Meet the Leadership Team

Simon has worked with organisations in the fields of leadership and organisation development as a consultant, coach, designer and facilitator for over 15 years. A significant part of his career has been spent working in and around complex public sector organisations, and with leaders from a wide variety of backgrounds.

He has an interest in innovative development approaches, as well as the ongoing design and implementation of sustainable and pragmatic solutions – crucial during Covid-19. His current work includes working with intact teams and networks – with a focus on effectiveness and how to respond to a complex and evolving environment.

He works across the organisation development disciplines – which include organisation and team culture, change leadership, leadership development, systemic team coaching and one to one coaching. His work is typically with a wide range of clients in the public, private and not for profit sectors.

Before establishing Thorpebird Consulting in 2017, Simon was a senior partner at Korn Ferry, and prior to that his career includes roles within the NHS, The King’s Fund (independent think tank), NHS England, Mars Confectionery and The Terrence Higgins Trust. In his consulting career, clients have included the NHS Leadership Academy, Rolls Royce, Faculty of Medical Leadership & Management, Post Office, University of Exeter, Whitehall & Industry Group, CGIAR, Reebok International, British Telecom, Cambridge Assessment and Diageo amongst others.

Simon’s MSc in Organizational Behaviour is from Birkbeck College (University of London). He is an accredited coach through The School of Coaching/University of Strathclyde – and Systemic Team Coach through the Academy of Executive Coaching (AoEC).

Johnny is an accredited European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) leadership/ mental fitness coach and facilitator. His career started in higher education before he moved into the Civil Service. He has over 10 years’ senior leadership experience within the public and charitable sectors.

Johnny uses a strengths-based approach, helping clients to understand their strengths and identify small steps they can make to overcome challenges. He has coached more than 230 people and delivered learning programmes for over 70 organisations including American Express, DB Schenker, Goodyear, Merck, 17 civil service departments/ Local Authorities, Delaware North, Societe Generale, KPMG, Notting Hill Genesis and L&Q. He is an experienced facilitator, having designed and delivered hundreds of events and workshops- ranging from focus groups to conferences for over 350 people. He is highly proficient in online delivery.

Johnny has worked with clients across all levels of organisations but specialises in working with leaders and emerging leaders.  Alongside coaching and facilitation, Johnny creates innovative games and events and develops staff engagement/ learning strategies. He prides himself on helping people to think in a different way- collaborating with organisations and individuals from NASA and Olympic athletes to startups and social enterprises.

Jean is a leadership coach with over 35 years of experience helping female executives and managers enhance self-awareness, confidence, and impact. She specializes in career transitions, leadership development, and stakeholder management, drawing on her extensive experience in client-facing, operational, and strategic roles across the UK, France, and global markets.

A former board member of a global digital technology company, Jean brings real-world executive insight to her coaching. She is a Professional Certified Coach (ICF), Chartered Fellow of the CIPD, and an accredited Emotional Intelligence and DISC Practitioner. Passionate about supporting women in leadership, Jean is dedicated to helping them achieve their professional and personal aspirations.

Claudette is passionate about coaching and mentoring people to help them achieve their full potential. She comes from a solid leadership background with more than 25 years’ experience running departments in the public sector, including the London Mayor’s office. 

She honed her communication skills to reach a wide variety of audiences as a director of large government departments, where she specialised in the regeneration of rundown areas. At the London Development Agency, she spearheaded the £125m annual London-wide regeneration programme.

More recently, as a Director at CAF Consulting Ltd, she has developed an impressive body of work as a consultant assisting organisations such as, London Boroughs of: Bromley, Havering, Kingston upon Thames, Lambeth, Lewisham and Westminster City Council. As well as Kent County Council, South East England Development Agency, Transport for London and the City of Salvador in Brazil, advising on and leading their regeneration efforts.

Claudette is also an accomplished singer, saxophonist and potter

Dr Jane Gaukroger is a very experienced leadership development consultant who has spent her whole working life in the field of organisational, leadership and people development. She is an EMCC qualified executive coach working with clients at board level and in senior leadership roles from across public and private sectors. 

She holds a doctorate in organisational wisdom and brings a strong focus to enabling leaders to work with their strengths and to expand their use of multiple intelligences to lead in complexity and uncertainty.

Clients have included Defra, the Department of Health, BEIS, the Home Office and she has worked in many different parts of the NHS on leadership development and transformation. She has extensive experience in Higher Education and her private sector clients have included global manufacturer PPG, and technology firms IPC and Indra. She coordinates a multi-sectoral development community interested in cultivating wisdom at work.

Earlier in her career she worked for global consulting firms leading the people development elements of complex transformation programmes. She now specialises in development of wise leadership in the face of global challenges including inequality and climate change.

Karen is an experienced developer and facilitator who has been working with WIG on the Senior Leaders Programme since 2017.

Karen spent over 25 years in the NHS leading a range of national leadership development programmes and and talent offers. She has worked with everyone from fast-track entries to national directors and all professional groups, so has a wealth of experience to share around different approaches to leadership. She has led on the design and delivery of large-scale Ministerial initiatives in health working closely with central government colleagues on their impact and implementation. She has provided a range of development offers in international health systems, working with Harvard Kennedy School, Insead and Erasmus and delivered programmes in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, China and South Africa. She brings this experience of leadership into her programmes.

After 25 years working in the NHS Karen started her own company and has since worked as an Associate with KPMG, worked on leadership development in the automotive industry, Banking and other with other private sector clients. She also has clients in central and local government, education, and housing although much of her work is now with the NHS.

Karen is an experienced facilitator of small and large groups, frequently working with Board and C-suite teams to enhance their impact and performance. She has a direct style that is delivered with some humour.

Ruth Morris has been an executive coach for over nineteen years and specializes in senior leadership and team development programmes internationally. Passionate about empowering women in leadership, Ruth is the lead facilitator on the WIG Women’s Leadership Programme, where she works closely with participants to unlock their unique leadership potential and prepare them for senior and board-level positions. Ruth’s coaching style is described as both challenging and supportive, adapting to each client’s needs.

Her clients include prestigious organizations such as ABN Amro Bank, BAE Systems, Mizuho Bank, Audit Wales, Natural Resources Wales, the Competition and Markets Authority, and many central government departments. Ruth is the CEO of Teleios Consulting South East Ltd (trading as Rema Consulting) and leads a talented, diverse team. She holds a Master's in Leadership Development and is an accredited life and career coach. Ruth’s long-standing association with WIG is a testament to her passion for developing strong women leaders and her excitement for contributing to their inspiring future.

Julian is a leadership and change management consultant with 25 years’ experience in the private, public and third sectors. He specialises in helping leaders and managers navigate themselves and their people through ever more complex and demanding situations and developing powerful trust-based relationships.

Clients include Shell, Nokia, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, Energy Saving Trust, Fight for Peace, Africa Governance Initiative, IPC, Towry, Serco, Towers Watson, Accenture and the World Institute for Nuclear Security.

Hilary is an international speaker and author. Her work has spanned Europe, North America and Asia, and focuses on helping leaders in the private and public sectors to introduce change efficiently and effectively. In particular, she designs masterclasses and workshops based on the belief that if we can understand our brains better, we can work with that knowledge and help improve both our wellbeing and performance at work.

Hilary holds an MA from Cambridge University, has a post-graduate Certificate in the Psychology of Organisation Development and Change and is an accredited executive coach with the Institute of Leadership and Management. Hilary works with neuroscientists in the UK and in the USA, bringing their work out of the lab and into the workplace in a very practical and accessible way. A second edition of her book Neuroscience for Organizational Change - an evidence-based, practical guide to managing change was published in 2019 and has been widely praised.

Edda is specialist voice and dialect coach having gained an MA in Voice Studies she trained actors and drama students before applying her skills to business. Edda has worked on live West End shows like 'Peggy Sue got Married' and 'Art'.

She works with Cmt as a voice and body language coach delivering communication and presentation skills training. She is also an accredited NLP Master Practitioner. Edda has published a book on dialects called 'How to do Accents' and developed an online accent app for the development of English accents around the world.

Edda is also a specialist communication and leadership trainer having honed her skills as a voice coach, where she is still employed at the highest level on television, in the theatre, as well as delivering high level leadership and communication skills training with cmt to the corporate and public sectors.

Her clients in the past year include Hiscox, Unipart, PwC, HMRC and Centrica.

Francis is an experienced strategy and organisation development professional. He has led the European Leadership Consulting Practice and the European Corporate Restructuring & Change Practice for the Hewitt Associates: a global consulting firm with 22,000 staff in over thirty countries. Hewitt was acquired by Aon in 2009.

Dealing regularly with business restructuring and corporate transformation, he has deep expertise in strategy setting, organisation design, leadership effectiveness and culture change. 

Prior to joining Hewitt, Francis held positions within both the banking and manufacturing sectors, living and working in Belgium, Sweden and France. Since 1996 he has consulted in North America, the Middle East, S.E. Asia and Europe operating at Board and top team levels.

He has worked with a range of organisations across sectors and continents, including Avaya, PricewaterhouseCoopers, HSBC, Shell, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ernst & Young, the British Red Cross, Arup, Holcim, B&Q, United Utilities, Philips, Nokia, Cadbury Schweppes, Coors Brewing Company, British Telecommunications, Bayer, BBC News, SES Global, the NHS, Zurich Financial Services, Eon, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and the Prudential. 

Author of The Dynamics of Change (Routledge: London & NY) Francis has published, consulted and lectured on strategy, systems thinking and business transformation. He has been a member of  Faculty for the NHS Leadership Academy since 2012, co- designing and delivering many of their national leadership programmes and working with locality leadership on the transition to integrated care. 

Francis is Managing Partner of the Blue Grain Partnership, a UK based advisory firm. He holds a PhD in Organisational Behaviour from the Department of Systems Science (City), University of London.

David Willis is a professional voice coach and body language expert, he has worked with major public and private sector organisations and coached actors at both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Globe Theatre. He helps individuals and organisations to develop effective communication, influencing and relationship skills.

He has taught in many of London’s leading drama schools as well as in Europe the United States and South East Asia. David is an accredited NLP Master Practitioner, an NLP Coach, he is a qualified Master in Group Dynamics and is a Cardiac Coherence Trainer. David won a top speaker award by Vistage, an International Chief Executives' organisation, for being inspiring and motivational. He is also one of the few people in the UK licenced to evaluate Benziger profiles.