CONTENDER CHARLIE - Key Persons
Ben Walden is an international speaker and workshop leader in the realm of education.
He has been a main keynote speaker at many conferences in Europe, Asia, the Americas and Australia. He also works with many individual schools, looking at themes of leadership and inspiring communication with both staff and - especially - students.
In the 1990's he played several leading roles in London's West End theatre and as a member of the inaugural company at the new Shakespeare's Globe. He has also spoken on leadership and the arts at many business conferences, including at both Harvard and Columbia Business Schools.
Seven years ago, Daren began working with the Mythodrama methodology and he now delivers Mythodrama programmes to a wide range of organisations in both the public and private sectors all over the world. He has delivered programmes to a large number of schools and colleges and spoken at many schools and Head teacher conferences in his role as a lead presenter at Contender Charlie.
Job Titles:
- Leader
- Associate of Olivier Mythodrama and
James is an experienced programme leader delivering courses to a wide variety of global businesses as well as the not-for-profit and public sectors. His specific areas of expertise are communication and presence. Trained at The Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London, James began his career as a Communications Skills coach and Facilitator; with 15 years' experience working in the Corporate and Public Sector. Covering Mind, Body and Voice his passion is for translating the skills learned as a professional Actor into an empowering set of communication techniques that can be employed by individuals, teams and organisations in a corporate context. He has also worked extensively across Media, Telecoms, the Motor industry, Pharmaceuticals & Banking.
James is an Associate of Olivier Mythodrama and of Contender Charlie, delivering workshops on inspirational leadership.
For the last 8 years Jonathan has worked across the world with CEOs and management teams for some of the world's most prestigious organisations. As trainer and coach, he specialises in learning, communication, leadership and innovation.
Experience
Jonathan lectures on leadership for Teachers' and Headteachers' Conferences, school management teams and common rooms. He works in the public sector with Police and Fire Services, Local Authorities and NHS Trusts, UCAS, The Campaign for Leadership and The UN. Other clients include Harvard Business School, Oxford University, and INSEAD, City Banks and Institutions, Cisco, Black & Decker and Toyota.
Background
As a commercial solicitor Jonathan worked in private practise and in industry with ICI. He also founded, grew and sold an international cultural tour company. Most of his career has been in education and training. He taught English at KS3, GCSE and A Level, and Law, Politics and Business Studies. He was also Head of 6th Form. He left teaching in 1998 to teach and coach in business. He continues to coach and mentor teenagers.
Jonathan has an MA in English Literature and a PGCE. He is a Master Practitioner in NLP and qualified in: Time Line Therapy® and Hypnotherapy; Strength Deployment Inventory (SDI)® and Relationship Awareness Theory®; TMSDI's Team Management Profile® (an equivalent of MBTI) and QO² Opportunity Orientation Profile®.
Lesley Quilty is a creative consultant, educator, facilitator, coach and theatre artist.
She has worked in professional theatre for over 25 years as a performer, director, teacher and producer, in North America and the UK; although her performing and teaching now take place almost exclusively in non-theatrical settings.
Having been trained in Mythodrama methodology and associated with Contender Charlie and Olivier Mythodrama for a number of years, since 2006 Lesley has worked as a Portfolio programme lead, tutor and coach delivering Mythodrama programmes to a wide range of organisations in both the public and private sector.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Producer
- Co - Director of China Plate Ltd
Paul Warwick is a theatre director and producer with over 10 years professional experience including many projects for schools and young people. He trained at The Workshop Theatre, University of Leeds and is an alumnus of The Royal National Theatre Young Directors Scheme.
He was the founding artistic director of award-winning Unlimited Theatre, for whom he directed 8 new touring shows including STATIC, for which the company won a coveted Edinburgh Fringe First Award.
In 2002 he set up The John Osborne Arvon Centre in Shropshire, a residential retreat for writers, which he ran until 2006. Prior to that worked briefly in film and television on The Brian Conley Show, Robot Wars and Shakur Kapur 2001 remake of The Four Feathers.
He has been involved in various theatre development programmes in Eritrea since the country's independence in 1993.
Paul is also Co-Director of China Plate Ltd, an agency offering 360º support for the development, production and promotion of independent theatre companies and their work.
He has designed, facilitated and coached on programmes offering Arts-based skills training to a variety of organisations ranging from the NHS Executive to Danone. Topics have included creativity in leadership, personal impact and relationship-building.
Paul started his Mythodrama training in 2007 and now works regularly for us as a presenter at Contender Charlie - bringing the Leadership Lessons from Shakespeare to life in the education field.
Job Titles:
- Associate of Olivier Mythodrama and Now
Phyllida is a workshop designer and facilitator. She worked as an actress and singer for 12 years, including 2 years with the Royal Shakespeare Company and in various productions in the West End and around the country. She also taught a course on ‘Women in Shakespeare' at Washington University in St Louis and participated in workshops and lectures on Shakespeare for several British universities.
Since 1998 she has been working in the public sector designing and delivering workshops, including 18 months running race awareness and diversity courses across the Criminal Justice System.
She then moved to the Department of Trade and Industry as a consultant in their futurefocus@dti facility working with DTI and its customers on scenario planning, performance management, business planning and project working between 2000 and 2003. This led to further involvement with the ‘learning the habit of innovation' programme and subsequent involvement with the i-lab project working in universities across East Anglia. She also collaborated with the DfES to build a set of scenarios for the future of education and life-long learning that are still used to test policy ideas across Government.
Since 2003 Phyllida has been an associate of Olivier Mythodrama and now of Contender Charlie, delivering workshops on inspirational leadership and change management. She continues to work with public sector clients on diversity policy and also runs creativity workshops for several public and private sector companies.
Robin Alfred, BA (Oxon), PGCE, M.Phil (Cantab) is an organisational consultant, trainer and executive coach.
Originally trained as a teacher of English as a Second Language, Robin worked as a trainer, educator and social work manager for 15 years in London, before moving to Scotland in 1995 where he founded the Findhorn Consultancy Service.
He has extensive experience of leading and developing groups and individuals in a variety of settings including prisons, social work, police forces, schools, communities and organisations across all sectors - public, private and voluntary.
Robin is an Associate and Lead Presenter for Olivier Mythodrama Associates and Contender Charlie, this work allowing him to marry his longstanding interest in theatre and improvisation, with his passion for education and the development of tomorrow's leaders.