Our People

Since its inception, the AoEC has been committed to maintaining the highest professional standards, becoming one of a few European coach training companies to be accredited by the three top professional bodies, the International Coaching Federation (ICF), European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) and the Association for Coaching (AC). We can therefore offer you professional credentials that will be recognised internationally.

Our People

Alan Taylor

Alan Taylor UK

Alan Taylor

Alan Taylor

Alan specialises in working with managers and leadership teams, building both individual and collective capabilities via the application of a systemic coaching focus. Clients experience the benefits of working with a coach who has walked-the-talk, a coach with a unique combination of senior operational management and leadership experience, coupled with a high level of coaching competence and accreditation. Working in the UK and Europe, Alan supports and challenges clients, such that they stretch beyond stakeholder expectations. Alan’s coaching qualifications include: • Master Practitioner Diploma in Systemic Team Coaching • Advanced Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching • Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching • AoEC Gestalt coaching course • NLP Diploma

Alan Žepec

Alan Žepec Croatia

Alan Žepec

Alan Žepec

Alan Žepec is the founder of the LQ organization and works as a coach, trainer and consultant in the area of personal and organizational development for leaders and organizations in Croatia and abroad. In last 23 years Alan established two successful companies in construction and consulting business, both of them becoming market leader in the industry niche. He is a lecturer at the London Academy of Executive Coaching. Above all, Alan is committed to bring with his team new leadership culture to organizations all around the world.

Ali English

Ali English UK

Ali English

Ali English

Ali is an ICF PCC-accredited executive coach who works with individuals and teams. Having spent 25 years in a FTSE 100 pharmaceutical company, her breadth of senior business expertise covered significant line and matrix roles. Drawing on this corporate leadership experience, Ali uses her curiosity, creativity, humour and non-judgemental style to ask powerful questions that challenge and support those she works with. She supports leaders and teams to explore their assumption sets, maps of reality and unconscious biases to create new insight, awareness and enable lasting change.

Andrew Tallents

Andrew Tallents UK

Andrew Tallents

Andrew Tallents

Andrew has worked with CEOs and business leaders for over twenty years. He believes that the most effective leaders are self-aware, emotionally intelligent and have purpose in their lives. He coaches executives who understand the importance of self-leadership and want to fulfill their potential as human beings. Andrew believes in challenging his coachees to create stretching goals that lead to improved business performance and personal fulfillment. Andrew is an accredited associate of the Academy of Executive Coaches. Andrew believes that successful business partnerships, working towards delivering leadership excellence, tend to be based around mutual respect and having some fun on the journey. Andrew is proud of his family, circle of friends and associates. When he is not supporting his clients he enjoys working towards fulfilling his potential on the golf course.

Ann Cheung

Ann Cheung UK

Ann Cheung

Ann Cheung

Ann is an Executive and Systemic Team Coach who has come from a background of programme and project management consultancy and delivery. She has helped improve the performance of programme and project teams across the infrastructure sector for many years. Ann is a member of the International Coach Federation and has been a MSP Advanced Practitioner for almost ten years. She offers a range of development approaches from consulting to develop bespoke coaching solutions, workshop facilitation, coaching individuals and Systemic Team Coaching. She has a track record in taking the systemic perspective and recognising the wider delivery context which is influencing the cultural and behavioural issues, and coaching teams to achieve the desired results. She is known for her patience, diligence and braveness in teasing out the conversations that are needed for the client to achieve a breakthrough, and her ability to deliver impactful feedback whilst remaining approachable.

Anne Archer

Anne Archer UK

Anne Archer

Anne Archer

My passion is to shift perspective in mental health at work. We all deserve to thrive, and my approach is whole person whole life. I have a unique portfolio where I can address people in deep crisis to execs who want a bit more capacity in a full and rich life. This perspective is enabling in how I work with my clients. I’m a trusted companion, advocate, and critical friend. To facilitate a shift, I am a crisis volunteer for Shout; a Mental Health First Aid Instructor, Resilience Coach, Global Exec and Team Coach and facilitate changing perspective workshops. My greatest satisfactions come from seeing individuals grow in their capacity to thrive in life and for organisations to create the environment where to thrive is normal. Anne Archer MSc Psychology of Well-being; PCC, Accredited Resilience Coach, Advanced Diploma Exec Coaching (AoEC), Certified Supervisor of Coaches and Trusted Coach Directory member.

Anne-Liis Paide

Anne-Liis Paide Estonia

Anne-Liis Paide

Anne-Liis Paide

Anne-Liis has worked for the Estonian Business School Group for more than 10 years. Anne-Liis has worked for the Estonian Business School Group for more than 10 years. She has always been fascinated by and involved with new development projects in EBS. She has also been involved with the Organisation of International Events and has contributed as a project manager for international workshops and conferences held in Tallinn. At present, she feels joyful about her position as a Manager of Coaching Programmes in EBS Executive Education. Anne-Liis is also a graduate of the Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching.

Anne-Marie Rowson

Anne-Marie Rowson UK

Anne-Marie Rowson

Anne-Marie Rowson

“As a coach I get a huge kick out of seeing an individual tap into their own personal power and really start to increase their effectiveness, not only in the workplace, but in all aspects of their life. I aim to bring a mixture of curiosity, challenge, compassion and courage to my coaching practice and am constantly learning from my clients.” Anne-Marie began her career in the military and later trained as a business psychologist, working as an external consultant before moving into a series of internal roles focused on leadership and executive development. She has lived and worked internationally and has experienced many different aspects of corporate life including acquisitions, corporate renewal, and transformational change. Working independently for almost a decade, Anne-Marie is a graduate of the AoEC Advanced Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching and works with leaders from many different types of organisations, both large and small, private and public. She lives in South Somerset and can frequently be found walking along the South West coastal paths or in the hills in Wales, whizzing around on her motorbike or pottering in her garden.

Anthony Eldridge- Rogers

Anthony Eldridge- Rogers UK

Anthony Eldridge- Rogers

Anthony Eldridge- Rogers

Anthony is founder of the Foundation for Recovery and Wellness Coaching International. (FRC). He has over 35 years experience of the healthcare field in relation to recovery and wellness field and has supported thousands of people in transforming their lives. He has extensive experience in the media and arts and has worked with many of the industries big organisations among them BBC, Conde Nast, ITV, BBDO, Saatchi’s, SAB Miller. He works as a coach trainer, workshop leader and author with students from across several continents taking both the online and face to face coaching training provided by the FRC. Anthony is committed to the idea that fulfillment and life meaning is within the grasp of all of us no matter what the circumstances. He has created the Meaning Centred Coaching model as the coaching framework for both delivering recovery and wellness coaching and inspiration for training coaches. He has personal lived experience of profoundly impactful healthcare challenges and made his own recovery journey. He is author of ‘Become a Recovery to Wellness Coach – The Essential Principles, Skills and Contexts’ and ‘Meaning Centred Coaching – Getting to the Heart’. In 2010 Anthony was invited to become a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts where he now runs an Executive Coaching group.

Anyima Okundi

Anyima Okundi East Africa

Anyima Okundi

Anyima Okundi

Anyima is a multi-talented entrepreneur who draws her expertise from her education in the UK. As an entrepreneur, Anyima has run a successful design entity for the past 15 years. In addition, she has valuable corporate experience having worked at British Telecom Plc., Standard Chartered Bank, and The House of Commons in the UK. Anyima is a member of the Academy of Executive Coaching’s (AoEC) East Africa faculty, and is passionate about coaching senior executives to become more effective in their leadership. Anyima holds a Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching and a Systemic Team Coaching Certification from the AoEC. She is certified to administer, interpret, and provide feedback using Hogan Assessment Systems and Leadership Versatility Index 360 feedback tools. Anyima earned her Post-Graduate Diploma in International Business from the University of Surrey and a BA in Economics from the University of East Anglia, and is also a trained counsellor.

Aurora Aritao

Aurora Aritao Asia Pacific

Aurora Aritao

Aurora Aritao

Aurora is a PCC-level executive coach, team coach, facilitator and leadership development specialist based in Hong Kong. Passionate about human capital and its strategic value to organizational success, her interests lie in understanding transformation, organizational behaviour, group dynamics and the interrelationship between personality, leadership style, culture and decision-making. Using a multi-disciplinary approach, Aurora focuses on helping executives and teams become change leaders: developing adaptive leadership skills that enable them to achieve high performance and sustain their impact in times of uncertainty and complexity. Prior to coaching and consulting, Aurora managed cross-cultural teams for 15 years at global multinationals such as Microsoft and Vodafone Group. She completed an Executive Master in Individual & Organizational Psychology (Coaching & Consulting for Change) at INSEAD Business School, a Marketing Excellence Certificate from Kellogg School of Management and Bachelor of Business from UTS, Australia. She received her Certificate in Systemic Team Coaching from the AoEC, and gained her coaching certifications from the NeuroLeadership Institute and the International Coach Academy.

Barbara Walsh

Barbara Walsh UK

Barbara Walsh

Barbara Walsh

As a growth-focused professional, Barbara has built a 20-year track record working with senior leaders and leadership teams from around the world, to maximise organisational performance and achieve long-term success within complex environments. Her expertise in partnering with clients to develop and maintain a culture that delivers on strategic outcomes, has allowed her to contribute meaningfully and add measurable value to the companies she works with. As a strong collaborator and influential communicator, her inclusive approach enables her to build productive relationships across all parts of the system. She is comfortable engaging with stakeholders at all levels, both within and external to the organisation, to achieve win-win-win solutions. Barbara’s many qualifications include an MSc in Coaching and Behavioural Change from Henley and AoEC's Systemic Team Coaching Master Practitioner Diploma. She is accredited by EMCC Global as a senior practitioner for individual and team coaching and is licensed to conduct Leadership Circle 360 and Enneagram iEQ9 assessments. Additionally, she is senior faculty for both Systemic Team Coaching and the Global Team Coaching Institute’s team coach training programmes and supervises team coaches.

Catherine Garrett

Catherine Garrett UK

Catherine Garrett

Catherine Garrett

Catherine joined the AoEC in early 2022 after a long career within the luxury travel industry came to an end due to the impact of the Covid pandemic. A trained primary school language and TEFL teacher, Catherine most recently ran her own business delivering language tuition to adults and children so is well versed in the challenges of going it alone, as many of our coaches experience. Having spent many years working and travelling around the globe her travel industry career saw her gain experience in multiple disciplines across sales, product, marketing, commercial and operations bringing a breadth of experience and diversity to the AoEC. Her expertise in transitioning small businesses through periods of growth and managing large teams across matrix organisations brings her to the AoEC management team where she focuses on process improvement, sales development projects and business transformation alongside the day-to-day management of our operations team. She is a self-confessed linguaphile, but her real passion is for all things Italian having spent many years living in Sardinia and Fruili-Venezia-Giulia. Her children are half Italian, and her partner is a chef.. so food and language are the main topics to pique her interest! She also has a keen interest in fitness (to allow for the over-indulgence) and can often be found trawling the hills of the Cotswolds where she lives as she prepares for the next running challenge. Catherine has developed an avid interest in coaching and the benefits this can bring to organisations having spent a large part of her career developing staff and management teams.

Danny Tuckwood

Danny Tuckwood UK

Danny Tuckwood

Danny Tuckwood

Danny works with senior leadership teams and boards, helping them to adapt and constantly reimagine themselves in a systemic way as they navigate the uncertain world we inhabit. He also trains and supervises coaches, leaders and HR/OD professionals in how to change the nature of the conversations they have so that they can do likewise. With a broad international business background – from multinationals through SME’s to start-ups - and having started and grown businesses himself, Danny came into the coaching world in 2009 with a strong desire to help others realise their potential and continues that passion today. He holds an MSc in Coaching and Behavioural Change and when not helping the world to change enjoys brewing his own beer, spending time with family and watching sport.

David Kesby PCC

David Kesby PCC Switzerland

David Kesby PCC

David Kesby PCC

David believes everyone deserves to be led well. His purpose in life is to support leaders and organisations to create conditions for others to flourish and thrive - their people and their stakeholders. David has 30 years experience of leading and developing people and has been coaching individuals and groups since 1998. He has worked with leaders and teams in finance, pharmaceuticals, artificial intelligence, defence, government, healthcare, manufacturing and global tech. David is an AoEC qualified Executive and Systemic Team Coach, credentialled as a PCC level coach with the ICF, and is an Ashridge accredited Coach and Organisational Supervisor. He joined the AoEC faculty in 2016 and has delivered the Practitioner Programme in Switzerland, UK and within global organisations. In his spare time, David leads a scout unit in Winchester where he lives, for young people between 16-25 years with special educational needs. His whole family is involved and he loves it!

David Ng

David Ng Asia Pacific

David Ng

David Ng

David brings 29+ years of broad industry and international exposure, gained through working in challenging start-ups and respected MNCs as a finance professional in leadership roles as a CFO and as a Consultant. His experience has covered global and regional positions, based out of Singapore, Hong Kong, London and Sydney. This background gives him a strong basis to work with Entrepreneurs and Executives, with a focus on corporate development, financial performance, intellectual property and creating growth for Companies and Individuals, underpinned by a Coached and cross-domain approach to knowledge commercialization. His corporate and capital markets experience provides a further basis for mentoring roles at various business accelerators and lecturing at business and commerce degrees at the undergraduate and post graduate level, where he enjoys combining industry practice with academic work. Specialties: CFO work; Start-ups; Performance Management; Behavioural Accounting & Management; Strategy Execution; Business Accelerators; M&A; Corporate Governance; Executive Performance Coaching; IP; mentoring; Academic teaching; Athletics.

Donna Isaacs

Donna Isaacs UK

Donna Isaacs

Donna Isaacs

Donna joined the AoEC Ops team in November 2018, working alongside Vicki Peacock on the Practitioner Diploma Programme. Wearing many hats during her working life, she spent over 25 years at one of the largest Iveco Ford Commercial Vehicle Dealership’s as an Administrator, PA & Sales Admin Manager. She is a ‘homebody’ who loves spending time with her family and nutty English Pointer Amber.

Dr Colm Murphy

Dr Colm Murphy UK

Dr Colm Murphy

Dr Colm Murphy

Dr Colm Murphy has over twenty years’ experience of designing and delivering coaching and team coaching to individuals and teams across the public and private sectors. His team coaching experience ranges from working with globally dispersed teams, to leadership teams of publicly quoted organisations, to project teams. He is the Program Director of the Global Team Coaching Institute Senior Practitioner Program and was Director of Coaching Programs at Smurfit Business School, University College Dublin from 2017‑2022. Colm’s area of expertise is in taking a psychological approach to assist leaders and their teams to achieve meaningful behavioural changes that drive business results, through focused and engaging coaching and training interventions. Colm has a special interest in team dynamics and completed his Doctoral research in the University of Portsmouth on the contribution of team coaching to team effectiveness. He is co‑editor of the ‘Team Coaching Casebook’ (Open University Press, 2022) and is an accredited Master Practitioner Coach (EMCC). He has been the global work stream lead on Team Coaching Accreditation for the EMCC.

Dr Hilary Lines

Dr Hilary Lines UK

Dr Hilary Lines

Dr Hilary Lines

Hilary Lines is an executive and team coach, educator and facilitator, with over 25 years’ experience of working with senior executives in a range of sectors. She helps clients unlock their full potential as leaders, enabling them to develop the relational presence and agility to engage productively with their teams, peers and clients. A driving force for her work lies in her belief that leaders in complex organisations create value through working constructively with difference. She helps leadership teams take a fresh look at the roots of underperformance and find new ways of relating that ignite energy and deliver results. Her work formed the foundation of “Touchpoint Leadership: Creating Collaborative Energy in Teams and Organisations”, a book that she co-authored with Jacqui Scholes-Rhodes in 2013. Prior to setting up her leadership coaching business, Hilary coached the European Board of IBM’s consulting business, and was Global Head of Partner Development at PwC Consulting. She has held HR and leadership Development roles in the pharmaceutical sector. Hilary’s qualifications include: • ICF Professional Certified Coach March 2016 • Master Executive Coach Practitioner 2012 • Accredited Coach: Coaches Training Institute 2002 • Diploma in Advanced Facilitation Skills for Individual and Organisation Change: Gestalt Centre, London, 1999 • PhD: Career Development of Scientists in Industry London 1981

Dumi Magadlela

Dumi Magadlela

Dumi Magadlela

Dumi Magadlela

Dumi Magadlela is an accredited international executive coach, team coach, coach trainer, leadership development facilitator, organizational ‘people whisperer’, and African skills development practitioner. He is based Johannesburg, South Africa. He is a regularly featured speaker and panellist on coaching, leadership, and people development. He is an author on executive coaching, coaching approaches, ubuntu values, and people development. Dumi co-founded the Ubuntu Coaching Foundation (UCF) at The Coaching Centre (TCC) in South Africa where he has been part of Senior Faculty for over twelve years. He delivers a module on “Coaching in the African Context” at the Integral Africa Coaching Centre. Dumi is part-time faculty at the University of Stellenbosch Business School’s MPhil in Management Coaching. He has vast experience working across the African continent and collaborating with other coaches globally. He currently serves as a Trustee on the Board of the International Coaching Federation Foundation (ICF-F). Dumi is part of an international faculty at the WBECS’ Global Team Coaching Institute (GTCI). He is accredited by the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) as a Senior Practitioner in Team Coaching. Dumi’s coaching and way of being is influenced by the same principles that Nelson Mandela lived by, that of Ubuntu (meaning: “I am because we are”). He is trained in systems thinking, in gestalt, integral frameworks, and has been exposed to PERILL as some of the adaptable and agile tools for working with and within organisational systems. Dumi features regularly on local and international coaching, leadership, and speaking platforms.

Ebru Goksu Yildirim

Ebru Goksu Yildirim UAE

Ebru Goksu Yildirim

Ebru Goksu Yildirim

Ebru Goksu Yildirim BEc, MCC, CPCC, ORSC, NLP, STC Executive, Leadership & Systemic Team Coach Trainer, Facilitator, Observer and ICF Mentor Coach Ebru is an empowering, creative, and growth oriented ICF Certified executive, leadership and team coach (MCC, CPCC, ORSC, NLP, STC), facilitator, mentor and a trainer. She’s been coaching and mentoring individuals, executives, and teams since 2011. She has a BA in Economics, and is a Marketing Communications Expert with almost 20 years of experience, which she gained through working in different fields of Advertising and Marketing in the MENAT region. During her corporate experience, she held senior roles in the region where she led large businesses and teams. She works with individuals and teams by staying true to her life-purpose of ‘unlocking potential’. She is enthusiastic, and a high-achiever. One of her key skills is being able to meet her clients exactly where they are, holding them there just long enough to show how resourceful they are, to increase their capacity to grow. She works with her clients on mindset and energy levels by focusing on their ‘being and doing’. She truly believes this is the path to transformation and professional empowerment. Being a bilingual (English & Turkish), intuitive and fierce coach, and facilitator, she blends her coaching and training skills and tools with life and business experience. She has been based in Dubai, UAE since 2005.

Gamze Acar Bayraktaroglu

Gamze Acar Bayraktaroglu Turkey

Gamze Acar Bayraktaroglu

Gamze Acar Bayraktaroglu

Gamze Acar Bayraktaroğlu is an experienced leadership trainer of 24 years, internationally accredited EIA Master Coach and has been coaching executives and teams for 15 years. Gamze is also ESIA accredited coach/mentor supervisor, an EMCC's coach assessor and co-author of a book called- MANAGERS AS COACHES. She has deep experience in facilitating leadership, teambuilding, coaching and mentoring skills trainings. Gamze is in the global trainers team of New Haven from NY, USA and Demos-Hemsley Fraser from Germany and Talentis from France. She is one of the global coaches of Human Systems from UK and PeakInsight from USA and part of World Bank’s coach and facilitator pool. Gamze consults organisations for creating leadership and coaching cultures. She facilitates groups, writes articles on related subjects at Harvard Business Review blog and presents in national and international conferences. She is also a mentor coach and mentor trainer with her 3000+ executive coaching hours.

George Warren

George Warren UK

George Warren

George Warren

Based in Wales, George is an ICF accredited executive coach, facilitator and consultant. After a year living in Argentina, George enjoyed nine years in senior management positions in the travel industry. It was here that he noticed that, each time after being coached, he felt unstoppable, that he could tackle any problem. Following up his interest, he studied and practiced coaching, enjoying the challenge of introducing a coaching culture and style to businesses. It was while attending the AoEC’s Practitioner Diploma programme that he realised coaching was in his bones. He set up his own practice shortly after graduating, and hasn’t looked back since. An internationalist at heart, George loves nothing more than understanding different cultures and approaches. He has coached clients across Europe, Asia, North and South America, Australasia and Africa. He is deeply passionate about the topics of confidence, potential and enjoying a life and career in line with one’s values.

Gina West

Gina West UK

Gina West

Gina West

Gina joined the AoEC in 2017 providing administration support to our Global Partners and Workshops. Gina formerly worked as a Project Co-ordination for a Construction Company and has previous experience providing administration support within the Travel and Tourism Industry, this allowed her to peruse her passion of travel. She now enjoys spending time with her young family, walking and Yoga.

Gwynneth Rees-Kenny

Gwynneth Rees-Kenny Ireland & N. Ireland

Gwynneth Rees-Kenny

Gwynneth Rees-Kenny

Gwynneth has in-depth experience in the field of people development, both as a coach and within the specialisms of organisation, leadership and management development. Her broad sector-wide experience includes a US-based two-year international secondment, which provided a valuable perspective on operating in a global environment. With an HR and OD background, Gwynneth has delivered leadership and culture change programmes and also brings expertise in coaching groups within organisations, helping people to find fresh solutions for collaboration in common ground, using expertise gained from her training in organisation and relationship systems coaching. Having started as an internal coach within financial services, where she coached talent pool / fast track colleagues, she went on to certify as a coach with the Coactive Training Institute in 2005. She is a member of the ICF, with whom she has PCC accreditation, and over the last 20 years, has provided executive coaching across all sectors. Gwynneth has been involved in delivering qualifications in executive coaching since 2017 and is a guest lecturer with the University of Glasgow’s International HRMD Masters programme, delivering the Coaching in Organisations elective. Gwynneth is also an accredited, qualified coach supervisor. She joined the AoEC Ireland & Northern Ireland Faculty in 2023 and is a fabulous addition to our team.

Hanan Al Harthy

Hanan Al Harthy UAE

Hanan Al Harthy

Hanan Al Harthy

Hanan Al Harthy, MBA, PCC, STC, ORSC, STC. Executive & Systemic Team Coach AoEC UAE Faculty. Hanan is an accomplished professional with extensive leadership experience in developing and executing the human development strategies to drive sustainable business and cultural change over the past 21 years of her professional career. Her experience includes leadership development, community/society development, executive coaching. She is particularly attracted to companies undergoing change, transforming a business model to accommodate growth and corporate diversification. She works with her clients in English and Arabic.

Irene Riad

Irene Riad UAE

Irene Riad

Irene Riad

Irene Riad, PCC, STC, EQCC, CQC Irene is a multi-lingual Executive, Career and Systemic Team Coach with over 20 years, in public and private sectors, working with leading organizations and individuals to enhance productivity, maximize performance, and accelerate growth. Her subject matter expertise lies in executive coaching, systemic team coaching, leadership assessment and development, high potential pipeline development, talent and performance management, as well as learning and development. She delivers client work in Arabic and English.

Jenny Campbell

Jenny Campbell UK

Jenny Campbell

Jenny Campbell

Jenny is a senior executive coach and resilience researcher. The two practices go hand in hand, providing rigorously researched insights together with tools and techniques for enabling the development of resilience in others. Jenny is dedicated to furthering our understanding of resilience in order to create the highest healthy and sustainable success possible. This is for individuals, teams, organisations, and more recently, communities. Her primary aim is to make the incredible ‘deep and simple’ findings of her research accessible by all. She is a renowned public speaker on resilience, and brings her work out through publications and direct work with organisations and communities. She is CEO of The Resilience Dynamic®, a business bringing the research findings into the world in an accessible way. The services include workshops, e-learning solutions and an accreditation programme which accredits coaches and consultants to facilitate resilience development in others. She currently leads a research collaboration into Team and Organisational Resilience, using action enquiry as the main research method. Jenny has significant business and organisational experience through her commercial leadership roles in BP Europe, BT and O2. She has also worked in Strategy Consulting, helping high growth businesses. Jenny has led teams all across Western Europe, and has established technology partnerships between UK and USA companies.

Joan van den Brink

Joan van den Brink UK

Joan van den Brink

Joan van den Brink

Joan’s life purpose is to create intimate environments so that people thrive. This acts as her north star in all her work and interactions with others. She has extensive experience in working with organizations as a senior manager, executive and as a consultant. She has specialised in leadership and talent since 2001 and been an executive coach for over 15 years. Prior to her consulting experience, Joan has enjoyed an eclectic career spanning Marketing, Operations, HR & Communications. Her expertise lies in working with teams and individuals in creating bespoke solutions to specific people needs that range from enhancing team effectiveness through building more trust and intimacy to creating and implementing people capability frameworks to develop desired skills in organisational transformations. She has extensive experience of working in the field of diversity and inclusion to facilitate the development of less favoured groups within organisations. Joan has a strong track record in building trusted advisor relationships and supporting others to grow and develop. In addition to her people consulting work, Joan is an author, executive coach and coach supervisor.

John Gray

John Gray UK

John Gray

John Gray

“My role as AoEC faculty allows me to combine my experience in coaching with my enthusiasm for supporting people in their professional development and personal awareness and change. I bring empathy and insight to working with those in their learning journeys, for them to find their ideal coaching model and approach.” Originally qualifying and practising as a solicitor, John has also worked at the at the Quaker United Nations Office in Geneva, in grassroots peace-building in Burundi, and establishing and leading a community mediation service. Since 2001 he has been freelance offering organisational consultancy and facilitation, non-managerial supervision, and also latterly coaching. He has developed a number of professional development programmes and initiatives, including supervision skills, effective conflict skills, team building, reflective practice, managing change, and globally responsible leadership skills and practice. His coaching practice is with leaders and leadership teams, in a wide range of local, national and international organisations. In addition to his coaching, and his faculty role with AoEC, John is a part-time lecturer in leadership and management at the University of York’s Centre for Applied Human Rights. John’s qualifications include: · Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching · Diploma in the work of the Change Agent · Advanced Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling (Groupwork Skills) · Certificate in Management and Leadership · Accredited Executive Coach – AoEC

John Hill

John Hill UK

John Hill

John Hill

John is an accredited Systemic Team Coach and Executive Coach working with leaders and senior teams, both in the UK and internationally. He has a background in the cut and thrust of the world of business, gained in global organisations, SMEs and start-ups, and moved into coaching and leadership development around 10 years ago. John is passionate about being an agent of positive change, drawing on his fascination with the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ of people and organisations, which informs what makes them the way they are – and, perhaps most importantly, what they could be.

John Leary-Joyce

John Leary-Joyce UK

John Leary-Joyce

John Leary-Joyce

John is our CEO and founded the Academy of Executive Coaching in 1999 with one administrator and over the years recruited and collaborated with many talented directors, trainers & administrators to develop AoEC into the prestigious brand it is today. With his tireless entrepreneurial spirit AoEC has become a highly successful international coaching training organisation with professional accreditation from ICF, EMCC, & AC. Previously, he was MD of Gestalt Centre London growing the business fourfold in six years and gaining a Company Director diploma with the Institute of Directors. John is a highly principled leader, drawing on and applying his experience from a long career as a Gestalt psychotherapist, executive and team coach, trainer and supervisor. He is Past President of EMCC UK where his focus was on maintaining standards for coaching and mentoring and building collaboration between the different professional bodies. In 2010 he founded with Peter Hawkins the Systemic Team Coaching programmes. He has an MA in Executive Coaching, is PCC with ICF, qualified supervisor, regular presenter at international conferences and author of Fertile Void, Gestalt Coaching at Work 2014 and co-author of Systemic Team Coaching 2018. His other passion is dancing Tango which links with leadership, coaching and Gestalt.

Karen Smart

Karen Smart UK

Karen Smart

Karen Smart

Karen is the go-to person for organisations who wish to use coaching to generate positive change and business performance. She has a wealth of experience in supporting organisations to embrace coaching and coaching skills. Recent sector experience includes the following; financial services, professions, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, entertainment, public sector, utilities and SMEs.

Kate Freedman

Kate Freedman UK

Kate Freedman

Kate Freedman

Kate is independent capability consultant, accredited Executive Leadership and Team coach and experienced facilitator, who has helped hundreds of managers and leaders improve their coaching and leadership capabilities. Kate has 20+ years’ commercial experience in Fast Moving Consumer Goods, Retailing and Manufacturing roles. Prior to setting up her own business, Kate led Unilever UK’s commercial capability programme and was an internal executive and career coach. She is also an experienced and accomplished skills trainer and delivered the in-house coaching skills programme at Unilever. Kate has worked on numerous change programmes and leadership interventions in her learning and development role at Unilever. Kate has worked with numerous supplier proposals to design and deploy training that creates a behaviour change and she understands how to make learning stick in organisations. Kate has been trained as a coach through the AoEC, from Skills Certificate to Advanced programme and understands how the quality of the training can enhance individuals, teams and organisation cultures. Kate’s independent coaching practice retains clients from Unilever and has added clients from Financial Services, Hospitality, and Pharmaceuticals and Technology through Kate’s strong network and associate work. Credentials • Diploma in Executive Coaching (AoEC) • Advanced Practitioner Diploma (AoEC) • Diploma in Supervision • Certified Systemic Team Coach EMCC • Accredited PCC Coach with the ICF (International Coach Federation) • Diploma in Careers Guidance and Development • BSc Food Science and Nutrition and Retail Management

Kate Sirrell

Kate Sirrell UK

Kate Sirrell

Kate Sirrell

Kate is an experienced executive coach, team coach, facilitator, coach supervisor and mentor, with global experience gained over the last 25 years. She is a Master Certified Coach (MCC) with the International Coaching Federation and frequently supports other coaches to have extraordinary impact and partners with them on their credentialing process. Kate has worked with CEOs, leaders and senior managers within organisations ranging from entrepreneurial SME organisations to large multinationals, in a variety of sectors including banking, FMCG, professional services, oil and gas and luxury fashion. She has worked with teams at all stages, helping them to develop psychological safety and trust, foster healthy collaborative dialogue and strengthen commitment and accountability across the organisation.

Katrin Oblikas-Peretti

Katrin Oblikas-Peretti Estonia

Katrin Oblikas-Peretti

Katrin Oblikas-Peretti

With 15+ years of leadership experience in multicultural teams, Katrin today delivers the best results through coaching leaders and teams, mentoring coaches, and as a coach trainer. She has specific expertise in leading cultural transformational projects and developing catching leadership conference programmes. There is a fire & ice in her. She is passionate about self and others' development through transformational coaching, believes in Authentic inside-out leadership, digs deeper in context, and comes across as Nordicly calm, structured, and straightforward. Also known as an effective and skilled communicator with the proven ability to build, motivate and engage groups. Katrin has graduated from multiple coach-specific training programmes with AoEC, including Senior Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching and Systemic Team coaching programs. She holds a Professional Coaching Certificate with ICF and has been ICF Estonia Chapter president from 2020-2023. Certified in C-IQ Conversational Intelligence with Dr. Judith E Glaser and finished The Transformational Coaching enhanced program by PsyD MCC Marcia Reynolds.

Kay Young

Kay Young Scotland

Kay Young

Kay Young

Kay has a deep interest in Awareness IQ; and how awareness supports a more relational, embodied, creative way of learning, living, and leading. She’s deeply committed to supporting clients through the inner journey of leadership: deepening quality of presence; noticing energy/resistance to change; using creative experimenting to support new choices; and change. Her practice is gestalt orientated. Kay has extensive senior management experience, including: working at NHS Board Director level. She has been professionally coaching since 2003 and is currently a member of the Faculty Team for the AoEC, facilitating the Coaching Skills Certificate, and Practitioner Diploma Programmes, in Edinburgh. She is also an ICF Evaluator and Assessor, on the AoEC’s Advanced Practitioner Diploma. She has achieved the Advanced Practitioner Diploma and the Master Practitioner Diploma, with the AoEC. She is a highly experienced, ICF accredited coach. More recently, she completed her training in gestalt psychotherapy with the Edinburgh Gestalt Institute.

Kaz Pritchard

Kaz Pritchard UK

Kaz Pritchard

Kaz Pritchard

Kaz joined the AoEC marketing team in 2022 and is our Brand and Asset Executive. She arrived with a background in fitness and wellbeing coaching, business support, media, graphic and marketing communications and has worked for brands such as Freeserve, T-Mobile, Openwave and Grass Roots, liaising with clients such as British Airways, Bank of America, Virgin and Discovery. She is a psychotherapist in training and loves walking every day, having completed many 100k walks all over the UK. She hosts a podcast, interviewing a diverse range of people, about where they walk and how they achieve a state of wellbeing. She is a teacher on a meditation app providing guided soundscape meditations for sleep and relaxation.

Kim Wrighton

Kim Wrighton UK

Kim Wrighton

Kim Wrighton

Kim works with the organisations team managing processes, governance, projects, contract issuing and coach matching. She has come from the banking sector with the majority of her career in HR working for a FTSE 100 company. She has built on her coaching skills having qualified as an executive coach on the AoEC Practitioner Diploma, prior to joining the AoEC in 2019. She is known for her practical, logical and structured approach along with the ability to listen to what is needed to find a way of getting the best possible solution for all involved.

Leah Simms

Leah Simms UK

Leah Simms

Leah Simms

Leah joined the AoEC in December 2022 having previously worked for Hachette UK Publishing within one of their book distribution centres for over 21 years. Predominantly from a customer services background, including B2B and B2C, ranging from publishers, retailers, wholesalers, on-line distributors and mail order customers and more recently within a project management role with stakeholder engagement, operations and change management at the forefront of the business needs. She is a qualified EA Run Leader for an all ladies running club and a qualified BTF Triathlon Coach,volunteering for a local club. At weekends, she enjoys spending quality family time on walks with two children and a crazy Springado.

Lee Robertson

Lee Robertson UK

Lee Robertson

Lee Robertson

Lee joined the talented AoEC marketing team in late 2018. Working in PR and marketing communications since 2000, Lee has looked after the needs of a diverse array of brands including the National Business Awards, ExCeL London, Virgin Experience Days, Labelexpo, the Roundhouse and Chelsea Football Club. Lee relishes working in marketing comms as no two days are the same. Extremely organised, she has led high profile media partnerships with The Daily Telegraph and Scotsman as well as running successful international campaigns. Lee is passionate about Formula 1, enjoys cooking and gardening and is very animal-centric, owning alpacas, cats and dogs.

Leila Rezaiguia

Leila Rezaiguia UAE

Leila Rezaiguia

Leila Rezaiguia

Leila Rezaiguia BA (Hons), MA, Chartered MCIPD, PCC, ORSC, NLP, STC and EIA. Co- Founder & Managing Partner, Kompass/ Head of Academy of Executive Coaching UAE Executive & Systemic Team Coach Trainer, Facilitator, Observer and ICF Mentor Coach Leila is a highly sought-after multi-lingual Executive, Systemic Team Coach and ICF Mentor Coach with over 23 years, in public and private sectors, working with leading organisations and individuals to enhance productivity, maximise performance, and accelerate growth across 5 continents. She is renowned for her high energy, enthusiasm, passion, fun-loving nature, and her love for building connections, empowering and working with people from diverse cultures. She is passionate about 1:1 & Systemic Team Coaching, Coach Training, Coaching Supervision and Women in Leadership. Leila coaches in English, Arabic and French. Leila’s vision is to successfully contribute to the continued growth of the coaching industry in the UAE, GCC and Levant by bringing top notch executive coach training programmes accredited by all major global coach-accrediting bodies: the International Coaching Federation (ICF), Association for Coaching (AC),) The European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) and Association for Professional Executive Coaches and Supervisors (APECS).

Lisa White

Lisa White UK

Lisa White

Lisa White

Lisa joined the operations team as Customer Relationship Manager in 2022. Lisa has had a squiggly career, which spans the automotive, FMCG and education sectors, working with global brands such as Ford, Volkswagen and Unilever and her strength has been in sales and account management. Offering a seamless and customer centric experience, has been her passion and this has led to her creating and delivering customer journeys across multiple businesses. Lisa is mum to two wonderful daughters and 2 nutty cockapoos, who take up a lot of her time. When she does have some 'me' time, she loves to meet with friends for long dog walks. which might include a pub stop. She also enjoys dancing and weightlifting and anything to do with the arts, especially theatre.

Lizzie Holden

Lizzie Holden UK

Lizzie Holden

Lizzie Holden

Lizzie has over 4,500 hours of coaching experience from working with middle management to board level in over twenty countries. She is a qualified coach supervisor. Her coaching practice is primarily in financial services, universities, technology and the NHS. Her leadership work is entirely focused on coaching, her other work is as a shamanic healer and a poet.

Lizzie Pawsey

Lizzie Pawsey UK

Lizzie Pawsey

Lizzie Pawsey

Lizzie Pawsey is an ICF accredited coach (PCC level) coach, facilitator, coach supervisor and consultant. She thrives on creating a space where leaders can create personal insights that transform their lives and work. She brings 20 years’ work experience in several global organisations, including Diageo, Britvic and Pernod Ricard, where she worked in a number of senior marketing and HR leadership roles. Lizzie has over 1300 hours of coaching experience and works with board, executive and senior management levels both one to one and in groups. Her clients are drawn from 15+ business sectors in the UK and globally. Lizzie is an experienced facilitator and has worked on global leadership development programmes with several clients. Outside of work Lizzie lives with her family in Twickenham and enjoys running, ski-ing, good wine and travel. She has recently embarked upon a project to complete all the parkruns in Greater London.

Ljupko Kontešić

Ljupko Kontešić Croatia & Serbia

Ljupko Kontešić

Ljupko Kontešić

Ljupo is working as an Executive & Life Coach and Business Trainer. Rich experience from a 20-year professional sports and high business environment he is using as a basis for working towards the body and mind integration in everyday life of leaders. As a business trainer he is working on projects in the region that are the domain of the development of soft skills, basis of personal development and high professional sales skills.

Louise Larbey

Louise Larbey UK

Louise Larbey

Louise Larbey

Louise joined the AoEC in December 2023 as Programme Manager for our Advanced Practitioner Diploma and Consultancy Coaching Programmes. She brings over 15 years experience in both HR and People Development, most recently working within a banking group focussing on Leadership and Management Skills Development.

Louise Nicholson

Louise Nicholson Ireland & N. Ireland

Louise Nicholson

Louise Nicholson

Louise is passionate about empowering individuals and teams to reach their full potential, and in using coaching to achieve this. Louise has a BA (Hons), MSc in International Business & Management, is an AoEC qualified Executive Coach, holds a Certificate in Team Coaching Fundamentals, Systemic Team Coaching & Gestalt Coaching Skills. She is also a member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF). She undertakes regular professional supervision for her coaching practice. Louise spent several years in London working for an international management consultancy which specialised in the field of human motivation. During this time, she worked closely with the principal behavioural scientist and delivered leadership development programmes for senior executives & management teams in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. She has coached individuals & teams from various industries (including Real Estate, Fund Management, Energy, Executive Search, Recruitment, Tech, Banking, PR & Education). As Director of the AoEC in Ireland & a member of Faculty she is committed to sharing best practice and helping others to integrate coaching into their daily management.

Lucy Tulloch

Lucy Tulloch UK

Lucy Tulloch

Lucy Tulloch

Lucy is an experienced executive and team coach with a 20-year career in specialist travel and tour operations. With a Post Graduate Certification in Business and Personal Coaching, Lucy's determination to help individuals and teams optimise their performance, find fulfilment in their work, and take control of their careers led her to start her own coaching practice. With a natural blend of warmth, challenge, support, and fun, Lucy's coaching approach is highly effective. She brings to her coaching, her exposure to significant business growth, a solution-focused mindset and practical experience of change management. Lucy's passion for travel extends to working with clients globally in industries such as travel, education, financial services, tech, and recruitment. She has continued to enhance her coaching expertise by studying high-performance team coaching, wellbeing and stress management as well as CBT for Coaching. Lucy lives in Oxfordshire with her young family and enjoys cooking and long dog walks in her free time.

Lydia McClelland

Lydia McClelland UK

Lydia McClelland

Lydia McClelland

Lydia joined the AoEC as Director of Marketing in May 2023 having worked in a consultancy and interim capacity with the organisation since 2021. Lydia is a Fellow of Chartered Institute of Marketing, a Chartered Marketer, a SOSTAC® Certified Practitioner and licenced trainer and an AoEC qualified Executive Coach. Lydia is also a member of the Association of Business Mentors. Lydia McClelland has held senior marketing, business development and general management roles in economic development (Enterprise Ireland, Inspire Business Centre), the arts (Ulster Orchestra), higher education (Ulster University) and science centre/visitor attraction/tourism sectors (W5 Belfast) . She has a broad understanding of business, including marketing, HR, finance, sales, business development, operations and understands how to drive business growth. Lydia is an action orientated realist and likes to get the job done. Outside of work, Lydia enjoys yoga, yoga holidays and travelling.

Madeleine Dunford

Madeleine Dunford East Africa

Madeleine Dunford

Madeleine Dunford

Madeleine is an ICF (International Coaching Federation) credentialed PCC coach and founding Managing Director of Career Connections. She comes from a background of assessing, developing and advising the largest companies in East and Central Africa. With her qualifications from the Academy of Executive Coaching (AoEC), UK, and ICF Accreditation, she has over ten years’ experience as an executive coach. Madeleine is an action oriented, solutions focused coach who believes deeply in the resourcefulness of her clients. As an experienced leader that consults at senior levels, Madeleine’s coaching clients include the region’s largest and multinational FMCG, governmental and financial services organisations. Madeleine earned her first degree at the University of York, UK and her MSc, with Distinction, from the University of Edinburgh, UK. She has multiple specialist qualifications from USA and UK in assessing and coaching leaders for development. In 2017 Madeleine completed a Certificate programme at Harvard University, USA, on the Art & Practice of Leadership Development.

Magda Żmijewska

Magda Żmijewska Poland

Magda Żmijewska

Magda Żmijewska

In 2022, Magda was invited to join the Encyclopedia of Personalities of the Republic of Poland in the field of Business and Economics, 8th edition. She is a focused expert in developing leaders and professionals in business. Her specialist areas are: leadership, executive coaching, diagnosis and development of managerial competencies, intra and interpersonal communication, talent, life energy and change management. For over 15 years she worked in large international organisations as an HR Manager with brands including MTV Networks Polska, TVN S.A., Grupa Pracuj. Today she works as a freelancer and supports the development of organisations and leaders as a certified executive coach (AoEC, PCC ICF, ECPC). She learned life energy management from Shaolin Zen Master Hua Yang by exploring the secrets of his original life-extending system Calligraphy Health. She is the author and director of a postgraduate course at the Collegium Humanum School of Management in Warsaw - Executive MBA Leadership and Coaching with the prestigious AoEC Coaching Skills Certification.

Maja Gabrijan

Maja Gabrijan Croatia & Serbia

Maja Gabrijan

Maja Gabrijan

Maja ima petnaest godina iskustva u radu sa ljudima, razvoju timova, organizacija i postavljanju sistema za ljudske resurse. Sertifikovani je executive coach i predavač AoEC iz Velike Britanije, kao i predavač Londonske škole za odnose s javnošću. Njene ključne teme obuka su iz oblasti razvoja ljudi i komunikacije: lični razvoj menadžera, motivacija, retorika i prezentacijske veštine, coaching edukacija, krizna komunikacija, timski rad. Maja veruje da zdrava i srećna jedinka stvara zdrav i srećan sistem, te da je svesnost ključ da se to toga dodje. Mama je jedne Dunje.

Mandy Golley

Mandy Golley UK

Mandy Golley

Mandy Golley

Mandy joined the AoEC in 2011 having formerly worked in banking and HR. Mandy currently looks after our Advanced Practitioner Diploma and Senior Practitioner Diploma, as well as providing support for our work in organisations.

Mark Powell

Mark Powell Asia Pacific

Mark Powell

Mark Powell

Seasoned leadership and performance consultant with a unique mix of experience – Australian with 19 years living and working across Asia; Corporate sector senior roles in Banking & Oil & Gas; Entrepreneur having started 4 businesses in 3 countries; Former International rugby referee; and strong supporter of diversity and inclusion. Mark works with senior regional and global leaders, and executive teams, helping them to transform themselves and their organisational performance. His portfolio includes C suite executive coaching, top team facilitation and supervision and development of other executive coaches. He joined the AoEC Asian faculty in 2017.

Maxine Gooding

Maxine Gooding UK

Maxine Gooding

Maxine Gooding

Maxine Gooding is a team coach, facilitator and organisational dynamics consultant. She has over 25 years’ experience in business leading teams, developing strategy, managing global change initiatives and improving customer experience. She knows first-hand the complexity of working in fast moving large-scale organisations. A graduate of the Systemic Team Coaching Diploma and OD practitioner, Maxine focuses on liberating the human element of business through leadership, teamwork and organisational performance.

Merle Viirmaa

Merle Viirmaa Estonia

Merle Viirmaa

Merle Viirmaa

Merle has been leading teams and companies, managing and developing people for more than two decades. She has worked as Member of the Board and CEO for some the largest Estonian media companies. She is experienced in change management, mergers and acquisitions, product and service development, marketing, communication and re-branding. Since 2018 she has her own consultancy business, mainly focusing in leadership and training programmes both for teams and individuals. She is a partner for Executive Education of Estonian Business School. Merle is a graduate of the AoEC Practitioner Diploma programme and is a faculty on the AoEC’s Coaching Skills Certificate and Practitioner Diploma programmes. Merle is also Gestalt Practitioner and continues her studies in AoEC Advanced Practitioner Diploma. She is an Associated Certified Coach with the ICF. Her special interest is Women in Leadership.

Moira Nangle

Moira Nangle UK

Moira Nangle

Moira Nangle

Formerly Director of Organisation Development at Virgin Atlantic Airways, Moira is a creative, perceptive OD professional with qualifications in Training, Teaching, Psychotherapy, both one to one and team coaching, and an MSc in Organisation Development. She has Director level experience in all three sectors. Moira has designed, delivered and evaluated OD interventions from Board to Shop-floor level ranging from business strategy to organisation design, new product development, talent management, culture change, and customer service. During the last few years she has worked with senior teams in a coaching or consulting capacity across Europe and in Hong Kong, Malaysia and the Middle East to develop the internal capability and capacity to lead and manage change. Moira is a visiting lecturer in HRM and leadership at City University London, and is also an associate of Roffey Park Leadership Institute where she works primarily in the areas of leadership and change.

Natalia Ramos Espejo

Natalia Ramos Espejo Asia Pacific

Natalia Ramos Espejo

Natalia Ramos Espejo

I am passionate about People and unlocking their full potential. Empowering People and Businesses is what I enjoy the most. International relocation with working experience in North and South America, Europe, Africa and South East Asia has developed in me the ability to adapt to different cultures and the capacity to deal with multi-cultural teams. As well as being comfortable in transition situations whilst exploring new opportunities. Hands-on leader with versatile experience in International Hospitality Businesses. Proven change management skills, resulting of successful challenging assignments and projects execution with strong focus on client relation and experience. Motivated by learning through new discoveries anywhere in the world.

Natalia Zalesinska

Natalia Zalesinska Poland

Natalia Zalesinska

Natalia Zalesinska

Masters Degrees in Occupational Psychology and Human Resources Management, NLP Master Practitioner,Integrative and Generative Coach, Advanced Diploma in Executive Coaching (AoEC), Founder of Metta Coaching. Natalia is fascinated by the mystery of human nature and potential, trying to understand and find the key to unlock people’s ability to blossom and thrive. Natalia was working in London for over a decade as an HR business partner and consultant for international banks and financial institutions. The understanding she gained from this experience has afforded her a unique insight into, and an understanding of, the challenges and complexities faced by leaders as well as what is required for exceptional leadership. She has coached both corporate leaders and entrepreneurs, with a particular interest in those driven to inspire and make positive impact. Natalia extends executive coaching beyond the usual; also delivering transformational coaching programmes to those seeking to connect with their inner wisdom, to express their unique individuality and to create an extraordinary and meaningful life.

Neil Atkinson

Neil Atkinson UK

Neil Atkinson

Neil Atkinson

Neil worked in the business world as a digital communications and marketing expert for three decades before moving into coaching and leadership development. An ICF PCC-accredited Advanced Coach, he’s passionate about supporting people to develop themselves, their careers and their potential, as well as helping teams become more effective. Neil has studied positive psychology and mindfulness/meditation and created training programmes in wellbeing and resilience. He brings these interests to his coaching practice and his role as a facilitator on many coaching training programmes.

Neil Mackinnon

Neil Mackinnon UK

Neil Mackinnon

Neil Mackinnon

Neil is a coach and consultant based in London. Following an early career as a professional musician, Neil transitioned into the business side of the cultural sector. He ultimately spent 12 years at London’s Southbank Centre, the UK’s largest arts centre, in a series of increasingly senior management roles. He first worked with a coach in 2013 and found the experience transformational, resonating deeply with his lifelong fascination with personal development, growth and effectiveness. This experience instigated an odyssey of exploring coaching through a learning cycle of reading, experiencing and practicing. He brought coaching as a style of leadership into his work at Southbank Centre and began gradually building a 1:1 practice externally towards the end of his time with the orgainsation. Neil has trained with RD1st and is a graduate of the AoEC’s Practitioner Diploma program. He is passionate about supporting people to connect with their personal agency, get specific about what they want and become the best version of themselves as they go on the adventure towards getting it.

Nick Kitchen

Nick Kitchen UK

Nick Kitchen

Nick Kitchen

‘I am passionate about developing the craft and profession of coaching to support and help individuals and organisations more effectively respond and flourish in the face of increasing volatility and complexity – the world needs great coaches more than ever!’ Previously new business director of international advertising agency TBWA, Nick is an experienced senior executive and team coach, trainer, facilitator, coach supervisor and engaging event speaker, with more than twenty five years’ experience in supporting the development and success of organisations and leaders throughout many parts of the world. His clients have ranged from SME entrepreneurial organisations to large multinationals across many sectors including automotive, financial services and banking, IT, media and creative, pharmaceutical, industrial, oil exploration, public sector and charities. He has been developing coaches for over twenty years, drawing particularly on his development of Somatic Cognitive coaching and facilitation which enables coaches and leaders to engage with their deeper embodied experience and thereby impact more effectively that of their groups and wider systems. He has been a member of faculty with the AoEC since 2009, principally on the Advanced Diploma in Executive Coaching and the Systemic Team Coaching Diploma. Nick’s professional qualifications include: · Developer of Somatic Cognitive Coaching and facilitation · Developer of IIMAC© sales process · AoEC Diploma in Advanced Executive Coaching (Distinction) · ICF Professional Certified Coach Accredited · Accredited NLP Trainer

Paul Van Geyt

Paul Van Geyt Belgium

Paul Van Geyt

Paul Van Geyt

Paul is an ICF accredited Master Certified Coach and a trained ICF assessor. For the past 15 years, Paul has been coaching clients across all levels of seniority in a variety of industries, including professional services, FMCG, banking, energy distribution, real estate and industrial production. During a quality audit, the following characteristics are pointed out about Paul: “patient, honest, listening and understanding. His empathic ability is considered to be a remarkable quality”. Further coaching strengths that are mentioned by clients are expertise, knowledge and analytical capacity. Paul can operate comfortably in the heart of a group and is adept at building teams, integrating groups and creating consistency and alignment.

Peep Aaviksoo

Peep Aaviksoo Estonia

Peep Aaviksoo

Peep Aaviksoo

Peep has more than twenty five years of experience managing stock listed companies in Estonia and sitting in the supervisory boards of different public and state owned companies. He has also served as Vice Mayor of Tallinn. Peep has more than twenty five years of experience managing stock listed companies in Estonia and sitting in the supervisory boards of different public and state owned companies. He has also served as Vice Mayor of Tallinn. He has graduated from Tartu University as a basketball coach, got MBA in Estonian Business School and passed Senior Executive Program in London Business School. Today he is managing the Executive Education of Estonian Business School that is a license holder of AoEC in Estonia. He has also done mentoring for Enterprise Estonia. Peep is a graduate of the AoEC Senior Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching and is faculty on the AoEC’s Coaching Skills Certificate and Practitioner Diploma programmes. Peep is an Professional Certified Coach with the ICF.

Philip Atkinson PCC

Philip Atkinson PCC Switzerland

Philip Atkinson PCC

Philip Atkinson PCC

Philip is passionate about empowering individuals, teams and businesses to grow and in using coaching to achieve this. He first started to study coaching to be a ‘better line manager’ and the breadth and depth of the AoEC framework appealed to his curiosity about many different coaching models. He has since continued his academic and practical study by completing the AoEC’s Advanced Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching as well studying Systemic Team Coaching and Gestalt Coach Training. Philip is a regular keynote speaker on leadership and has also taught on executive programmes at London Business School and INSEAD. He is also teaching faculty for the ICAgile curriculum of programs. He has gained experience building and shaping high-performing teams at Roche, Novartis, Reckitt Benckiser, Sanofi and The Publicis Group of Communications Agencies. Philip is also a passionate beekeeper and is fascinated by how they function as a complex system, not unlike multi-national organisations. He is based in Basel and the founder of Hive-Logic Coaching & Communications.

Professor Peter Hawkins

Professor Peter Hawkins UK

Professor Peter Hawkins

Professor Peter Hawkins

Peter Hawkins is Honorary President of the Academy of Executive Coaching (AoEC). For the last 30 years he has been helping organisations in many parts of the world connect their strategic change, their organizational culture and their leadership development. He has written extensively about leadership, leadership teams, coaching and supervision. Currently his major concern is the growing gap between the increasing and changing challenges for individual and collective leadership and how leadership development is failing to evolve at the same speed. The AoEC Systemic Team Coaching suite of programmes, diagnostic tool and coaching are based on Peter’s 5 Disciplines model which in used internationally. He regularly blogs and publishes papers on these and other topics. He also is also Professor of Leadership at Henley Business School University of Reading UK and Emeritus Chairman of Bath Consultancy Group, visiting professor at the universities of Bath and Oxford Brookes, chairs Renewal Associates and is enjoyably kept busy by his wife, three children and their partners, five grandchildren, and numerous hens, sheep, goats, steers and guinea fowl and large gardens where he lives on the edge of Bath in the UK.

Rosemary Napper

Rosemary Napper UK

Rosemary Napper

Rosemary Napper

Rosemary has been applying transactional analysis since 1990 providing training in TA in Oxford and internationally for others since 1996. She has been working as a coach and mentor since the 1980s providing coach training since the beginning of the 1990s both internally within organisations and independently. She has developed a major programme of coach training in Brazil.Using TA as her primary frame of reference, Rosemary has been working as an Independent Management Consultant, Trainer, and Facilitator, as well as Mentor and Coach for over two decades. In addition to training others in these areas, and training counsellors, she is also a Supervisor for others working in these ways. She has been involved in this work in the Public Sector locally and nationally, in the charity sector, Life Assurance, Publishing,the Construction Industry,Financial Services, Retail, Education, the Transport sector, and as consultant to Management Consultancies. She has a wealth of experience in coaching and facilitating groups and has worked with all levels of management and leadership. Rosemary is qualified in Transactional Analysis in three fields of application – Organisations, Education and Counselling – and is a qualified TA Trainer and Supervisor. She also provides supervision and training in each of these fields (all of which within TA can include the coach role).She has a Masters in adult learning, was a part-time visiting lecturer at Guildford University on the Change Agents Masters programme and at the University of Oxford on the certificate and diploma in psychodynamic counselling and psychotherapy. Rosemary was President of the International TA Association 2009-10.

Sabine Stanley

Sabine Stanley UK

Sabine Stanley

Sabine Stanley

Sabine has an exceptional track record of working with leaders in complex organisations, creating momentum for organisational development and change. As a coach and consultant, she specialises in executive coaching, bespoke leadership development and team effectiveness. Drawing on many years of senior-level experience in a FTSE100 global organisation, Sabine combines organisational insight with interpersonal sensitivity and a cross-cultural/global perspective to help her clients develop themselves and their business. Focused on outcomes, she brings a practical emphasis to all she does and is an ICF accredited coach (PCC level).

Sarah Carrington

Sarah Carrington UK

Sarah Carrington

Sarah Carrington

Sarah is our Head of Education and is an ICF Accredited Executive Coach, working with leaders and leadership teams to strengthen their performance and achieve competitive advantage for them, for their stakeholders and for their organisation. She has extensive experience of leading teams in complex, dynamic environments from many years at one of the top FTSE 100 companies. Sarah is a member of Faculty for the Advanced Practitioner Diploma and a coach supervisor. She supports and challenges people to discover how they are holding themselves back and how they can drive themselves forward. Sarah’s coaching qualifications include the Master Practitioner Diploma in Systemic Team Coaching and the Advanced Diploma in Executive Coaching.

Sharon Thompson-Tan

Sharon Thompson-Tan Asia Pacific

Sharon Thompson-Tan

Sharon Thompson-Tan

Sharon has been a trusted, strategic thought partner, coach and mentor to many senior executives and leadership teams. Having personally worked in senior leadership positions in both Finance & Human Resources functions within global corporations, she understands first-hand how to strike the right balance between the competing demands of delivering results and developing leaders. She’s well-versed in facilitating systemic changes across multicultural, cross-functional organisations inclusively through shared leadership, co-creation, and fostering collaboration amongst stakeholders at various levels. She is qualified in team coaching by ICF and certified MCIPD. Sharon Tan (+65 9008 3982 SG / +44 7521 926645 UK) sharon.tan@aoec.com

Shruti Sonthalia

Shruti Sonthalia UK

Shruti Sonthalia

Shruti Sonthalia

Shruti Sonthalia is a highly accomplished Master Certified Coach, renowned in the International Coaching Federation for her exceptional talent in guiding executives and senior leaders towards peak performance. With an impressive global reach, Shruti has provided dynamic executive coaching to C-Suite and senior leaders across a diverse range of industries, from multinational corporations, operating on a global scale, to market leaders in technology, financial services, data analytics and legal consulting, there Shruti consistently empowering renowned department heads and senior managers to unlock their full potential. Her expertise extends to industry leaders in technology, pharma, retail, manufacturing, financial services, development, Edutech, chemical, agrochemical, and textile, among others and invitations to present at major coaching platforms, including the prestigious ICF Global Converge, are a testament to her reputation as a leading industry professional. Clients wholeheartedly endorse Shruti's compassionate, yet fiercely determined approach, as she advocates for them to embrace their true abilities and potential. With a diverse portfolio spanning organisational culture, resilience, stakeholder management, career transitions, difficult conversations, emotional intelligence, and burnout, Shruti has consistently helped clients derive tremendous value from transforming challenges into opportunities for growth. Her ability to navigate ambiguity and the unknown while embodying agility, resilience, deep listening, curiosity, and presence has positioned her as a trusted guide in the world of coaching. Beyond her impactful coaching work, Shruti has been a Coach Educator and Mentor Coach for years, equipping business leaders with coaching skills and supporting aspiring coaches worldwide in achieving their coaching credentials. Shruti also serves as a Board Member of an International Women's organisation with ECOSOC status at the UN, headquartered in Geneva. Additionally, she has designed and led coaching interventions for country heads and core teams, including Peace Corps Madagascar and Fiji. Shruti's educational background includes a sociology degree and economics diploma from the esteemed London School of Economics and Political Science. She has been a recipient of the prestigious ICF Young Leaders Award.

Sophie Bruas

Sophie Bruas East Africa

Sophie Bruas

Sophie Bruas

Sophie is an accredited Executive Coach, Coach training faculty member with the Academy of Executive Coaching, Coach Supervisor, and Mentor Coach. Sophie has developed a number of executive coaches and contributed to ensuring high standards of coaching practice. Sophie has been coaching for more than seven years with domestic and international clients. Before making a career in Executive Coaching, Sophie worked as Country Director in various countries across Africa for Action Against Hunger. Sophie’s coaching is influenced by the Co-active Model, which emphasizes the systemic perspective of coaching, highlighting that various facets of the client’s life interact in motion and impact decisions. She looks for lasting solutions that impact her clients by using a direct style of coaching. Sophie earned her Accredited Coach Supervision diploma from the International Coaching Community (ICC), UK. Sophie holds an MSc from the University of Manchester and a degree in Logistics Management from the University of Paris XIII.

Sophie Welch

Sophie Welch UK

Sophie Welch

Sophie Welch

Sophie Welch is Head of Programmes at the Academy of Executive Coaching. She brings over fifteen years’ experience from the Higher Education sector, working first in academic and research management at Durham University, and latterly in researcher development as an independent leadership coach and ethics consultant. From 2007 to 2022 Sophie supported ethical research through the NHS, and for the last seven years served as Vice-Chair to the North of Scotland Research Ethics Committees. Sophie is a graduate of Classical Civilisation at the University of Leeds (BA, MA) and an alumna of AoEC Scotland (Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching, 2014).

Stephen Murphy

Stephen Murphy Poland

Stephen Murphy

Stephen Murphy

Stephen is accredited at Master Practitioner level by the European Mentoring & Coaching Council (EMCC). Stephen is accredited at Master Practitioner level by the European Mentoring & Coaching Council (EMCC). He has a multi-cultural and multi-functional background. British, living in Poland with a 30-year career spanning P&G, Reckitt Benckiser, Coca-Cola Bottlers and PZ Cussons; on-the-ground in UK, Greece, Morocco, Tunisia, Yemen, Russia and Poland; with assignments in Sales, Marketing and Country/ Regional General Management. He has led and been responsible for international start-up operations, in developed and hardship locations; significant organisational change projects; business turnaround assignments and re-shaping leadership teams into effective operating units. Stephen is an active Coach Supervisor and currently coaches and mentors in China and Europe. His work is with senior management, individually and in teams, to build greater self-awareness and operational impact. Sectors include FMCG, Insurance, Banking, Software, Legal, Engineering, Logistics and Chemicals.

Sue Burston

Sue Burston UK

Sue Burston

Sue Burston

Sue joined the AoEC in 2007 and has held a number of positions including Head of Operations and also Programme Manager for our Coaching Skills Certificate and Practitioner Diploma programmes. Sue is now Client Relationship Manager and enjoys speaking to our customers about their learning journeys and providing advice and support as required. Before joining the AoEC, Sue spent 19 years with the BBC in a number of finance and admin roles within the local, national and international Newsrooms. Here she gained invaluable experience of working with a wide range of people and situations and dealing with some very complex admin and finance systems.

Sue Reynolds PCC

Sue Reynolds PCC UK

Sue Reynolds PCC

Sue Reynolds PCC

Sue Reynolds has over 20 years Human Resources experience in Business Partnership, Global Reward, Learning & Development, Organisational Effectiveness and Generalist HR. She is Senior Director for Pfizer’s Global Innovative Pharma Business with responsibility for the emerging and developed countries of the European & the Africa/Middle East Regions. Her focus is on culture, employee engagement, talent management, leadership development and organisational change. Previously Sue worked at Age Concern England. Sue is studying psychology and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development. Friends, family and fitness are priorities along with a passion for her life-time interest in horses and more recently, in learning to dance.

Sue Simmons

Sue Simmons UK

Sue Simmons

Sue Simmons

Sue has worked in the fast paced environments of the hotel, design and television sectors as PA at senior management levels. She joined John Leary-Joyce at the Gestalt Centre in 1990 and then worked as his PA from the inception of AoEC. She is highly organised with strong multi-tasking skills which she uses to support the Business Team, dealing with bookings and admin on the Coaching Skills Certificate programme and Introductory events as well as supporting both the Directors and Marketing. In her spare time, Sue is a keen reader and passionate gardener.

Surenden Chellappah

Surenden Chellappah UK

Surenden Chellappah

Surenden Chellappah

Mr. Chellappah is the Global Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer (COO/CFO) of Bernstein Autonomous LLP, and Global Head of Risk. He was appointed Global Head of Risk in 2012, and in addition continues to serve as the COO/ CFO for Bernstein Autonomous’ European sell-side business, a role he has held since 2003. Previously, he was the CFO for Instinet’s European broker-dealer business between 1999 and 2003. Mr. Chellappah has served as a company director since 1999. Outside of work, Mr Chellappah is a Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit Committee for the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in London. Mr. Chellappah began his career at Prudential Corporation before moving to Instinet in 1993. He holds a BSc in Civil Engineering from University College, Swansea, an MBA from Henley Management College and is a Fellow of both the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants and the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment.

Susie Bourne

Susie Bourne UK

Susie Bourne

Susie Bourne

Susie is an AoEC Accredited Associate Executive Coach and Accrediated Team Coach with 15 years of marketing experience at a senior level. She has held roles including Marketing Operations Director at the Telegraph Media Group and Marketing Director for the Times and Sunday Times. She has managed teams of up to 30 and her business expertise includes managing change, strategy, business planning, problem-solving, the creation of training and development programmes for 250+ people, introducing new processes and shaping the culture within newly formed teams. Susie also brings an extra set of skills to the world of business because as well as being a fully qualified Executive Coach she is also a trained, working actress with many high profile adverts and theatre work under her belt.

Teckie Karoki

Teckie Karoki East Africa

Teckie Karoki

Teckie Karoki

Teckie has diverse experience including advertising, marketing, consulting and communications in various industry sectors in Kenya and USA. Corporate experience prior to joining Career Connections include RYLA (USA) and Alorica (USA). Teckie is in the process of completing her doctoral studies in Leadership and Management from Walden university (USA). Teckie’s qualifications include MBA (Marketing) -Kennesaw State University (USA), Bachelors in Business Administration (Daystar University) and she is in the process of completing the Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching (Academy of Executive Coaching-AoEC).

Tracy Childs

Tracy Childs UK

Tracy Childs

Tracy Childs

Tracy joined the AoEC in September 2019, following a 20 year career in the Financial Services Industry. Tracy has over 20 years experience in Account Management, most recently working with an Employee Benefits Consultancy company, delivering technology to support their clients. Tracy is really looking forward to supporting the Systemic Team Coaching programme. In her spare time, Tracy loves spending time with her family and friends, she has 3 children and a lively young labrador called Luna.

Trudy Arthurs

Trudy Arthurs Ireland & N. Ireland

Trudy Arthurs

Trudy Arthurs

As faculty member of the AoEC, I’ve been delivering the Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching for eight years in London, Dublin and Northern Ireland. I am currently working with a local charity to support them in developing Coaching and Mentoring Skills (ILM accredited). In 2016-2019 I co-facilitated seven Training-as-Mentor workshops to senior Earth Science academics and practitioners in London, Manchester and Dublin, accredited by the Geological Society of London. I consistently find that once clients have become familiar with the benefits of coaching, they are keen to adapt their own management and leadership styles to include a coaching approach. Reflective, mindful practice is really important to me. I strongly encourage all my clients and students to develop journaling and reflection habits. My own daily meditation, reading and journaling practices have helped me through the peaks and troughs of life, especially the Covid-19 times, and my clients have told me how much they now appreciate these few quiet moments that they have learned to give themselves in the hustle of life as senior leaders in organisations.

Urmas Kaarlep

Urmas Kaarlep Estonia

Urmas Kaarlep

Urmas Kaarlep

Urmas gained his management experience from working for 21 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Estonia, Ukraine and Slovakia. Since then, he has kept up to date with business and management by participating in several supervisory boards: a member of the Supervisory Board and the chair of the Audit Committee of the Port of Tallinn, a member of the Supervisory Board and the chair of the Audit Committee of Nasdaq Securities Depository in the Baltics and Iceland, a member of the Audit Committees of Coop Bank and North Estonia Regional Hospital. Urmas is a lecturer of finance at Estonian Business School. Urmas started coaching in 2015. Since 2020, he is faculty on the AoEC’s Coaching Skills Certificate and Practitioner Diploma programmes. To continue his professional development Urmas completed Integral Associate Coach Program and Integral Professional Coach Program at Integral Coaching Canada in 2021. Urmas is a member of ICF.

Valérie Weston

Valérie Weston UK

Valérie Weston

Valérie Weston

Valérie is a member of faculty for the Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching. She is an ICF certified executive coach, coach mentor and leadership consultant, and has over 20 years of experience in the field of people development. Committed to helping individuals and teams make the most of their talents, Valérie believes in mixing lightness and depth to create a supportive yet challenging environment where people can explore, reflect and grow. She has coached and trained executives at all levels from junior managers to managing directors and her clients include DuPont, PwC, HSBC, the World Health Organisation, Smiths Group, Forum for the Future, Concern Universal, Ardagh and Buckingham Palace. Valérie previously held senior leadership and global commercial management roles at a FTSE 100 company and was a volunteer with VSO in Africa. Her coaching roles and qualifications include: - Practitioner Diploma in Executive coaching (AoEC) -Team coaching certificate (AoEC) -Master trainer in coaching / management programmes (HSBC) -Co-active Coach (Coaches Training Institute) -Executive coach and member of faculty for HSBC University, the CIPD and the Leadership Trust. A dual French and British citizen, Valérie is happy to work in French or English.

Vicki Peacock

Vicki Peacock UK

Vicki Peacock

Vicki Peacock

Vicki joined the AoEC in 2014 and previously worked in administration and client/sales support for 25 years with roles as part of a team and as a team leader within the sales/mortgage and investment industry. Vicki is also qualified as a bookkeeper. Within the AoEC, Vicki provides administration support to the Programme Managers.

Vicky Routledge

Vicky Routledge UK

Vicky Routledge

Vicky Routledge

Vicky joined the AoEC Marketing Department in 2015 having worked in the charity sector for sixteen years and additionally brings a wealth of experience from voluntary activity. Vicky enjoys organising events, developing information resources, managing teams, planning and developing processes and strategy. She has a wealth of experience and enthusiasm for developing and promoting events and services for a wide range of people. Resources have included websites, publications, newsletters and factsheets. Services include helplines, support groups and methods of data collection and evaluation. Her passion to achieve the best is portrayed in her attention to detail, organisation and desire for perfection and she loves planning and developing strategy, always in the pursuit of improvement. Vicky has a passion for supporting people to become the best at what they want to be. With a degree in psychology, a certificate in Transactional analysis and a wealth of experience in the voluntary sector, she brings a creative energy balanced with a realistic planned approach. She also loves a bit of baking and spends her spare time watching her children play a lot of football!

Vikki Vellacott

Vikki Vellacott UK

Vikki Vellacott

Vikki Vellacott

Vikki joined the AoEC in September 2020, following a 15 year career in Customer Service Management within the retail sector. A passion for numbers led her to qualifying as a bookkeeper and pursuing her career in Finance. She joins Inga in the Finance department as our Finance Assistant. Outside of work, Vikki loves spending time with her family and friends – she loves to walk, bake and sing!

Zeynep Yetkin

Zeynep Yetkin Turkey

Zeynep Yetkin

Zeynep Yetkin

Zeynep is an ICF (International Coaching Federation) credentialed PCC coach with more than 1,300 hours of executive coaching practice. She is enthusiastic to combine her 14 years corporate management experience with positive psychology and mindfulness methods for professionals to thrive while enabling them to discover their life purposes, values and authentic selves. After graduating from Co Active Coaching Institute in 2013 she completed ORSC (Organizational Relationship and Systems Coaching) to lead team development. Zeynep has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Istanbul University and graduated from Yeditepe University MBA program in 2002 with honors. Her passion about coaching led her to join Academy of Executive Coaching (AoEC) in Istanbul and became faculty member in year 2022. After joining AoEC, she improved her coaching model as a mindfulness based model. She takes pride in supporting coaching profession by delivering high quality trainings of AoEC as well as ICF credentialed trainings for coaches. Spending years in global corporate banking industry enables Zeynep to connect deeply with people who work under competitive and stressful conditions. Being one of Search Inside Yourself (SIY) Leadership Institute’s global teachers enables her to deliver practical mindfulness techniques for her coaches and trainings. Search Inside Yourself is a Google born Mindfulness based Emotional Intelligence Program for leaders, reaching more than 50,000 participants all over the world.

Zia Manji

Zia Manji East Africa

Zia Manji

Zia Manji

Zia is the Director and Senior Client Partner in Korn Ferry’s East Africa alliance, Career Connections, where he heads the firm’s executive search practice. Zia brings in excess of 18 years’ experience of leading senior level searches in East Africa and also has extensive experience in executive coaching, leadership assessments and development. Zia is an accredited executive coach and faculty of the Academy of Executive Coaching. Zia’s experience spans across financial services, consumer goods, telecommunications, agriculture and media sectors. Prior to joining Career Connections, Zia was Managing Director at a large Kenyan food and consumer goods manufacturing company. Zia holds a business degree from the University of Edinburgh where he earned the John MacFarlane Award for Leadership. He also holds an Executive Master in Consulting and Coaching for Change from INSEAD, with Distinction, and is a founder member of the Africa Executive Coaching Council, developing the profession on the continent.