I am a collaborative, passionate, resilient leader with over twenty years of board level experience in organisations, including seven years as CEO/MD, and chairing three boards. The first part of my executive career was in leading teams, and building a business, on the planning, design and construction of major rail projects in the UK and overseas;, the second part was leading major change programmes for rail operators; and thirdly I am now building my portfolio of non-exec Director roles, together with some management consulting.I have a passion for good corporate governance and a reputation for strategic thinking and problem solving, and a particular strengths in devising and driving change and growth, including: organically; through start up; and through acquisition (I have acquired seven businesses and been acquired twice). Much of my success has been through my people, presentation and communication skills, helping to build multi-disciplinary, multi-organisation teams. This, when coupled with extensive experience of stakeholder management and a keen understanding of business cultures, (including visiting over 30 countries on business), has seen me focus on win:win outcomes.Perhaps the most satisfying element of my career has been developing cultures/environments which give staff and organisations opportunities and seeing them seize them. I also enjoy ambassadorial roles including: handling major audiences; newspaper, radio and tv; and giving evidence to public inquiries and parliament. Whilst my executive experience was in the private sector, many of my clients were in the public sector, and my non-executive experience also covers the public sector, 3rd Sector and academia, bringing broad understanding. Together with my passion for good governance I now realise that I have a very strong skill set in three prime areas of non-executive work: strategy; scrutiny; and advocacy. My experience in change and strengths in the big picture see me strong in strategy; my extensive due diligence and risk management experience, together with a very logical and inquiring mind, often sees me spotting gaps, ideally suited to the “probe and support” of the “critical friend” scrutiny role; and my aforementioned ambassadorial skills and stakeholder management experience make me an effective advocate.Specialities: Leadership, Teamwork & Team Building , Strategic Planning, Change Management; Corporate Governance, Stakeholder Management, Partnership and Relationship Building, International Business Cultures, Project and Programme Management.