ICENDRIS - Key Persons
Alan Barker is a specialist in communication and cognitive skills. He worked for 15 years as an actor before becoming a training consultant in 1989.
Alan helps people discover their skills in establishing professional relationships, building collaboration, influencing and inspiring. He focuses especially on language skills, both in speaking and in writing. These areas of expertise also inform his work in leadership development and customer care.
He is a member of the UK Speechwriters' Guild.
To communicate well, we have to think well. Alan also trains and coaches in persuasion, advocacy, problem-solving, decision-making, applied creativity and innovation. He helps managers apply these skills to create more effective meetings, business cases and innovation projects.
Alan's books, Improve Your Communication Skills and How to Manage Meetings, are published by Kogan Page. The Alchemy of Innovation is published by Spiro Press. How to Solve Almost Any Problem, is published by Pearson Business. Alan has written two ebooks, Creativity at Work and How to Write an Essay, both published by Bookboon (www.bookboon.com).
Alan works in a varied range of organisations. His work in the last year, for example, has taken him to BT, the London Assembly, ICAEW, DHL, the Natural History Museum, HSBC, Schroders, Air Partner, the Council for Mortgage Lenders and SkillsActive. He has also worked with a number of NGOs, both in the UK and abroad, and is currently establishing an associate relationship with the Directory of Social Change.
Having originally trained as a professional engineer, Clare spent 20 years as a successful leader in the chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing business. This means she fully understands the challenges faced by leaders today.
She has been running her own coaching and consultancy business since the start of 2000 and has a wide range of clients including; AstraZeneca, Arla Foods, Syngenta, Morrisons, Sainsburys, The Telegraph Group, Abbey National, Barclays, ExxonMobil, Avios and Bradford University School of Management.
She believes that all individuals, teams and organisations have the potential to enhance their performance. Her clients report that her personal style of quickly establishing strong rapport enables a level of challenge and directness of feedback that is highly effective in bringing about lasting change.
Gillian has over 20 years experience of HR and training, many at Board level. She has experience of working across all industry sectors both strategically and operationally. Expertise ranges from creating and communicating necessary policies and procedures for organisations, through to the design and implementation of major change initiatives and performance improvements. She is practical, focussed and commercially aware with excellent interpersonal skills. Working closely with firms of solicitors you can be assured that Gillian has the knowledge and experience required to drive people and performance improvements to meet operational requirements and compliance within the current employment law framework. Gillian believes that only by working in partnership with an organisation can you achieve the understanding, ownership and responsibility required to build on the project once it has been delivered.
Graham has worked extensively in the field of advertising and marketing across a broad spectrum of consumer goods manufacturers, industrial products, business to business markets and the charity sector. During his career in advertising, he worked for a number of leading London advertising agencies, devising award-winning advertising for Walls, Birds Eye, Tobler Suchard, Whitbread and R.Whites among many others.
He then moved into marketing management, first with Cadbury Schweppes, where he developed retail sales for Kenco Coffee, and later worked to relaunch Oil of Olay. New product launches for Vidal Sassoon and the Insignia range when he worked for Shulton, have been amongst the most successful new product launches in their markets.
Graham has also held senior Account Management and Account Director roles with Unilever, Lintas and ABM for various accounts including R. Whites and Scottish & Newcastle Brewers. Furthermore he was the Strategic Business Unit Manager for Shulton.
Graham was then responsible for developing the Chartered Institute of Marketing's Diploma programme at Croydon Business School and became a member of the faculty at the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
He now consults and trains in all aspects of account management and marketing for organisations such as IPC Media, Ford, Coca Cola, Microsoft, BBC, General Motors, Kraft, IBM, Institute of Directors, BAA, Moto and Kellogg's. He regularly undertakes programmes on Marketing Planning, Research, New Product Development, Customer Care, Team Building and Presentation Skills and specialises in Strategic Account Management, Account Planning, Marketing Planning, International Marketing, Customer Relationships and Communications.
Graham brings a pragmatic approach to his assignments delivering bottom line results to the companies he works with.
Hilary's professional life has focused on management, communication and training. He has worked in Germany, France and the UK and for various companies including Daimler-Benz, central government and Reed and has successfully run his own training and research businesses.
Hilary's passion is in developing people, teams and organisations; this comes across in his delivery, be it for personal or professional development, coaching and training, or working with individuals and groups across different management structures. His practical approach and emotional intelligence help people make real linkages between their learning experiences and professional actions - affecting real change once back in the workplace.
He has a powerful ability to plug into different learning styles, engaging participants and thereby supporting their learning and development all the more effectively.
Julie has a financial services background, having worked in a variety of management positions before moving into the role of Development Manager at First Direct, the UK's first telephone bank.
She has worked for a broad range of world class organisations as well as in the public sector. With over 12 years experience in the field of people development she covers the full development cycle, focusing on needs analysis; development of interventions; delivery (in small groups, large groups and one to ones) and evaluation.
Julie has worked as a training consultant at all levels across a wide range of industries including: telecommunications, leading law firms, automotive industry, banking and financial services, distribution, retail, IT, travel industry as well as the NHS and some government departments.
Karen has over 25 years' experience in the financial services sector working within human resources and organisational design & development. She is an experienced trainer, coach and facilitator and works with a wide range of people operating at a variety of different levels within their businesses.
Karen works closely with clients to identify their issues and ensures that the designed training and coaching solutions meet their needs. She has much experience of training and development needs analysis, designing and delivering solutions and working with clients to agree appropriate measures for success.
Totally committed to working holistically with individuals, teams and groups, Karen recognizes the increased pressures facing people both professionally and personally. She spends time helping them to achieve improved performance and increased value to their organisations, to find solutions to challenging situations, to increase their self-awareness, enhance their personal impact and realize their full potential.
Some of Karen's clients include RSA, Willis, SBJUK, HSBEIL, Wessex Water, Medical Defence Union, Liverpool Vision, Ahoy Centre, The Conservation Volunteers. Over the course of her career Karen has worked across the UK, in Europe and in the Middle East.
Mandy has substantial experience in both training delivery and senior business management. She has delivered training worldwide and is a certified and highly effective coach.
A flexible and versatile trainer, Mandy uses a range of engaging techniques with the focus always on practical action. Her dynamic style ensures consistently excellent results and an enjoyable experience.
Mandy works in both the private and public sector in a range of fields including manufacturing, retail, financial, central and local government, communications and IT. Where her high level of consultancy skills and insight mean that she is able to work in close partnership with clients to produce courses which really hit their mark and make a difference.
Her clients include: Cabinet Office, Cisco Systems, Morgan Stanley, Peugeot, Cotswold DC, LSC, Audit Commission, Kent CC, Scottish Executive, Royal Borough Windsor & Maidenhead, Cardiff University, Bangor University, PremiAir Aviation, Mitsubishi Securities, Cable & Wireless.
Marion is a Chartered Occupational Psychologist who studied at Leeds and Sheffield Universities. Following her Masters into selection, Marion joined Volvo Cars UK, designing competency frameworks, assessment centres and 360° performance appraisal tools. As she became more involved in Volvo internationally she became a self-employed consultant in 1996, working in Sweden, assessing and selecting candidates for Volvo's Top 200 potential Global Leaders. She then worked in Belgium designing and delivering assessment centres and performance appraisal systems.
Marion often works long term with many clients. For example, she has worked for over seven years assessing Fast Track Teaching candidates and has worked for the past five years with the Post Office and Royal Mail assessing a variety of roles.
She has experience working with a variety of roles from Chief Executives through to non-graduate levels. As an independent consultant, she has managed a number of projects as well as supported clients in the delivery of their projects including: designing competency frameworks and 360° appraisal systems for HFC Bank PLC, recruiting Chief Executives, Directors and Heads of department for the NHS, recruiting post-graduate Chemists for Unilever and designing assessment centres for Ford Motor Co.
Michael worked for 15 years in the Leisure Industry in sales, marketing and distribution roles, before moving into Learning and Development 12 years ago.
He works with clients in both the public and private sectors, many of whom ask for him by name and have worked with him for up to 10 years. Clients include UBS, Goldman Sachs, Abbey, ABN Amro, Cisco, John Lewis, Jaguar, Bovis, Elyo Industrial, Haringey Council, Kent County Council, Rother District Council, Audit Commission, Forestry Commission and Learning Skills Council.
Michael offers training in a variety of formats, including trainer-led, web-conferencing, Video on Demand, Podcasts, Business Simulations, "Apprentice" - style challenges and most recently using Cisco's TelePresence video conferencing.
Michael has proven success at new hire level through to senior Directors. He brings a blend of 30 years' real life experience and youthful energy, and his style is often described as high impact, down to earth, practical and motivational. His passion comes through, and people often say that he inspires them to push themselves to new levels.
Michael has developed a range of non-classroom based innovative events which take training to a new level through practical challenges.
Mike has a professional involvement in learning and development going back to the eighties when he became a secondary school teacher and then moved into adult education. He managed a residential training centre in North Wales, building the business from a derelict old manor house to become one of the foremost outdoor training centres in the country. He has been a freelance trainer and facilitator since 1990 and has worked with companies from sectors as diverse as retail, construction, leisure and tourism, automotive, chemical and pharmaceutical, public sector and business schools.
Mike has a strong focus on understanding how leaders in business can solve the problems they face by developing a keener understanding of how to influence, negotiate and project lead, and by using the latest research in the field of Emotional Intelligence. This people orientated approach has enabled Mike to work with the most demanding and prestigious clients from Finance and Insurance, Retail operations, Manufacturing, Mining and other large multi-nationals. Mike also works with registered charities on Campaign Project Management and has recently been endorsed by the Head of Fundraising at the RNLI as being integral to the project's ongoing growth and success.
Mike brings a unique combination of experiences into his consulting and training approach. Formerly involved in Expedition Project Management with the Youth Development Charity Raleigh International, Mike understands what it takes to deliver in exceptionally challenging circumstances. He has managed Environmental Projects in Costa Rica and Community based Projects in Guyana, South America where the Project Team walked 340 miles in 4 weeks to deliver vaccines to remote and marginalized communities. Last Year he managed a Raleigh Community Partners filming project in Borneo and took a client team to the summit of Mt. Kinabalu as part of an ongoing leadership development programme.
Since 1990 Owen has planned, written and edited materials for diverse training organisations and universities, for example: MBA courses on Personal Effectiveness, Organizational Development, and Entrepreneurship and Creativity, as well as wide range of management skills for IPD-, ILM- and CMI-based courses.
He also has extensive training and one-to-one coaching experience with his popular and effective courses on the use of writing for businesses.
His client list includes: Inland Revenue training department, SAP, Deloitte and Touche, Invesco Perpetual, Moscow University, Morgan Stanley (UK and Japan) and QinetiQ.
Profile Rana is a highly flexible and adaptable trainer and an excellent communicator with a sensitive approach to important and often complex issues. He has worked in UK based multicultural and diversity related services, where his open and encouraging approach to training has resulted in consistently excellent feedback. He combines his dual cultural heritage with ongoing professional development in the delivery of intercultural business training and cultural awareness in the public, private and voluntary sectors for clients as varied as BUPA, Phonepay Plus, Cisco Systems, Symbian Software, JP Morgan and American Express to the DWP, West Hertfordshire College and the Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust.
Ruth is an accomplished and highly experienced ‘people developer' with a proven track record of assisting organisations, managers, teams and individuals to attain business goals. She acquired a strong corporate background with Thomas Cook and Anglian Water and has for the past 17 years worked with a vast range of business areas in the private and public sector both in the UK and abroad.
Ruth works with the full training cycle from training needs analysis to evaluation and has extensive experience in designing and delivering quality, tailor-made courses. Using a variety of methodologies, she offers exciting, powerful and effective learning events to inspire people's choices to bring about positive change.
She is sensitive, open and flexible in style, whilst providing challenge, energy, direction and support throughout the change process. She ensures sessions are ‘actively beneficial' rather than ‘simply interesting' - ultimately resulting in the realisation of goals.
Ruth has worked with all types of industries and level of employees across a wide range of occupations, including: directors and senior managers, engineers, production staff, clerical workers, call centres, educational personnel, catering assistants and accountants.
Her clients include: Tibbett & Britten, Cleanaway, TNT, Barnardos, The NHS, Thomas Cook, Anglian Water, Logicom, Dawn Meats (UK and Ireland), Brent County Council, Radcom, Nottingham Trent University and Business School, Honda, Palmer Environmental and The Home Office.
Sophie has over 10 years' experience as a people development specialist gained with blue chip companies such as Volkswagen Group, Centrica Energy, Three and Virgin Media.
Spencer has a strong focus on understanding problems and driving for results in helping to solve them. This outcome-oriented approach has enabled Spencer to work with the best, from category leading investment and retail banks and automotive companies to top 3 pharmaceutical, retail and civil engineering multi-nationals.
Spencer brings a unique combination of experiences into his consulting and training approach. Formerly involved in spinal cord injury rehabilitation, he has since spent the past 15 years in technical management disciplines. Arguably it is this combination of technical problem-solving and deep behavioural skills understanding that differentiates his work.
Stephen has a background in the financial, service and travel sectors. His roles were primarily sales and marketing, before moving across to training and development.
Stephen has worked as a trainer, developer and coach with many organisations in Britain and across EMEA. He has gained extensive experience in analysing training needs, and designing, developing, implementing and evaluating learning programmes.
The range of industries in which he has been employed includes the automotive industry, retail, banking and financial services, telecommunications, Government bodies and new technologies.
A consultant with a proven track record of delivering results to business clients whilst enhancing success and growth within teams. A professional with over 15 years experience in multiple mediums of consultation and training delivery, he is equally at home facilitating in the class room or coaching whilst on a yacht at sea. Stuart is driven by a true passion and belief in the benefits that the business world can gain through the powerful experiential learning process.
A creative, energetic and challenging consultant with an eye for detail and excellent interpersonal skills. He has a practical approach to developing solutions, an interest in understanding individual motivation and through his relaxed, open and supportive facilitation style he aids personal development and growth.
Stuart has previously owned and run a successful stone masonry company in the early 90's before pursuing a career in Training and Consultancy. He now has first hand experience of different cultures having lived and worked in the Middle East and continental Europe.
Sue is an experienced professional with a background in the retail industry. Prior to becoming a training consultant, Sue held senior posts in personnel management for Marks and Spencer Plc moving throughout the UK to various stores and assignments. This involved implementing personnel policies, managing the performance, recruitment and selection of staff, graduate recruitment, training and development, counselling, handling disciplinary and grievance issues as well as using commercial skills on a daily basis.
Sue's style is direct and informative and she is able to use her sense of humour and fun to build rapport with the participants, encouraging them to become involved.
Tina is a specialist in helping individuals, teams and businesses create lasting positive change. An experienced and pragmatic coach and facilitator who works with a wide variety of UK and global organisations including Cambridge University Press, Old Mutual Asset Management, Fisher & Paykel, Honda UK & Dairy Crest.
Since graduating from Manchester University with a BSc in Hotel and Institutional Management; Tina has had over 28 years experience to develop her business, coaching and consultancy skills.