Senior Leaders

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.

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.

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).

Dani joined WIG’s Leadership team in 2018. She is the Programme Manager responsible for WIG’s Exchange Programme, Senior Leaders Programme, and multiple bespoke programmes. She works closely with programme participants and facilitators to design experiential learning interventions tailored to the cohorts needs.

Dani looks after WIG’s organisational visits, where she works with our members to understand their key priorities and challenges and pairs them with another organisation, who have faced similar challenges and can offer valuable insights. Recent sessions have focused on, recruitment and retention, organisational culture and sustainable innovation and transformation.

She also focuses on our alumni strategy, delivering creative sessions to engage our alumni community of over 2,500 and continue to connect the sectors.

Dani holds a BA Degree in Sociology and Criminology from the University of Nottingham where she was also a member of the Soup Runner’s Society. In her spare time, she enjoys attending Reformer Pilates classes, travelling and skiing.