Who we are

Increasing numbers of trustees and chief executives feel the need for much greater attention to their governance and leadership development. This is not merely a matter of compliance but an essential factor in making their organisations relevant and effective on the ground.

Charitable work deserves nothing but the best. Therefore, in response to this high-level need, we strive to promote excellence in non-profit leadership.

Ours is a ‘bespoke’ service – flexible consulting, tailor-made training, private coaching and public teaching events for the trustees and top leaders of charities, NGOs and similar non-profit organisations. In doing this we draw on significant worldwide experience.

“Of course, there have been some notable failures,” he says, “and in this business there are no guarantees”. Nevertheless, hundreds have expressed their appreciation, and in 2009 he even received a surprise message of thanks from someone he had helped way back in 1973!

Charles is a seasoned practitioner in the Third Sector (also known as Civil Society Organisations, Not-For-Profits or Public Service Bodies). He served as Chief Executive of World Vision UK for more than thirteen years, including strategic roles globally in one of the world’s most extensive aid agencies. He returned later to the organisation to be their National Director in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, based in Jerusalem, where he was also elected chairman of the Association of International Development Agencies comprising the leaders of about 75 international NGOs working in the Middle East.

He has also directed one of Britain’s largest social care enterprises, the Shaftesbury Housing Group, which included a range of care institutions and housing projects. As Group Chief Executive, he fulfilled a complex and challenging role, focusing especially on the organisation’s strategic development.

Earlier he worked in local government in England and Scotland, and also for seventeen years with the international training organisation The Navigators, setting up their programmes in Scotland and leading their Irish and Southern UK regions. He developed many of their training activities for young leaders, some tailor-made for their context and others in outdoor pursuits such as sports, orienteering, sailing, hiking expeditions, in addition to church-based or public service projects.

Over 35 years Charles has conducted leadership training programmes in the United Kingdom, United States, Scandinavia, Central and Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East. He now teaches at Oxford Brookes University in the UK and travels to support leaders or speak at leadership events worldwide. With a courteous but no-nonsense approach, he is committed to this work and believes there is huge potential in today’s non-profit organisations.

Charles has degrees in civil engineering and theology, with graduate work in counselling and further education at leading academies including Harvard Business School. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Directors, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Member of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council.

Her experience after this with a UK wide management consultancy honed her skills and passion for working with senior leaders who are serious about creating organisations where people love to work, and where things really get done.

Since 2002 Rachel has worked with Innovista International, an organisation that identifies and develops young leaders across Europe and Eurasia to make a positive difference in the world. Her role as Senior Leadership Coach involves coaching leaders across the continent, leading the coaching culture of Innovista International, and developing resources that equip the next generation of leadership coaches.

She believes especially in the ability of people to change. Rachel supports all those she works with, to identify and work towards goals that both honour their own articulated values and release greater organisational impact.

Rachel holds an Advanced Diploma in Professional Coaching and Mentoring, and is a member of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council. She lives in Oxford with her husband and young daughter.

A graduate of Queen’s College, Glasgow (now Caledonian University), Anne worked first in the corporate world with large companies. She then moved into the management side of the education sector with broad ranging responsibilities for money and people in Glasgow, London, Philadelphia and Oxford.

It was in these contexts that she honed her general management skills, and from there moved into a management consultancy where she focused further on the education sector. She has since delivered many different training programmes for principals and senior teams in the last two decades, much of it in national charities or similar public bodies.

“I believe one of the best things about consultancies is that you build up a unique kind of trust, where both of you can say things that you can’t always say at other times”, she says, revealing her practical and realistic approach, “but on the other hand there is a risk of creating dependency. The answer is to be up front and honest from the start, agreeing to give the best advice possible …and then to leave!”