the design, delivery and management of staff development programmes and competency frameworks have been honed in the highly competitive general insurance IT sector. Recent MBA Graduate, Associate Member of the CIPD, Member of the National Mentoring Network.

"Mark has a very easygoing, calm, measured style. He brought some great personal anecdotes that enhanced the delivery."

Jo Pogson

Jo Pogson is an experienced trainer with excellent interpersonal skills specialising in training design, development and delivery, needs analysis, business analysis, process modelling and testing. Training expertise includes customer service, sales, interpersonal skills and management development. Jo has experience in a variety of industries including Media, telecoms, travel, IT and utilities. Her strengths lie in the ability to produce accessible and relevant training in a people and team focussed environment.

"Excellent course delivered by an excellent tutor!"

Joan Porter-Butler

An enthusiastic, motivated HR Professional with line management experience and a proven track record in all aspects of Human Resource Management. Joan is a skilled communicator with empathetic listening skills. Working in partnership with senior management teams Joan is accountable for strategic HR development to achieve business goals. Joan has particular skills in Talent Management, Change Management, Employee Relations, Reward and Recognition and Leadership.

"awaiting quote"

Angela Sabin

Angela is a professional and enthusiastic training consultant with over 20 years experience in training and development. A Fellow of CIPD, she has a track record in adding commercial value for her clients, and a reputation for always meeting deadlines.

Angela specialises in three main areas, Management, Trainer, and Personal Development. Angela set up dynamic learning solutions in 1994 and has since worked with clients in both the public and private sectors, designing, delivering and developing a range of development interventions. Clients include HM Revenue & Customs, MOD, The Met Office, House of Commons, CSA, UK Passport Agency, HM Treasury and English Nature.

"Angela is very professional. She knows the subject well and tunes into participant's needs instinctively. She displays an energy that is inspiring."

Richard Simms

Richard has over 15 Years of experience as a Management Trainer and Learning Development Consultant. He has worked with both the Public and Private Sectors.

He has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the fields of Leadership and Management Development, Organisational Change, Team Cultures, HR, Personal and Organisational Development.

Working in partnership with customers, Richard ensures highly effective delivery and facilitation of learning solutions to staff, managers and leaders at all levels.

"I can say that the workshop was the best thing I've ever done - my confidence has gone through the roof and I'm a different person. Wow. Never thought it could happen. Thank you very much for the opportunity"

Quentin Ross-Smith

After leaving college, Quentin became a Trainee Hotel Manager, working his way up to Hotel Manager. He then specialised in Training as a Training Manager and 22 years ago, set up his own Training Consultancy concentrating on Management, Supervisory, Customer Service and Sales Training.

He runs his own training consultancy, QRS Training and QRS International Ltd, with a team of self employed training consultants specialised in Management / Supervisory Development, Sales and Customer Handling Skills.

Over the past 22 years, Quentin has been responsible for the development of a number of initiatives with large multinational companies. He also has is own Chartered Management Institute centre, offering Level 3 Diploma in First Line management and Level 5 Diploma in Management.

"Very confident and a great communicator. Quentin made the course a pleasure."

Joy Smart

An energetic and sympathetic trainer committed to helping all delegates to maximise their potential.

For over 15 years Joy has been working in consultancy and training for organisations varying from blue chip to local government and manufacturing.

During that time, she has developed special expertise in the areas of personal effectiveness i.e. Communication and interpersonal skills, time management and stress management. Joy is also a Prince2 Practitioner.

"Great delivery, good pace, excellent time management."

Tony Walton

Tony is a management consultant and trainer providing a wide range of management and interpersonal skills training as well as specialist training and consultancy in the area of quality and environmental management and auditing.

Tony has been involved in training development and delivery since 1983.

"Tony is very approachable and easy to understand. He certainly knew the subject well."

Rachel Whitfield

Rachel is an enthusiastic manager with 13 years experience gained in Training, Recruitment and HR.

She has worked on a large variety of projects across the UK and internationally in a range of different Industry Sectors including Public, Private and Academic. She is CIPD Qualified, an NLP Practitioner and qualified to administer Level A and B Psychometrics.

Rachel works mainly with developing soft skills and is an excellent communicator. She develops bespoke experimental programmes that are easily applied to the workplace and therefore deliver real results.

Rachel enjoyed increasingly senior positions in the telecoms industry within training from 1997 - 2002. After this she became an independent training consultant with a range of clients across all sectors. She went back in to full time employment from 2004 - 2008 where she worked as a sales operations manager for a training consultancy and gained senior management experience. She also furthered her training and HR experience and gained International experience setting up a consultancy in South Africa and consulting on another in Helsinki.

She recently returned to independent consultancy.

"The Training Rachel ran was very relevant, easy to relate to and most importantly easy to apply to real life."

Alison Williams

Alison Williams is a specialist in leadership, creativity and innovation, and adult learning. She consults to public and private sector organisations, designs and delivers innovative management training, and undertakes client research. Her specialist areas of expertise are: organisational creativity and innovation, leadership for middle and senior managers, and adult learning through training, coaching and development.

Alison has been consulting and training in public and private sectors since 1990, she is a Visiting Lecturer in Creativity at Strathclyde University Business School and is currently undertaking a PhD in creativity at the University of East London.

"“Thank you for all you did for us in this report... It had weight and authority as well as information and recommendations and was much appreciated.”"

Margaret Wood

Margaret is a professional and enthusiastic training consultant with over 14 years experience in training and development. A Member of the Chartered Management Institute she is committed to achieving the highest standards particularly in respect of management qualifications.

She is a member of the Institute for Learning, awarded for having recently completed a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (Training and Development) and she is also an Affiliate of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development.

Margaret specialises in the areas of Management and Leadership, Assessment & Accreditation, Equality and Diversity and Personal Development especially for women and Business Start-up.

"Fantastic trainer! The most interesting training I've ever had."