Coaches & Consultants

Chet Oktay offers depth of experience and expertise in the world of people development. His career path includes key roles within the corporate arena complemented by episodes in running his own practices.

A lifelong involvement in helping ‘fellow humans’ has produced a spectrum of services which cover personal coaching, counselling, career development and career transition. Without exaggeration it can be stated that he has assisted hundreds of individuals on his journey to date.

Though much of his activity is at ‘board/director level’ he takes great pleasure in working across a full spectrum of career paths. Chet offers an in-depth understanding of the sensitivities around diversity which he has acquired over the years by dealing with people from a vast array of backgrounds. This has included both the private and the public sector.

Clare is an executive coach who believes that everybody has the power to achieve their potential.  Working empathetically and honestly, she works with clients to recognise their inherent skills and values, as well as to challenge any outdated beliefs.

Prior to her coaching career, Clare spent 16 years working in the corporate sector as a senior public relations and employee relations consultant. In this role, she helped business leaders define their ethos and objectives in order to communicate more authentically with key stakeholders. In 2011, Clare formalised her considerable experience in personal development by specialising in executive coaching.

Clare’s coaching clients have come from a range of organisations in the private and public sectors including: Southern Railway, the National Health Service, as well as the publishing, retail and personal finance sectors.

Johanna is a retired Commander, Royal Navy in which she served for 23 years, starting just as the WRNS was disbanded and women were just starting to go to sea with the men.  She then made the successful transition into life as a management consultant, transforming zero commercial knowledge into £1M+ in sales.  Her specialist areas were strategic workforce planning and change management.

She has been running her own business for 3 years now, offering a range of consulting, coaching, mentoring, mediation and tutoring services for both public and private sector, SME and corporates.

Johanna’s focus is always on the people side of business; specifically, helping leaders understand the shadow they cast so they can shape it to get the best out of their workforce.  She uses a couple of psychometrics that help leaders understand their default leadership style and how mentally tough (resilient) they are.

Prior to his career working on the people agenda, John held a number of senior and operational positions in Learning & Development (Achieve Global), Corporate Financial Services (HBOS), Construction (RMC/ CEMEX) and Professional Services (PwC).  He has over 20 years’ consulting experience in Career Management, Talent Management and Operational Coaching. Working with Senior Executives, middle managers and their high-potential staff, he has inspired them to reach new heights in personal effectiveness through the development and application of their interpersonal skills as well as helping them to manage their own careers in times of organisational restructuring. He has extensive experience in helping people across all organisational levels to re-evaluate their career options and then to prepare themselves for success in their next career move including CV preparation, self-marketing plans and interview skills.

John has a wealth of experience in both strategic and organisational roles within the HR sector, with particular knowledge of the Pharmaceutical industry. He possesses a strong track record of team building and success in the integration of organisations at times of merger and acquisition.

His early career in HR started with managerial roles in G D Searle, where he subsequently became HR Director. He subsequently moved to Monsanto plc, at the time employing 1600 people in the UK as Head of HR Shared Services, and was later appointed HR Director for UK and Scandinavia. At the time of Monsanto’s acquisition by Pharmacia John made significant contributions to the integration of the workforce before leaving to take up his current consultancy role.

John is a pragmatic interpreter of UK Employment Legislation with a strong track record in blending disparate teams and organisations. He is innovative in designing flexible benefits for organisations and was the first to do so within the pharmaceutical industry. He is credited with being highly effective in resolving internal disputes at Grievance/Dismissal stages and a sensitive investigator in disciplinary enquiries.

He is a lay member of the Employment Tribunal and currently County Commander for St John Ambulance in Buckinghamshire.

Julie has extensive experience in the private and not for profit sectors. She worked as Head of HR for three large Housing Associations and has an in depth knowledge of the challenges facing individuals in that sector.  Her housing roles involved leading teams through periods of significant change, including restructures, redundancies and organisational design.

Prior to that, Julie gained experience in a specific reward role for a major outsourcer as well as senior roles in retail banking.  Julie focuses on the full employee life cycle and is able to advise on all aspects to both employer and employee alike. She has also gained experience in coaching individuals in the not for profit sector, focusing on developing individuals to take on new challenges and push boundaries.

Karen Harvey has a wealth of HR experience at Director level in a variety of organisations, including local and central government, housing, trade and membership bodies, consultancies and the private sector as well as consultancy assignments in both permanent and interim roles.

She is a qualified executive coach working closely with senior and board level individuals and has managed several outplacement assignments.  Her coaching expertise has included individuals and teams from a wide spectrum of backgrounds and has encompassed the design and delivery of management and leadership development programmes which have included coaching and mentoring components.  Karen is a qualified mediator and has successfully resolved many workplace disputes.

Katya Veleva is a Diversity and Inclusion Consultant.

She is an EMCC Senior Practitioner accredited leadership coach, but her biggest passions are Inclusion, Equity and Diversity. Her work is dedicated to empowering individuals and organisations to find the methods, techniques and the language that bring them together in a way that everyone can be their best self at work.

Katya has a background in architecture and digital construction. Her experience with healthcare design and building information modelling eventually brought out a passion for people and shaped her innate instinct for communication into an effective and poignant tool for collaboration.

Katya has supported world renowned organisations, such as Grimshaw Architects and Alisson Brooks Architects in their endeavours to adopt digital technologies in their design.

Maria is a Chartered Occupational Psychologist with over 10 years’ coaching experience in all phases of the career life-cycle supporting organisations to identify, develop and retain talent. Recent industry experience covers banking, insurance, FMCG, consultancy, pharmaceutical and public sector organisations including the NHS.  Prior to working as an Occupational Psychologist Maria gained business experience working at a financial institution in the City of London (BBVA/Bancomer) in various operational roles.

Mark has successfully delivered coaching and career development programmes for a diverse range of clients including junior staff, managers, senior managers, executives, professional staff, and directors. He has coached employees nationally and internationally in exploring career options, making decisions and taking action. He adopts a supportive, person centred approach to encourage and enable staff in reflecting and gaining self-awareness of strengths and skills, and to build their potential for moving on effectively in their career.

Michael is a Member of British Psychological Society, holds a BPS Level ‘A’ Occupational Testing Certificate as well as a BPS Level ‘B’ Intermediate in Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ) Certificate. He is an SHL Trained Assessor in Occupational Testing and OPQ and holds a Diploma in Training and Development (CIPD)  An Associate Outplacement & Career Consultant since 1991, His career transition experience includes career and executive coaching on an individual basis, running group workshops for job search, providing project management and consultancy input into resource centres.

He has had responsibility for the development and establishment of Advisory Centres and Resource Centres on employer sites, has invaluable experience of interviewing, coaching and counselling of employees and redundant workers and assisting them into new career paths. He assists organisations that are going through restructure and change who want positive support for their people at what can be a daunting time. He has conducted assessment centres and psychometric feedback and has experience of working both in the public and private sectors.

Nicola is a Career & Talent Management Coach & Facilitator with extensive experience working across business functions and organisational structures, from front-line to the Board in both public and private sector organisations, enabling individuals and groups to manage their careers and improve their performance.  Nicola has a background in people and organisation development and an earlier career in sales and marketing within the food, wines & spirits and soft drinks industries.

In her work Nicola emphasises the importance of employee wellness, helping to build resilience and to manage periods of stress in a world of work now increasingly characterised by change and uncertainty.  Her approach draws on established psychological theory and practice and is focused on problem solving; dealing with both the practicalities of change and any unhelpful ways of thinking, feeling and behaving in working toward sustainable solutions.

Parul is a personal transformation and business coach with particular experience of Public Speaking. Her previous background was as an HR professional, with considerable UK and international experience, where she held a number of senior talent management and learning and development roles. Recent major projects included a significant number of change management and restructuring programmes, and the introduction of new Talent management and Performance management into large and medium sized organisations across multiple geographies.

Her current focus is on her key specialisms of Personal transformation and Business Coaching and Management Development.  She mainly provides 1:1 and group coaching solutions in Public Speaking, Development Coaching, Lifestyle Coaching, Coaching maternity returners and Coaching for retirement. She provides coaching in-person as well as virtually on Skype and Face Time.

Robin’s background includes 19 years of recruitment, training and management in the financial services sector, followed by over 15 years as an outplacement consultant.

He has project managed change programmes, regularly facilitating pre-retirement and job search workshops to develop individual’s skills and qualities including self-awareness, CVs, self-marketing and interviews preparation, as well as individual diagnostics and career transition coaching.  As a professional career transition/performance coach he has developed a proven track record of delivering informative inclusive workshops and effective empathetic individual support.

“My mission is simply to support individuals in career transition, enabling them to take a fresh look at their working life and move forward positively into new roles.”

Rowena has a wealth of experience in the aviation industry, principally in HR Management, together with knowledge of the voluntary, publishing, housing and public sectors. She was instrumental in developing and managing a successful Careerlink facility for British Airways employees facing organisational change focusing specifically on recruitment, training and coaching. More recently she has worked as a tutor within the education sector, designing and delivering Job Search Technique programmes for college students and long term unemployed.

Sara is an accredited Executive Coach, Mentor and Leadership Facilitator and is to developing people and organisations to be their best.  In a successful career spanning 20 years, Sara has held leadership and Director roles in leading UK and global HR firms.

With responsibility for Sales and Marketing in the UK and Europe, her extensive experience includes leadership roles in the recruitment, career management, outsourcing and, latterly, the talent and HR consulting sectors. She has worked with clients across the full range of industry sectors, from business and professional services, technology and media & communications, to FMCG and the public sector.  She is an established and credible leader, able to influence and inspire others to achieve personal and business goals and make a difference.

Simon has over twenty years’ experience as an accredited executive and career coach, workshop facilitator and organisational consultant. In his earlier career, he worked as a City regulator, management consultant and banker. He has extensive experience of coaching leaders in the financial and professional services sectors. He has also supported leaders in healthcare, including NHS trusts and medical research bodies.

Simon’s areas of expertise include:

• Career coaching, including supporting clients and their teams to explore new ways of working and career paths arising from the pandemic
• Cross-cultural coaching, including coaching in French and German
• Helping clients transition successfully to new roles
• Managing the people element in regulation and corporate governance
• Providing psychometric and 360-degree feedback
• Supporting high potential executives to fulfil their potential
• Coaching senior executives to develop thriving ‘portfolio’ careers, having left corporate roles.

Recent client feedback describes Simon as a ‘calm and reflective coach. He has a lovely sense of humour, which can lighten certain stages in a conversation, but he is also able to engage with professional and personal issues in a thoughtful, positive way. He often uses metaphors, which allow an issue to be explored quickly and productively’.

Sue has specialised in career management and transition since 2001 and has supported clients from a broad range of backgrounds from private and public sector organisations including technology, engineering, retail, manufacturing, pharma, medical, aerospace, telecoms, financial services, NHS, local government, HM Forces and MoD.

She provides engaging, practical and down-to-earth coaching covering all aspects of career transition.

A qualified HR Professional she previously held people management and development roles in global IT services as well as in specialist manufacturing where she thrived on management development, change management and ensuring positive  employee relations.

Sue is a professional qualified Executive Coach, and Facilitator delivering Career Transition, Outplacement and building Career Resilience. Her focus is to enable clients to progress their careers, successfully navigate, manage and lead through change. With a successful track-record of helping people define their strengths, improve performance, articulate and step into their potential, Sue is invited to work at all levels of seniority and ability across a broad range of sectors.

Sue is a thinking partner and supports teams/individuals to define vision and create objectives, ownership, commitment, build trust and take authentic, strategic, focused action. Through brain-friendly learning, with fun, curiosity, lightness and high perceptive intuition she asks probing questions few dare to ask.

Following a career in Operations within the Civil Service, Susan enjoyed further success as a Project Manager, Trainer and Senior Career Guidance/Development and Outplacement Consultant in programme delivery across a variety of industries including telecommunications, finance, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, public sector and the armed forces to name but a few.

Susan has worked with men and women from “coal face” to boardroom using humour, her own wide experience and a common sense approach to motivate and encourage individuals to fulfil their potential. Using well developed interpersonal and communication skills, she has inspired clients, repeatedly demonstrating the ability to mentor, develop, empower and stimulate, helping individuals to achieve successful transition to new and progressive careers. For the past 10 years her skills have been used to set up and deliver remote outplacement programmes dealing with clients via telephone, email and Skype, delivering a successful high quality career guidance service.

Tom is an Executive Coach, Career Coach and Facilitator of Leadership and Team Development, with 25 years corporate HR and L&D experience, with Marsh Ltd., the Global Leader in Insurance Broking and Risk Management and prior to that with Sainsbury’s and Homebase, in various roles including UK Head of L&D.

As an Executive Coach, he now helps clients across a wide range of sectors, including Financial Services, Hotel and Leisure, Industrial/Construction Materials and Education,  improving individual performance and effectiveness such as increasing assertiveness and better managing conflict, improving emotional intelligence, thinking and operating more strategically, delegating more effectively and coaching and empowering their people.

In his Career Coaching work, he has helped countless clients, including Finance Directors, Chief Operating Officers and Operations Directors, Marketing Directors, Legal Firms Senior Partners, from dozens of organisations, to successfully transition to the next stage of their career, helping them to understand their values, motivators and strengths, execute effective search strategies, and to communicate their worth through powerful achievement-based CVs, impactful LinkedIn profiles, and robust interview preparation.