Meet the Team
Investors in Learning has actively sought and cultivated a number of valued partnerships and collaborations with individuals and organisations to ensure that we continue our learning and can offer an excellent service in varying contexts and industries.
For Our Partners please click here
We distinguish between the experience and skills required in sectors that have a duty of care or work with vulnerable or potentially vulnerable people, and those businesses or organisations that have at their core products or services that does not involve this group.
Developing Learning Cultures is particularly important in high pressure and / or trauma present sectors so that the psychological safety is assured and the factors that are inhibiting learning are addressed. Working in these environments requires experience and sensitive consideration of the needs of the staff and the emotional pressures that these staff are experiencing and how they may be impacting on their performance.
We will continue to seek expertise that can support us in a variety of sectors so we develop and sustain our learning whilst delivering the most relevant, best value service possible to all our clients who work in very different environments to meet current needs in today’s volatile, uncertain and complex times.
Meet the Team
Investors in Learning has actively sought and cultivated a number of valued partnerships and collaborations with individuals and organisations to ensure that we continue our learning and can offer an excellent service in varying contexts and industries.
For Our Partners please click here
We distinguish between the experience and skills required in sectors that have a duty of care or work with vulnerable or potentially vulnerable people, and those businesses or organisations that have at their core products or services that does not involve this group.
Developing Learning Cultures is particularly important in high pressure and / or trauma present sectors so that the psychological safety is assured and the factors that are inhibiting learning are addressed. Working in these environments requires experience and sensitive consideration of the needs of the staff and the emotional pressures that these staff are experiencing and how they may be impacting on their performance.
We will continue to seek expertise that can support us in a variety of sectors so we develop and sustain our learning whilst delivering the most relevant, best value service possible to all our clients who work in very different environments to meet current needs in today’s volatile, uncertain and complex times.
Lizzy Lowenstein
Lizzy has enjoyed her work in the applied and academic field of Psychology for the last 30 years. She is passionate about the field of Psychology and Learning. An Organisational Psychologist with an eclectic background in Business, Education, the Private, Public and Third Sector.
Lizzy has worked in Business, with SMEs, multinational and FTSE 100, in all sectors of education, and with the third sector. She therefore has developed over many years an understanding of organisational development needs in varying contexts. Through her experience, Lizzy believes that Psychology has a huge amount to offer to bring about positive change and development in organisations. She is fascinated by organisational phenomena and how we can understand learning and make a difference for individuals, teams, and across organisations.
Lizzy works internationally with the aim of developing Learning Organisations. To this effect she has been leading the development of the Investors in Learning Quality Framework as a tool to collaboratively understand and meet Organisational Development needs. This is a best practise model grounded in research and practice, which also outlines the areas and themes of her work. Within these areas, she is consistently working on developing innovative approaches, sustainable learning solutions and engagement strategies. These include blended solutions using face to face and online methodologies. She is a natural lover of networking and travel. With that she has developed her belief in the need to genuinely consider and respect unique context and culture in the design of any sustainable learning solutions. There are many key factors that drive organisational and business success, however Learning and developing a Mindset for Learning in individuals, Teams and across the Organisation will be a driver and catalyst for them all.
Managing Director & Organisational Psychologist
Helen Lindley
Helen is the Accreditation Manager for Investors in Learning, supporting organisations to gain recognition for Investors in Learning programmes with a range of accreditation bodies. She oversees the Quality Assurance systems and processes.
Helen has 15 years experience in this field and is a qualified Assessor and Quality Assurance Manager with a background in supporting Learners to achieve National Vocational Qualifications [NVQ’s] within a range of sectors and organisations.
Accreditation Manager
Kisane Prutton
MSc. C.Psychol. C.Sci. AFBPsS
Kisane has over 20 years experience in business, both in the public and private sectors. She is a Chartered Psychologist (Occupational) and a Chartered Scientist and has gained expertise across a diverse range of industries including finance, insurance, media, education, the NHS and safety-critical industries including manufacturing, construction, and the utilities. Kisane is also a qualified coach, an accredited mediator, trainer and guest lecturer at the Institute of Work, Health and Organisations, University of Nottingham.
Kisane’s passion lies in supporting individuals, teams & organisations going through the pains of major change. Her approach is to understand and address people’s underlying needs in order to promote engagement and foster collaborative behaviours aligned with the goals of the organisation. Kisane is fully qualified in psychometric testing and licenced to use a number of instruments.
Coach & Occupational Psychologist
Dan Lowenstein
Dan is the film director, creator and advisor for Investors in Learning. He has extensive experience in the creative industries and brings a passion to any visual and film design needs that we may have. He will bring his network of talented professionals together to support us to capture learning experiences and deliver complex messages through the medium of film and other media. With Dan as part of our team, we are able to develop engaging resources and learning materials. staying abreast of the need to create effective visuals to support our learning in this fast-moving digital world. He also supports with the development of our online programmes.
Film and Social Media
Paula King
Paula supports Investors in Learning with accountancy, and project accounting needs. She is always to hand to help and to manage the changes in the accounting landscape.
Paula has the AAT Qualification in and is an AAT Licensed Accountant and has a background in many areas of Bookkeeping & Accountancy, having worked in both Industry and Practice throughout her career. She has had experience in a wide range of businesses from Sole Traders to High-Turnover Limited Companies.
Accountant & Bookkeeper
Jeremy Field
Jeremy has been supporting clients creatively since 1991. Having spent the early part of his career learning skills within design studios and advertising agencies, as well as spending 3 years studying at Matthew Bolton Technology College Birmingham, working on such high-profile brands as Cadburys, Lea & Perrins, HP Foods and Kays.
Jeremy has design experience and creative flair which helps us to create images to convey sometimes difficult ideas. Jeremy leads on all our programme resources and design of learning materials, as well as helping with some digital content and media.
He says, “Being talented and over qualified isn’t a ticket to success, if you are not able to connect with people, you will always struggle in business and life. Having fun on any journey helps make it a more memorable and enjoyable experience, and hopefully one that can be repeated again and again”.
Design
Debs Adams
Debbie joins Investors in Learning as a facilitator with over 12 years' experience in both the Public and Private Sector. Prior to joining Investors in Learning, Debbie was a Senior Learning and Development professional for several years, where she held responsibility for all staff development including inductions, soft skills and Microsoft training courses. During that time Debbie also introduced compliance training for staff, including Security Awareness, Data Protection, Equality and Diversity and Health and Safety.
In recent years, Debbie has supported various businesses in the development of their people and bespoke organisational development and coaching solutions.
Programme Design & Facilitator
David Gwadera
David has a background in continuous improvement techniques, deploying Agile delivery methodologies across multi-million pound business and software projects within the private sector.
David's depth of knowledge and experience as a certified Agile specialist stem from his work with some of the leading names in the Scrum and Kanban agile world. He has utilised his leadership and analytical skillset to help numerous teams across financial services, banking and data services to optimise their processes and the way they operate.
As an advocate of the use of data to evidence improvement through interaction and collaboration, David is an excellent facilitator of organisational and team transformations.
Certified Agile Specialist
Steven Fine
Steven has been providing organisational development, facilitation and training services for 15 years, providing a unique perspective and insight across multiple business sectors. Starting his career in sales and fundraising, Steven moved into senior public affairs roles for international conflict resolution agencies. He co-founded a film magazine and online film portal, exiting at the height of the dot-com boom. He then established a specialist recruitment advertising agency where he first dipped his toes in training.
Steven has an established focus on leadership, team building and sales training in the media sector. In addition, Steven chairs a national homelessness charity, and is a Governor of a local primary school.
Steven has a talent and strength of being able to bring positive learning energy and passion into a room. He is a wonderful storyteller, and his collaborative traits make him a fantastic team player able to support on any project.
Facilitator and Coach
Christine Toft
Christine has worked in the health, therapeutic, social care and criminal justice fields for 20 years. She has a wealth of experience from community service to strategic level in a variety of roles.
Starting as a therapist at the NSPCC, she soon became aware of the gaps in service delivery and moved to a strategic level. She developed robust county wide partnerships between substance use, domestic abuse and child protection at Hertfordshire County Council and East of England Government. She designed the first countywide conference on Domestic Abuse, Alcohol & Family, this was a very successful day leading to greater collaboration across the county.
Christine has specialised in domestic abuse, addiction, child protection, Adverse Childhood Experiences and trauma throughout her career and is now an independent consultant. She was sponsored by Action Trauma to design and deliver the first national conference on vicarious trauma for practitioners, which was a great success.
Her work has taken her across all fields of community service delivery including the Royal College of Psychiatry, Police and Cruse. Christine has designed and delivered tailor made training for a variety of organisations. Christine is passionate and focussed on developing a healthy learning culture for organisations and the workforce to improve outcomes, staff retention and consistency of service delivery.
“Organisations with intelligent forward-thinking strategies focussed on the workforce are beneficial to all sectors. In the social care field, this is the key to improved outcomes for the community, and improved health and wellbeing for the workforce. Only when we have the courage to step back and look at the past, can we develop a healthy learning culture between organisations and their workforce with a shared future vision.”
Organisations Christine has worked with include:
NSPCC, Alcohol Concern, Adfam, HumanKind, Childline, Action Trauma, Royal College of Psychiatrists, Cruse Bereavement, Police Occupational Health Nurses, Terapia Child & Adolescent Psychotherapy College, AVA -Steering group & consultant, Dublin Drug Service, Swansea Drug Project
Social Care & Trauma Specialist
Mpume Mpofu
Mpume Mpofu is the Programme Director, Trauma Informed Practise Education, TIPE Ltd (England) responsible for the design and implementation of iCoN and TILE programmes.
Mpume supports Investors in Learning with his experience, specialism and expertise in the impact and the psychology of trauma, as well as in organisational design and the implementation of solutions which supports the healing and recovery always aiming to address the root cause of the issue, seeking sustainable long term results.
Mpume has an eclectic background, working both in business environments at senior levels as well as for public sector organisations. He has lived and worked in varying cultures, during political crises and difficult times, and is particularly aware of the role of culture on human behaviours. He has worked within companies as an employee as well as an external consultant. His experience includes working at senior levels in very politically difficult situations, responsible for large re - design, people management and change projects. He has worked as a Human Resources Executive at Caterpillar Inc (Zimbabwe and Southern Africa) responsible for the design of human resources policies and implementation strategies, he has been responsible for organisational (re)design initiatives with public sector organisations; he was a Management Consultant, responsible for designing, implementing and evaluating organisation-wide transformation programmes with Southern African companies and organisations.
Mpume’s particular interest is to improve the life chances of children and young people, especially those that are exposed to hostile environments. Therefore the focus of his work for the last 15 years has been to help children and young people who experience and exhibit challenging behaviours as well as the significant adults in the children and young people’s lives, to understand the possible connection between exposure to adversity and the onset of challenging and difficult behaviour.
Currently in England and Wales as well as in some other countries much has been made of the need, indeed the imperative, to equip professionals with up-to-date knowledge of adverse childhood experience, trauma and neuroscience as well as the relevance of this knowledge to work with parents, infants and young children. Training programmes focus on practitioners’ capacity for compassion and service recipients’ capability to emotionally self-regulate.
While these efforts are indeed prerequisite and laudable, there is often a gap between the aspiration and rhetoric to praxis and meaningful organisational, systemic change. As such therefore he has worked closely with public and independent organisations to train these organisations’ people and systems to be aware of the impact of adversity on the behaviour of the children and young people that they support or supervise as well as the adults in the children and young people’s lives. In organisational settings, I bring speciality in organisational design and personal effectiveness strategies.
One of Mpume’s favourite quotes: “You can have a pocketful of pearls, but you will not have a necklace until you have a string” - S.M. Lockridge
Trauma Informed Education Specialist & Organisational Design Consultant
Shirley Wakelin
Shirley is a leadership and team coach, facilitator and trainer. She has a particular interest in supporting leaders transitioning into more senior roles, recognising the influence these roles have on the culture and engagement of the teams/departments they lead.
Her background of 20 years in the Pharmaceutical industry in a variety of national and international leadership roles has given her a sound understanding of the complexities of organisational systems, and the challenges that leaders face.
Shirley seeks out forward thinking clients who are courageous enough to examine the way they work and take personal responsibility for the impact they have on their sphere of influence. She helps leaders and teams identify their aspirations and take accountability for their continued development.
Clients are primarily in the health sector including the Pharma industry, Medical device companies and health care agencies
Shirley has a Certificate in Professional Coaching Skills with Coaching Development; a Certificate in Team Coaching with PB Coaching (now Novum) and David Clutterbuck; she’s a facilitator of Team Emotional Intelligence through Ei World; a Conversational Intelligence (CIQ) enhanced coach, and is accredited to use the Harrison Assessment Tool.
Leadership Coach & Facilitator
Rhiannon Stafford
Rhiannon’s career spans over 20 years working in HR, Resourcing and Leadership Development roles for large corporate companies. Over time she became disillusioned by the traditional way many companies were approaching leadership development and talent management.
She is a chartered member of the CIPD, and a member of the ICF. Rhiannon also volunteers as an Enterprise Advisor, working with secondary schools to advance their careers curriculum and support the next generation to be employment ready.
She believes that people are awesome and have the potential to grow and be the best version of themselves - and it’s by developing great leaders and inspiring cultures that we can unleash that awesomeness.
Rhiannon enjoys working with clients to develop bespoke leadership development programmes, coaching, personal development and team effectiveness solutions. She also works on candidate assessment, selection and profiling.
Leadership Development & Talent Management Consultant
Alli Gibbons
MBA, MCMI, MIC
Alli brings over 20 years of experience supporting organisations to clarify and articulate their strategic direction, putting in place practical plans to transform performance and achieve their vision. She has the rare quality of being able to synthesise complex theories into practical approaches, enabling clients to address challenging strategic issues. Alli is highly effective at facilitating cultural change and organisational development, drawing upon her blend of analytical and people skills, along with her experience across a wide variety of organisations and sectors, including health and social care.
An avid learner with a strong growth mindset, Alli offers powerful insight, effectively combining established best practice with leading-edge thinking in strategy, organisational development and personal performance. Known for her engaging and encouraging style, Alli has a strong track record of delivering effective interventions and building lasting client relationships.
Alli’s key areas of focus are:
- Providing strategic clarity
- Creating a performance culture
- Recruiting, engaging and retaining talent
Alli is Non-Executive Director of Social Enterprise Kent CIC, parent organisation of All Seasons Community Support, one of Kent’s leading and largest Health and Social Care companies. She acquired her MBA from the Open University and was subsequently engaged by the OU Business School as an Associate Lecturer. She was a registered Investors in People Specialist for 13 years and has assessed over 300 businesses, providing recommendations for continuous improvement in organisational development. She has achieved a Level 7 Award in Leadership Coaching and Mentoring. She is also an accredited Public Trainer for Harrison Assessments.
Facilitator & Organisational Development Specialist
David Klaasen
FCIPD, MIoD
David is a Practitioner in Brain and Behaviour Change. He has 30 years of experience of working with senior leadership teams to clarify complexity, inspire people and drive performance. He does this by ensuring shared values, clear communication and targeted development of people are the furnace that drives organisational success.
He moved into the Development arena, inspired by the measurable results it can produce, after gaining valuable international management experience in the hospitality sector. David has been working with all levels of management, across a broad range of sectors, including the Health and Social Care Sector, designing award-winning and nationally recognised Leadership and Management Development programmes.
David’s key areas of focus are:
- Developing a Growth Mindset and Accountability
- Behavioural analytics, motivating and supporting behavioural change
- Recruiting, engaging and retaining talent
He is an enthusiastic and emotionally intelligent communicator who utilises applied neuroscience and mindfulness to enable behavioural change. His skilful facilitation engages people at every level to play to their strengths, overcome their resistance to change, and be accountable. This approach can often release unexpected resources and innovation amongst management and staff.
As a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, David has demonstrated his deep understanding and knowledge of Strategic HR and Organisational Development. He is also an accredited Public Trainer for Harrison Assessments.
Practitioner in Brain and Behavioural Change
Brett Griffths
MSc MBA
Brett supports Investors in Learning with online platform solutions such as the Needs Analysis platform, always helping with his many ideas and the expertise that he has developed over the years, creating many online solutions for many businesses.His passion is working with people through positive engagement and building strong bonds.
Brett's previous experience has been business improvement through Lean techniques and people development Brett spent 10 years at Dura Automotive working with prestige brands such as Jaguar Audi, BMW & Honda. In 2004 he joined Southco as Automotive value stream manager growth from $1,000,000 to $14,000,000 in 3 years. For the next 2 years he perused his career to become European Operational Excellence Manger covering 5 sites across Europe in the deployment of lean and overall business improvement achieving high levels of success.
Brett provides organisations with sustainable performance solutions that help employers maximise the return on their investments. Lean based training, consultancy and qualified programmes to enable them to “do more with less”. This can only be achieved through people development.
LMS & Platform Consultant
Alex Bailey
Alex is Positive Psychologist with 15 years internal and external consulting experience. A strategic and futuristic development professional having improved business performance for individuals, teams, small and large organisations including many blue-chip internationals. Her experience ranges across all industries including financial, pharma, technology, food, retail, the Police etc.
Alex is passionate about designing innovative solutions and use a focus on Positive Psychology to create powerful impact on organisational effectiveness through people. Particular areas of interest are empowering individuals and groups to increase awareness of their strengths to use them to their advantage in work and life. Alex has a Bachelors Degree in Psychology and a Masters Degree in Occupational Psychology. She is Level A and B trained in psychometric test use and a member of the British Psychological Society and the International Positive Psychology Association.
Facilitator & Coach
Charles May
Solutions Director – Harrison Assessments – EMEA
Charles May is a fellow of the institute of Sales & Marketing Management with a varied International business background covering Sales & Marketing, Project Management and HR ranging from Recruitment to training and development with senior management. His ability to communicate effectively and adopt a structured approach led him into management training in areas of appraisal, conflict management, performance management and leadership. He established a strong reputation in coaching and mentoring and is a member of European Mentoring & Coaching Council.
Facilitator, Coach & Organisational Development Consultant
Lizzy Lowenstein
Lizzy has enjoyed her work in the applied and academic field of Psychology for the last 30 years. She is passionate about the field of Psychology and Learning. An Organisational Psychologist with an eclectic background in Business, Education, the Private, Public and Third Sector.
Lizzy has worked in Business, with SMEs, multinational and FTSE 100, in all sectors of education, and with the third sector. She therefore has developed over many years an understanding of organisational development needs in varying contexts. Through her experience, Lizzy believes that Psychology has a huge amount to offer to bring about positive change and development in organisations. She is fascinated by organisational phenomena and how we can understand learning and make a difference for individuals, teams, and across organisations.
Lizzy works internationally with the aim of developing Learning Organisations. To this effect she has been leading the development of the Investors in Learning Quality Framework as a tool to collaboratively understand and meet Organisational Development needs. This is a best practise model grounded in research and practice, which also outlines the areas and themes of her work. Within these areas, she is consistently working on developing innovative approaches, sustainable learning solutions and engagement strategies. These include blended solutions using face to face and online methodologies. She is a natural lover of networking and travel. With that she has developed her belief in the need to genuinely consider and respect unique context and culture in the design of any sustainable learning solutions. There are many key factors that drive organisational and business success, however Learning and developing a Mindset for Learning in individuals, Teams and across the Organisation will be a driver and catalyst for them all.
Managing Director & Occupational Psychologist
Helen Lindley
Helen is the Accreditation Manager for Investors in Learning, supporting organisations to gain recognition for Investors in Learning programmes with a range of accreditation bodies. She oversees the Quality Assurance systems and processes.
Helen has 15 years experience in this field and is a qualified Assessor and Quality Assurance Manager with a background in supporting Learners to achieve National Vocational Qualifications [NVQ’s] within a range of sectors and organisations.
Accreditation Manager
Kisane Prutton
MSc. C.Psychol. C.Sci. AFBPsS
Kisane has over 20 years experience in business, both in the public and private sectors. She is a Chartered Psychologist (Occupational) and a Chartered Scientist and has gained expertise across a diverse range of industries including finance, insurance, media, education, the NHS and safety-critical industries including manufacturing, construction, and the utilities. Kisane is also a qualified coach, an accredited mediator, trainer and guest lecturer at the Institute of Work, Health and Organisations, University of Nottingham.
Kisane’s passion lies in supporting individuals, teams & organisations going through the pains of major change. Her approach is to understand and address people’s underlying needs in order to promote engagement and foster collaborative behaviours aligned with the goals of the organisation. Kisane is fully qualified in psychometric testing and licenced to use a number of instruments.
Coach & Occupational Psychologist
Dan Lowenstein
Dan is the film director, creator and advisor for Investors in Learning. He has extensive experience in the creative industries and brings a passion to any visual and film design needs that we may have. He will bring his network of talented professionals together to support us to capture learning experiences and deliver complex messages through the medium of film and other media. With Dan as part of our team, we are able to develop engaging resources and learning materials. staying abreast of the need to create effective visuals to support our learning in this fast-moving digital world. He also supports with the development of our online programmes.
Film and Social Media
Paula King
Paula supports Investors in Learning with accountancy, and project accounting needs. She is always to hand to help and to manage the changes in the accounting landscape.
Paula has the AAT Qualification in and is an AAT Licensed Accountant and has a background in many areas of Bookkeeping & Accountancy, having worked in both Industry and Practice throughout her career. She has had experience in a wide range of businesses from Sole Traders to High-Turnover Limited Companies.
Accountant & Bookkeeper
Jeremy Field
Jeremy has been supporting clients creatively since 1991. Having spent the early part of his career learning skills within design studios and advertising agencies, as well as spending 3 years studying at Matthew Bolton Technology College Birmingham, working on such high-profile brands as Cadburys, Lea & Perrins, HP Foods and Kays.
Jeremy has design experience and creative flair which helps us to create images to convey sometimes difficult ideas. Jeremy leads on all our programme resources and design of learning materials, as well as helping with some digital content and media.
He says, “Being talented and over qualified isn’t a ticket to success, if you are not able to connect with people, you will always struggle in business and life. Having fun on any journey helps make it a more memorable and enjoyable experience, and hopefully one that can be repeated again and again”.
Design
Debs Adams
Debbie joins Investors in Learning as a facilitator with over 12 years' experience in both the Public and Private Sector. Prior to joining Investors in Learning, Debbie was a Senior Learning and Development professional for several years, where she held responsibility for all staff development including inductions, soft skills and Microsoft training courses. During that time Debbie also introduced compliance training for staff, including Security Awareness, Data Protection, Equality and Diversity and Health and Safety.
In recent years, Debbie has supported various businesses in the development of their people and bespoke organisational development and coaching solutions.
Programme Design & Facilitator
Steven Fine
Steven has been providing organisational development, facilitation and training services for 15 years, providing a unique perspective and insight across multiple business sectors. Starting his career in sales and fundraising, Steven moved into senior public affairs roles for international conflict resolution agencies. He co-founded a film magazine and online film portal, exiting at the height of the dot-com boom. He then established a specialist recruitment advertising agency where he first dipped his toes in training.
Steven has an established focus on leadership, team building and sales training in the media sector. In addition, Steven chairs a national homelessness charity, and is a Governor of a local primary school.
Steven has a talent and strength of being able to bring positive learning energy and passion into a room. He is a wonderful storyteller, and his collaborative traits make him a fantastic team player able to support on any project.
Facilitator and Coach
Christine Toft
Christine has worked in the health, therapeutic, social care and criminal justice fields for 20 years. She has a wealth of experience from community service to strategic level in a variety of roles.
Starting as a therapist at the NSPCC, she soon became aware of the gaps in service delivery and moved to a strategic level. She developed robust county wide partnerships between substance use, domestic abuse and child protection at Hertfordshire County Council and East of England Government. She designed the first countywide conference on Domestic Abuse, Alcohol & Family, this was a very successful day leading to greater collaboration across the county.
Christine has specialised in domestic abuse, addiction, child protection, Adverse Childhood Experiences and trauma throughout her career and is now an independent consultant. She was sponsored by Action Trauma to design and deliver the first national conference on vicarious trauma for practitioners, which was a great success.
Her work has taken her across all fields of community service delivery including the Royal College of Psychiatry, Police and Cruse. Christine has designed and delivered tailor made training for a variety of organisations. Christine is passionate and focussed on developing a healthy learning culture for organisations and the workforce to improve outcomes, staff retention and consistency of service delivery.
“Organisations with intelligent forward-thinking strategies focussed on the workforce are beneficial to all sectors. In the social care field, this is the key to improved outcomes for the community, and improved health and wellbeing for the workforce. Only when we have the courage to step back and look at the past, can we develop a healthy learning culture between organisations and their workforce with a shared future vision.”
Organisations Christine has worked with include:
NSPCC, Alcohol Concern, Adfam, HumanKind, Childline, Action Trauma, Royal College of Psychiatrists, Cruse Bereavement, Police Occupational Health Nurses, Terapia Child & Adolescent Psychotherapy College, AVA -Steering group & consultant, Dublin Drug Service, Swansea Drug Project
Social Care & Trauma Specialist
Mpume Mpofu
Mpume Mpofu is the Programme Director, Trauma Informed Practise Education, TIPE Ltd (England) responsible for the design and implementation of iCoN and TILE programmes.
Mpume supports Investors in Learning with his experience, specialism and expertise in the impact and the psychology of trauma, as well as in organisational design and the implementation of solutions which supports the healing and recovery always aiming to address the root cause of the issue, seeking sustainable long term results.
Mpume has an eclectic background, working both in business environments at senior levels as well as for public sector organisations. He has lived and worked in varying cultures, during political crises and difficult times, and is particularly aware of the role of culture on human behaviours. He has worked within companies as an employee as well as an external consultant. His experience includes working at senior levels in very politically difficult situations, responsible for large re - design, people management and change projects. He has worked as a Human Resources Executive at Caterpillar Inc (Zimbabwe and Southern Africa) responsible for the design of human resources policies and implementation strategies, he has been responsible for organisational (re)design initiatives with public sector organisations; he was a Management Consultant, responsible for designing, implementing and evaluating organisation-wide transformation programmes with Southern African companies and organisations.
Mpume’s particular interest is to improve the life chances of children and young people, especially those that are exposed to hostile environments. Therefore the focus of his work for the last 15 years has been to help children and young people who experience and exhibit challenging behaviours as well as the significant adults in the children and young people’s lives, to understand the possible connection between exposure to adversity and the onset of challenging and difficult behaviour.
Currently in England and Wales as well as in some other countries much has been made of the need, indeed the imperative, to equip professionals with up-to-date knowledge of adverse childhood experience, trauma and neuroscience as well as the relevance of this knowledge to work with parents, infants and young children. Training programmes focus on practitioners’ capacity for compassion and service recipients’ capability to emotionally self-regulate.
While these efforts are indeed prerequisite and laudable, there is often a gap between the aspiration and rhetoric to praxis and meaningful organisational, systemic change. As such therefore he has worked closely with public and independent organisations to train these organisations’ people and systems to be aware of the impact of adversity on the behaviour of the children and young people that they support or supervise as well as the adults in the children and young people’s lives. In organisational settings, I bring speciality in organisational design and personal effectiveness strategies.
One of Mpume’s favourite quotes: “You can have a pocketful of pearls, but you will not have a necklace until you have a string” - S.M. Lockridge
Trauma Informed Education Specialist & Organisational Design Consultant
Shirley Wakelin
Shirley is a leadership and team coach, facilitator and trainer. She has a particular interest in supporting leaders transitioning into more senior roles, recognising the influence these roles have on the culture and engagement of the teams/departments they lead.
Her background of 20 years in the Pharmaceutical industry in a variety of national and international leadership roles has given her a sound understanding of the complexities of organisational systems, and the challenges that leaders face.
Shirley seeks out forward thinking clients who are courageous enough to examine the way they work and take personal responsibility for the impact they have on their sphere of influence. She helps leaders and teams identify their aspirations and take accountability for their continued development.
Clients are primarily in the health sector including the Pharma industry, Medical device companies and health care agencies
Shirley has a Certificate in Professional Coaching Skills with Coaching Development; a Certificate in Team Coaching with PB Coaching (now Novum) and David Clutterbuck; she’s a facilitator of Team Emotional Intelligence through Ei World; a Conversational Intelligence (CIQ) enhanced coach, and is accredited to use the Harrison Assessment Tool.
Leadership Coach & Facilitator
Rhiannon Stafford
Rhiannon’s career spans over 20 years working in HR, Resourcing and Leadership Development roles for large corporate companies. Over time she became disillusioned by the traditional way many companies were approaching leadership development and talent management.
She is a chartered member of the CIPD, and a member of the ICF. Rhiannon also volunteers as an Enterprise Advisor, working with secondary schools to advance their careers curriculum and support the next generation to be employment ready.
She believes that people are awesome and have the potential to grow and be the best version of themselves - and it’s by developing great leaders and inspiring cultures that we can unleash that awesomeness.
Rhiannon enjoys working with clients to develop bespoke leadership development programmes, coaching, personal development and team effectiveness solutions. She also works on candidate assessment, selection and profiling.
Leadership Development & Talent Management Consultant
Alli Gibbons
MBA, MCMI, MIC
Alli brings over 20 years of experience supporting organisations to clarify and articulate their strategic direction, putting in place practical plans to transform performance and achieve their vision. She has the rare quality of being able to synthesise complex theories into practical approaches, enabling clients to address challenging strategic issues. Alli is highly effective at facilitating cultural change and organisational development, drawing upon her blend of analytical and people skills, along with her experience across a wide variety of organisations and sectors, including health and social care.
An avid learner with a strong growth mindset, Alli offers powerful insight, effectively combining established best practice with leading-edge thinking in strategy, organisational development and personal performance. Known for her engaging and encouraging style, Alli has a strong track record of delivering effective interventions and building lasting client relationships.
Alli’s key areas of focus are:
- Providing strategic clarity
- Creating a performance culture
- Recruiting, engaging and retaining talent
Alli is Non-Executive Director of Social Enterprise Kent CIC, parent organisation of All Seasons Community Support, one of Kent’s leading and largest Health and Social Care companies. She acquired her MBA from the Open University and was subsequently engaged by the OU Business School as an Associate Lecturer. She was a registered Investors in People Specialist for 13 years and has assessed over 300 businesses, providing recommendations for continuous improvement in organisational development. She has achieved a Level 7 Award in Leadership Coaching and Mentoring. She is also an accredited Public Trainer for Harrison Assessments.
Facilitator & Organisational Development Specialist
David Klaasen
FCIPD, MIoD
David is a Practitioner in Brain and Behaviour Change. He has 30 years of experience of working with senior leadership teams to clarify complexity, inspire people and drive performance. He does this by ensuring shared values, clear communication and targeted development of people are the furnace that drives organisational success.
He moved into the Development arena, inspired by the measurable results it can produce, after gaining valuable international management experience in the hospitality sector. David has been working with all levels of management, across a broad range of sectors, including the Health and Social Care Sector, designing award-winning and nationally recognised Leadership and Management Development programmes.
David’s key areas of focus are:
- Developing a Growth Mindset and Accountability
- Behavioural analytics, motivating and supporting behavioural change
- Recruiting, engaging and retaining talent
He is an enthusiastic and emotionally intelligent communicator who utilises applied neuroscience and mindfulness to enable behavioural change. His skilful facilitation engages people at every level to play to their strengths, overcome their resistance to change, and be accountable. This approach can often release unexpected resources and innovation amongst management and staff.
As a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, David has demonstrated his deep understanding and knowledge of Strategic HR and Organisational Development. He is also an accredited Public Trainer for Harrison Assessments.
Practitioner in Brain and Behavioural Change
Brett Griffths
MSc MBA
Brett supports Investors in Learning with online platform solutions such as the Needs Analysis platform, always helping with his many ideas and the expertise that he has developed over the years, creating many online solutions for many businesses.His passion is working with people through positive engagement and building strong bonds.
Brett's previous experience has been business improvement through Lean techniques and people development Brett spent 10 years at Dura Automotive working with prestige brands such as Jaguar Audi, BMW & Honda. In 2004 he joined Southco as Automotive value stream manager growth from $1,000,000 to $14,000,000 in 3 years. For the next 2 years he perused his career to become European Operational Excellence Manger covering 5 sites across Europe in the deployment of lean and overall business improvement achieving high levels of success.
Brett provides organisations with sustainable performance solutions that help employers maximise the return on their investments. Lean based training, consultancy and qualified programmes to enable them to “do more with less”. This can only be achieved through people development.
LMS & Platform Consultant
Alex Bailey
Alex is Positive Psychologist with 15 years internal and external consulting experience. A strategic and futuristic development professional having improved business performance for individuals, teams, small and large organisations including many blue-chip internationals. Her experience ranges across all industries including financial, pharma, technology, food, retail, the Police etc.
Alex is passionate about designing innovative solutions and use a focus on Positive Psychology to create powerful impact on organisational effectiveness through people. Particular areas of interest are empowering individuals and groups to increase awareness of their strengths to use them to their advantage in work and life. Alex has a Bachelors Degree in Psychology and a Masters Degree in Occupational Psychology. She is Level A and B trained in psychometric test use and a member of the British Psychological Society and the International Positive Psychology Association.
Facilitator & Coach
Charles May
Solutions Director – Harrison Assessments – EMEA
Charles May is a fellow of the institute of Sales & Marketing Management with a varied International business background covering Sales & Marketing, Project Management and HR ranging from Recruitment to training and development with senior management. His ability to communicate effectively and adopt a structured approach led him into management training in areas of appraisal, conflict management, performance management and leadership. He established a strong reputation in coaching and mentoring and is a member of European Mentoring & Coaching Council.
Facilitator, Coach & Organisational Development Consultant