I act as a coach and mentor to senior executives. I am currently providing coaching support to several business leaders across a number of sectors. I also undertake consulting work to support clients to analyse business opportunities in the publc and third sector.I have extensive experience and a proven tool kit for analysing the strengths and weaknesses of both existing businesses and new business ideas. I have also represented the organisations in many public fora and am an excellent communicator of ideas. Specifically, I have: Just completed and assessment and redesign of the consulting practice of a major charity identifying ways to improve profitability, create new routes to market, and ensure that consultancy assignments led to bigger more sustainable contracts for the wider business; Worked at Essex County Council to develop a “business incubator” that assessed and then successfully developed new businesses across the council. This included and assessment of the council’s contact centre and the development of a business plan for it. This model was highly successful and as sold to other councils that I also worked with;  Gained extensive experience in my career as a consultant across a wide range of business sectors enabling me to identify and implement innovative but workable strategies in business; and Gained a distinction in my MBA showing that I have strong analytical skills.

After taking some time off to pursue personal projects I took on an assignment to review and improve the commercial performance of the consulting business of this major charity. My work has involved: Conducting a detailed review of the business and designing and implementing a change programme to improve financial performance and general commercial awareness of all consultants; Designing a strategy for growth; Coaching and mentoring senior team members to develop their commercial skills; Leading and supporting the development of sales plans to deliver profitable growth; and  Leading several sales initiatives that have successfully led to winning new profitable business in new markets

I had responsibility for defining and implementing Essex County Council’s strategy for managing and growing all of its traded activity. This portfolio turned over about £65 million per annum and delivered a net profit of £5 million. We were on track to grow this to £100 million with a net profit of £15 million in three years. This included businesses in the care, education and professional services sectors.Key achievements Led the turnaround of Essex Cares including implementing a new business model that will deliver the same volume and quality of services at two thirds of current cost levels. This included developing and implementing a commercial strategy to grow the business outside Essex; Led the turnaround of a failing libraries business securing its future on a profitable basis; Designed and implemented a new operating model and growth strategy for our legal services business and on track to increase profitability from £1.5m to £5m per annum in five years; Created and implemented a business incubator that has nurtured and grown 6 new business ideas in the past 12 months putting in place robust business plans and developing the management teams to implement them; and Developed an acquisition programme to accelerate the growth of successful businesses, particularly in the education sector.

Capital Conflict Management (CCM) is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company (CIC) that aims to diffuse difficult and/or dangerous situations between groups and individuals which could result in serious injury or even death.It offers a route to positive resolution of disputes, to avert violence, through mediation.By mediating, directly, or by seeing each party (mediation), CCM hopes not only to save lives but help create safer, more peaceful and cohesive communities.I was appointed to the Board in March 2012 and elected Chair in August of that year.

Whilst I supported my father and family through his terminal illness I established a business providing support to help organisations improve their business development results. I worked primarily in the training sector which was a market place that was facing a significant increase in competitive forces as government funding came under greater pressure. Key achievements: Improving the sales performance of major businesses by as much as 20% in 6 months; Developing and implementing integrated marketing and sales strategies that delivered growth through diversification into new markets and successfully engaged with diverse stakeholder groups;  Developing and implementing new strategies for engaging with commissioners and other stakeholders to deliver revenue growth in times of recession and cuts in government spending; Leading and winning major bids and developing successful strategies for winning and growing new and existing key accounts; and Mentoring and development of many senior personnel in these organisations. Specifically working with sales and operational leaders to develop their strategic thinking and leadership skills

I was head hunted to be the commercial director of Shaw Trust the largest charity in the UK helping disabled people to lead independent lives. Shaw Trust employs about 1500 people with a turnover of £100m.Key responsibilities: Accountable to the Board of Trustees for the creation of a new business development strategy and lead on the design and implementation of commercial practices and techniques in the Trust as a whole; Responsible for creating sustainable funding streams from government contracts, fundraising, our retail chain, and a portfolio of social enterprises with a total sales target of £30m per annum; Management of the commercial team of about 40 people including 6 director level reports; Representing the Trust in a wide range of external fora and the owner of relationships with key external stakeholders including senior civil servants, board members of other charities and the boards of key commercial partners; and As a member of the Executive Management Team, responsible to the Board of Trustees for the financial sustainability of the Trust and for compliance with standards and governance.Major Achievements: Developed and implemented a new business development strategy that diversified the Trust’s funding streams and so reduced its reliance on central government contracts; Developed strong and effective relationships with a broad range of external stakeholders; Recruited a new and effective senior leadership team from both within the Trust and outside and put in place the processes and toolkits to enable a best in class sales capability; and Negotiated strong and commercially viable partnership deals with major outsourcing firms such as Atos Origin and Serco.

I was recruited by the central government department of Tribal to lead the development of business with new clients, specifically major central government departments where the company had little or no presence.Key responsibilities: Development and implementation of the strategy for winning business with new clients with full responsibility for sales and margin targets; Full ownership of the sales pipeline, its reporting and management in my market sector; Champion for the development of business development skills across the business unit;  Responsible for the development of strategic business partnerships; and Responsible for ensuring that business development is focused where it is likely to succeed and for bid/no bid decisions.Major achievements: On track to deliver £6m of sales at 40% gross margin in new markets during a recession in the public sector with specific targets at MoD, DWP, DfT and BBC; Established a number of strategic partnerships with organisations such as Serco, G4S and QinetiQ; Played a key role as part of a team in winning and delivering major assignments with clients such as MoD, Energy Saving Trust, and States of Guernsey; and Champion and coach supporting the roll out in my division of a corporate wide approach to business development based on the Miller Heiman methodology used by major outsource providers such as Serco.

I was recruited by Turner & Townsend to turn around their London based management consultancy team including 4 director level reports with full profit and loss accountability and responsibility for developing and implementing strategy.Key responsibilities: Full profit and loss responsibility for my business unit; Member of the divisional board with key business wide responsibilities; Leader of the service excellence change programme with responsibility for setting and implementing strategy and gaining buy in from the wider team; and Developer and owner of Turner & Townsend’s defence sector and other new sectors for the business.Major Achievements: Grew the team from £1.5 million to £3.2 million revenue, from 0 to 25% profitability and from 16 to 30 consultants in 2 years; Developed and implemented growth strategies in key markets including, defence, local government, and retail banking (successfully adapting the latter to maintain growth through the “credit crunch”); Played a key role in recruiting and developing the unit’s management team; Successfully won and delivered major consulting commissions for key clients such as Royal Mail Group, London Underground, the Olympic Delivery Authority, Nationwide Building Society, BVT FSL and MoD;  Developed and managed a key strategic partnership with QinetiQ; and Given responsibility for an additional team in Bristol and nominated by Turner & Townsend for the MCA’s best director award.

Originally headhunted to establish a new business unit (which grew from nothing to 25 people in 18 months), I was then promoted first to Operations, and later, Managing Director with 5 director level reports.Key responsibilities: Board member with responsibility for developing and implementing strategy; Full accountability to the board for profit and loss; Responsibility for leading major bids and developing business in general; and Responsibility for recruiting and developing the team.Major Achievements: Played a key role in taking the business from £1.5 million to £10 million turnover and growing profits from less than £30,000 to over £1 million per annum and taking the business from 25 to 100 staff; Developed a substantial defence consulting practice in the United States working on high profile multi $ billion programmes and also developed sustained £ multi million business with new clients such as MoD, BAE Systems, BP, Roche, Glaxo SmithKline, Mercury Asset Management and the Canadian government;  Designed and implemented a major change programme to develop business development skills in a team of ex military and technical specialists to support the company’s growth into higher value management consultancy markets. This resulted in 36% growth for the company in the following year; Contributed as part of a small team to a successful management buy out; Led the turn around of the business during a downturn; Successfully led a wide number of bids for major programme support projects (up to a value over £8 million); and Consistently delivered personal orders of at least £1 million per annum.

I was recruited by Landair initially to establish a business modelling consulting group and was subsequently promoted to Managing Director.Major Achievements: Grew the business from £1m to £3m turnover in 2 years; Returned the business to profitability (bringing it from loss making to 20% profitability in 2 years); Moved the business into new and more profitable sectors of the defence market, moving it from “body shopping” to value added consulting commissions;  Developed business with new clients such as the MoD, Home Office, and Singapore Government; and Trained a team of ex military personnel to develop their management consultancy and business development skills.