Karen Smart, Head of Consultancy & Senior Faculty, AoEC

Karen is an ICF accredited and experienced executive coach, coach trainer, mentor coach, supervisor and faculty member for the AoEC. She is pivotal in building, connecting, and maintaining effective authentic relationships both internally and externally.

As AoEC Head of Consultancy, Karen is responsible for meeting all executive coaching needs for our organisation-based clients. She works with leaders and senior decision makers across all sectors including financial services, professional services, entertainment, not-for-profit, and the public sector.

Karen sits on the Senior Leadership Team feeding into the AoEC strategy and business objectives. In addition to this, she manages an internal team to seek out opportunities and serve clients effectively. Karen is accountable for the budget for the organisations part of the business.
Prior to joining the AoEC, Karen enjoyed a successful commercial career in the pharmaceutical industry, latterly holding a global responsibility for strategy implementation and launch preparedness for a billion-a-year dollar brand across forty-four different countries. Karen has a broad-based sales and marketing experience in a variety of settings, including a two-year stint as Strategic Planning and Market Research Manager in Mexico City.

In her spare time, Karen likes spending time with her family and three rescue dogs, staying fit and learning music

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.

Kim Wrighton Client Relationship Manager

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.

Paul Smith COO Global Services

Paul joined the AoEC team as a Non-Executive Director to support the growing Global Partner Business. He has 42 years of International Business leadership and has worked and lived Internationally for 20 years. 

His passion has been leading the establishment and improvement of business, in 20 countries, across the MENA region, India, Russia, China, S.E. Asia and Africa and he has worked with UK and International listed companies, franchises, joint ventures, locally owned franchise, private businesses, and charity. 

Positions held: Chair, CEO, Managing Director, Director, and Trustee. A strategic, and thinking leader, capable of successful implementation in pioneering scenarios and working to maintain brand standards and commercial opportunity. Paul has led management teams, focusing on strategic change, start up, and performance improvement initiatives. 

He coaches team capabilities to perform and deliver, principally in culturally diverse markets, and recently across the Executive Leadership team in Eden. This has developed into a real passion for cultural understanding, its influence and impact on business and his coaching style developed in Africa that he calls Butterfly Coaching. 

Paul has an AoEC Accredited Executive Coach Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching & International Systemic Team Coaching Certificate, I.M.D. Lausanne, Switzerland:  Breakthrough Programme for Senior Executives, MSc Change Leadership, BSc (Hons) Food Marketing, Diplomas: Change Leadership;  Marketing, Inst’ Marketing and Executive Coaching.

Joanna Dawson

Joanna is an accomplished Executive Coach and Talent Management Specialist with over 20 years of international experience driving leadership development, career progression, and organisational transformation across diverse industries and markets.

Joanna’s coaching style is values-driven, human-centred, and action-oriented, combining deep listening with reflective challenge to unlock potential and accelerate sustainable growth. She creates psychologically safe environments that empower leaders and teams to clarify purpose, align values, and translate insights into practical, impactful actions.

Joanna’s extensive global background spans the UK, Europe, Russia, MENA, Sub-Saharan Africa, India, and China, enabling her to deliver culturally attuned coaching and talent solutions in complex, multi-site, and cross-functional settings. Her expertise combines strategic operations, franchise and multi-site models, along with competency-based leadership development, supported by evidence-based tools like 360-degree feedback and psychometric profiling.