For 6 years, I worked with Caplor Horizons as Marketing Advisor. Caplor is an independent charity that works nationally and internationally with other charities to support them in strengthening their leadership, renewing their strategy and improving their influence. Caplor Horizons’ purpose is to ‘inspire and enable leaders to deliver a sustainable future’ and its model is very simple: it only has 4 members of staff, yet has over 50 Advisors who contribute their time on a voluntary basis, thereby offering professional skills and experienced knowledge to charities that couldn’t usually afford the level of expertise that Caplor Horizons provides. Each Advisor is a specialist within their own field and the Advisor team comprises senior business leaders, entrepreneurs, academics, government officials and members of the House of Lords. I originally became involved with Caplor Horizons in 2013, six months before its launch, advising on the organisation’s brand identity and helping to develop its strategic priorities. Since then, I've also been involved in helping to deliver some elements of its work with a number of its international clients in the UK, Ghana, Kenya and India focusing primarily on leadership, strategy and brand development.During several of my recent visits to Ghana and Kenya, I've worked with university consortiums (whose aim is to put knowledge and learning at the heart of development); NGOs that harness the power of the private sector to help people in the developing world lift themselves out of poverty by building competitive farms and businesses; a faith-based organisation providing education, health, financial and social services within one of the largest slums in Nairobi; and a project focusing on sustainable development by providing opportunities for women in rural communities on the border of Ghana and Burkina Faso. In India, I've worked with charities that help marginalised and homeless children.

I am also currently working with The Leadership Trust as an external facilitator and faculty member. The Leadership Trust’s purpose is to influence leadership and develop inspirational leaders for the benefit of all aspects of society. Founded in 1975 as an independent charitable trust, it provides a powerful range of Leadership Development courses and programmes. The open courses and tailored offerings continue to grow and evolve to help individuals, teams and organisations in all sectors along their 'Leadership Development Journey' and to unlock their inherent leadership potential. See www.leadership.org.uk

The Ripple Forge, initially named 'Symon Associates', is now closed. It was formed in May 2013 as a project to assist SMEs improve their marketing plan through strategic review. Working in collaboration with other organisations, the Ripple Forge's aim was to produce a creative marketing strategy that ensured profitable growth and a focus on organisational success through brand development. This included the creation of 'brand assets' and determining key brand values. It was these that enabled the organisations that we worked with to differentiate themselves within their marketplace, with an emphasis on 'visibility and credibility' as integral elements of core business strategy. By helping companies to review their organisational culture, significant importance was placed on strengthening that culture to enable learning and development - critical thinking, curiosity, collaboration and creativity.

Brickfab manufactures prefabricated construction components for national and regional house builders. The company has been creating original building products since the business was formed in 1997, including brick chimneys, arches, cladding panels, GRP chimneys and GRP canopies.The organisation differentiates itself through service, innovation, quality and commitment - and wants to become the first choice for its people, its customers, its suppliers and its investors. To enable this, the company's whole approach is fair, honest, hardworking and innovative.I worked with Brickfab over a 12 month period, initially to review it's brand and establish a plan for brand development. Latterly, I joined the board in a non-exec role to advise on its business plan for growth and work with the senior management team to establish competitive advantage.Please visit the web-site at www.brickfab.com

I was responsible for the achievement of group sales & profit targets and the delivery of the group business plan through organic growth, the creation of additional offices and the introduction of additional facility support services.I led the successful integration of new product ranges into the organisation to drive growth and maximise cross-selling opportunities.I was personally responsible for key account development and the delivery of multi-million pound projects predominantly within the UK, but also across Europe and the USA.I introduced Leadership training across all senior managers and board members.I developed and implemented a regional and national marketing plan (including web-site development, internal & external communications, marketing events and the establishment of an active press office) to maximise BBI's visibility and credibility as a leading national provider of facilities support solutions.

I formed a UK subsidiary, introduced UK showrooms, and created and implemented a business-to-business sales and marketing strategy to launch the Farrell brand in the UK.I initiated and developed distribution partnerships throughout Scotland, England and Wales and successfully led the strategic direction of the UK company.I effectively managed the UK budget to achieve additional revenue and profit streams into the parent company. I helped lead product development and setting the brief for new products.

I was part of the acquisition team involved in the successful purchase of Qubix - Waiko's sole UK distributor (and only non wholly owned subsidiary). I was responsible for integrating the newly formed UK subsidiary into the Waiko organisation and for leading the direct sales strategy.I was responsible for recruitment, training, motivation, assessment, group and individual targeting, resource management, forecasting and reporting.

I managed and led the sales teams.I was responsible for the targeting of short, medium and long term business opportunities and their transition into business.

I created and developed business strategies for the company's UK dealerbase to attack designated vertical markets, that had traditionally bought 'wood' system furniture. (At that time, Steelcase manufactured mainly metal furniture for the UK market and as nearly 60% of all contract furniture sold in the UK in the mid-eighties was manufactured in wood veneer, Steelcase needed to enter that market to increase their market share).I was responsible to the European HQ in Strasbourg for the launch of UK manufactured wood products and their integration into the European marketplace.