Beyond Frontiers – Speaker/panellist bios

Linda Aspey

Linda Aspey is the inaugural chair of BACP Coaching, the coaching division of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), Europe’s largest body for counselling and psychotherapy. A former board member of BACP, Linda established the coaching division with BACP’s support to meet the needs of the growing number of members who coach alongside their counselling, psychotherapy, consultancy, training or academic work.

Linda is a BACP accredited counsellor/psychotherapist, also accredited as a coach with APECS and AC, and a certified “Time to Think” Coach, Facilitator and Consultant, trained by Nancy Kline. As founder and managing director of Aspey Associates, Linda has more than 20 years’ experience in executive coaching and HR / OD consultancy, encompassing individual, team and organisational development, nationally and internationally. During that time she has seen coaching emerge and evolve into the beginnings of a true profession as well as become a versatile, accessible and essential management skill.

Geoff Bird

Dr Geoff Bird completed a PhD in Psychology at University College London (UCL) focussing on how people learn from watching others. He then conducted several years of neuroscience research at UCL, using brain-scanning technology to investigate how the brain works when humans interact with each other. He is now a lecturer at Birkbeck College, University of London, and a researcher at UCL´s Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience. He has recently teamed up with Anne Scoular of Meyler Campbell to investigate the neuroscience of coaching.

Michael Chaskalson

Michael Chaskalson has a masters degree with distinction in the clinical applications of mindfulness and more than thirty five years of personal practice of mindfulness and related disciplines. He is an honorary lecturer at Bangor University, where he teaches a masters module in the Department of Psychology. A member of the core team at the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice in Bangor, Michael’s teaching is both theoretical and practical. Drawing on the latest scientific research, including studies from the field of brain science, his approach fuses that with the ancient art of meditative practice.

Michael runs mindfulness trainings in a wide variety of contexts. He has trained a number of the UK’s leading business coaches in mindfulness skills and, as a coach and mindfulness trainer he has worked with people from PricewaterhouseCoopers, AXA PPP, Barclays Bank, Deutsche Bank, KPMG, Scottish Re, Pinsent Masons, Mills & Reeve, The Prudential, Saatchi & Saatchi, the National Health Service, GlaxoSmithKline, the Home Office, the Cabinet Office and several top UK business schools.

His book, The Mindful Workplace, is being published by Wiley in August and he is currently working on a chapter entitled “Mindful Leadership” for the Wiley Blackwell Handbook of the Psychology of Leadership, Organizational Development & Change.

Caroline Horner

Dr Caroline Horner is managing director of i-coach academy. She is an experienced coach and consultant with more than 16 years international experience, much of which has been working on initiatives that broke new ground, challenging personal and organisational paradigms. Prior to establishing i-coach academy, Caroline worked in marketing and general management roles across the financial services, IT and telecommunications sectors with organisations such as Siemens Nixdorf, NatWest, Microsoft, Vodafone and Tesco.

Today Caroline combines her broad understanding of business with her knowledge of organisational dynamics and extensive qualifications in coaching to work with individuals and organisations as they seek to enhance their capacity to learn and perform in their ever-changing environments – her aim is organisational effectiveness through individual excellence.

As a coach, Caroline works with senior business leaders and learning/OD professionals in multinational organisations, the public sector and entrepreneurs. Her clients are frequently leaders managing significant change in their organisation and/or themselves where they need to balance their own experience of transition whilst inspiring and influencing others to engage with change, take on more responsibility and deliver through others

In addition to her personal coaching and supervision practice, Caroline facilitates the i-coach academy post-graduate courses, as well as corporate leadership and team development interventions. She also consults internationally to private and public sector organisations on selecting and working with external coaches; developing and accrediting internal coaches; and building organisational coaching and learning cultures.

Caroline holds a professional doctorate (DProf) in Coaching Psychology from the International Centre for the Study of Coaching at Middlesex University, UK and an MBA (Distinction) from Imperial College, London. Caroline has also completed programmes in leadership coaching, existential counselling, and supervision and holds an NTL certificate in organisational development. she has co-authored a chapter on existential coaching with Prof. Ernesto Spinelli in the recent publication Handbook for Coaching Psychology (2008) Routledge and a chapter on Understanding Coaching in Human Resource Management: A Case Study Approach (2008, CIPD). She has presented internationally on coaching in the UK, Switzerland and South Africa.

Jackie Keddy

 
Jackie Keddy was instrumental in driving the in-house coaching programme for the Metropolitan Police Service, for whom she served as a senior police investigating officer for 27 years.  Following many years’ serving as a front-line police officer, Detective Chief Inspector and functional leader in such areas as child abuse investigation, domestic violence and other specialist crime roles. Jackie carried through an ambitious programme to champion coaching across the Met, later expanding her portfolio to act as a full time grievance investigator and mediator.  The Met’s coaching programme achieved the prestigious EMCC European Quality Award standard – the first UK non-profit public sector organisation to do so.  More recently, Jackie was honoured with the Association for Coaching’s Award for her ‘Outstanding Contribution to Business’ and was also named by Coaching at Work readers as ‘Person of the Year 2010’.  Jackie now works in private practice, under Keddy Consultants (www.keddyconsultants.com) and The Janus Partnership (www.thejanuspartnership.com), combining her special passions for conflict management, coaching implementation and development.

Jackie specialises in supporting organisations to implement coaching initiatives and take forward their existing coaching practice, including training and support for line managers, evaluation and supervision. She has advised a variety of organisations undertaking in both be private and public sectors. She also assists individuals and organisations who wish to complement their coaching portfolio with an ability to function as professional mediators. She is qualified to teach the Workplace Mediation programme for coaches, the UK’s nationally accredited qualification for practicing mediators.

Her first book, Managing Conflict at Work (co-authored with Clive Johnson), offers a wealth of practical approaches for managing conflict (see: www.managingconflictatwork.com ). Jackie and Clive’s new book, Managing Coaching at Work, is published by Kogan Page in August 2011 (www.managingcoachingatwork.com). Already receiving widespread acclaim, this offers shows how to align coaching with business priorities and other development/management interventions, sustain, develop and demonstrate the value of coaching, drawing on the insights of organisations from around the world.  

Jackie is a member of various management and professional bodies, a prolific conference speaker and is often quoted in the national press. She is passionate about the authentic, mindful and realistic application of coaching rather than the purely theoretical, and this expresses itself in her highly practical approach to coaching training. She has been called a bit of a “coaching maverick”.

Alex Linley

Dr Alex Linley is the founding director of Capp. He is recognised internationally as a leading expert on positive psychology and its applications. In practice, Alex works as an organisational consultant bringing to bear his expertise and practical insight in the applications of strengths psychology to organisational development and people practices. He works in the areas of assessment, senior team and leadership development, performance management, and organisational restructure. His clients include Aviva, Allied Irish Bank, BAE Systems, Birmingham City Council, Boehringer Ingelheim, Ernst & Young, Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, HSBC, NFU Mutual, Unilever and the Willow Foundation. Alex also provides research consultancy services to organisations in support of product development and market positioning, with one such assignment leading to his being positioned as the “Professor of Pleasure” for Magnum ice cream!

Alex has written, co-written, or edited more than 130 research papers and book chapters, and seven books, including Positive Psychology in Practice (Wiley, 2004) and The Strengths Book (CAPP Press, 2010), a #1 bestseller in the Human Resource Management category. He is a Co-Editor of the International Coaching Psychology Review and his work has been published in leading journals including Strategic HR Review, People Management, HR Director and The Recruiter. Alex is a highly sought-after speaker, having delivered over 50 keynote presentations around the world on topics including strengths, positive psychology, coaching, leadership, human resource management, and organisational performance. He has also appeared on BBC One’s The One Show, and in numerous radio, online and print media, both in the UK and internationally, including the Wall Street Journal, BBC News Online, BBC Radio Five Live, The Sunday Times, and the Independent on Sunday. Alex held the position of visiting professor in Psychology at the University of Leicester from 2007-2010.

Jennifer Liston Smith

Jennifer Liston-Smith is currently head of coaching at My Family Care. She has more than 20 years of experience in coaching, training and consulting with major organisations. Since 2005, she has been one of the UK pioneers of maternity coaching supporting employers in settings such as global law firms, investment banks, accountancy firms and other sectors. Her work is covered in the national and industry press, including Coaching at Work- and she sits on the magazine´s editorial board. Jennifer´s professional background includes a Law degree from Brasenose College, Oxford, a Masters in Psychology and the leading Post-Graduate Certificate in Coaching and Mentoring Supervision, with Distinction, from Oxford Brookes University Business School. She is the mother of two boys aged 10 and 7 and understands the challenges of a senior role combined with family life.

Mark McKergow

Mark McKergow PhD MBA is the director of sfwork, the Centre for Solutions Focus at Work. He has authored three books including The Solutions Focus: Making Coaching & Change SIMPLE (Nicholas Brealey Publishing 2007, now in 11 languages), co-founded the SOLWorld and SFCT organisations, and edits the SF journal InterAction. He is also a visiting research fellow in philosophy at the University of Hertfordshire.

Justine Faulkner

Justine Faulkner is clinical director of Adult Community Mental Health at Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust. She was previously head of organisational learning and development.

Antoinette Oglethorpe

Antoinette Oglethorpe is a Chartered Fellow of CIPD specialising in solution-focused approaches to coaching and conflict resolution.

 

Lis Merrick

Lis Merrick is managing director of Coach Mentoring, a company she launched in 2004, specialising in coaching and mentoring programme design and delivery. Lis holds a Masters in Coaching and Mentoring from Sheffield Business School and now teaches on the Masters programme. She is a consultant within the Coaching and Mentoring Research Unit at the School. She is also a senior associate of Clutterbuck Associates and is an accredited assessor for the International Standards for Mentoring Programmes in Employment (ISMPE).

Lis’s expertise is in the design and running of coaching and mentoring programmes and she specialises in the development of global talent management mentoring programmes and mentoring programmes to support women through the glass ceiling. So far in her career she been involved in more than 40 mentoring programmes and in 2010 was amongst those nominated for the Coaching at Work Mentoring Person of the Year:  “because she is a passionate advocate, enthusiastic and has impacted on many organisations with mentoring initiatives – not least in the North West and across Europe”. Lis also works internationally as an executive coach. She is a regular contributor to Coaching at Work.

Stephen Palmer

Professor Stephen Palmer is director of the Centre for Coaching, London and director of the Coaching Psychology Unit at City University. He is an APECS Accredited Executive Coach Supervisor, an International Society for Coaching Psychology Accredited Coaching Psychologist and UKCP Registered Psychotherapist.
 
He is president of the International Society for Coaching Psychology and was the first president of the Association for Coaching, and the first chair of the British Psychological Society (BPS) Special Group in Coaching Psychology. He was a specialist advisor to the House of Commons. In his BBC 1 television series he demonstrated cognitive coaching and therapy.
 
He is the UK coordinating co-editor of the International Coaching Psychology Review, and executive editor of Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice. He has authored or edited more than 35 books including the Handbook of Coaching Psychology (with Whybrow, 2007), The Coaching Relationship: Putting People First (with McDowall, 2010) and Developmental Coaching: Life Transitions and Generational Perspectives (with Panchal, 2011). He is the publisher of Coaching at Work magazine.
 
He received from the BPS, Division of Counselling Psychology, the Annual Counselling Psychology Award for ‘Outstanding professional and scientific contribution to Counselling Psychology in Britain for 2000’. In 2008 the BPS, Special Group in Coaching Psychology gave him the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award in Recognition of Distinguished contribution to coaching psychology’. 

Jenny Plaister-Ten

Following 25 years experience in international business development for organisations such as Compaq/HP and ICL/Fujitsu, Jenny considers that coaching has the potential to be sought as a route to cross-cultural effectiveness in the workplace. Cross-cultural coaching can facilitate the efficacy of global executives, multi-cultural teams, international mergers and acquisitions and expatriate postings; brought about by the effects of globalisation.

Jenny has lived and worked in Asia, the US and mainland Europe for more than 15 years. She founded a consulting firm in Singapore before returning back to the UK to set up 10 Consulting, a consulting and coaching practice focused on international business growth.

Jenny has an MA in Coaching and Mentoring practice from Oxford Brookes University where her dissertation was in cross-cultural coaching. She has presented at several coaching and research conferences both in the UK and mainland Europe, as well as Sietar (the Society for intercultural education, training and research). She is a visiting lecturer at the University of Konstanz, Germany and the University of South West England. She is a founder-member of a special interest group in culture in coaching at Oxford Brookes University, where she is currently conducting a research study in culture as a resource for competitive advantage.

Jenny is married inter-culturally and has a bi-cultural lifestyle between the Netherlands and UK.

Jenny Rogers

Jenny Rogers is one of the UK’s most experienced executive coaches with 18 years of successful experience.  Her clients include chief executives and directors of some of the UK’s best known organisations.  She is noted as an author of several best-selling books on coaching and adult learning.  She is a popular speaker and teacher, giving master-classes on coaching and allied subjects and was a founder-member of the Management Futures training faculty, pioneering its post-graduate level Diploma in Coaching (www.managementfutures.co.uk).

Jenny is an experienced coach-supervisor and also writes regular columns for a number of magazines. She is a contributor to Coaching at Work. In the past few years, Jenny has developed Slim for Life, an innovative and highly effective approach to weight loss, with more than 80% of her clients achieving and maintaining their targets weights with ease.  She is also an accredited mediator with the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution and a trained style and image coach.

Anne Scoular

Anne Scoular is managing director and co-founder of coach training organisation Meyler Campbell. Anne was in 2009 one of the five leading experts invited by Harvard Business Review to comment in its Executive Coaching special issue. She has served many of coaching’s major bodies worldwide including WABC; BPS/SGCP; AC and ICF; and has written The Financial Times Guide to Business Coaching. She has received the rare honour for a non-medic, of being made a fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine (FRSM). Originally a New Zealand diplomat then a Citibank-trained international banker, Anne has been twice awarded a distinction by London Guildhall University for her postgraduate work in the psychology of coaching, Anne has served on numerous advisory panels in the profession including Standards and Ethics in Coaching (ICM 2000); Training of business coaches (WABC 2006); and Accreditation (BPS/SGCP 2007).

She taught coaching as a member of the Faculty of the School of Coaching in London from 1998 to 2002, and ran seminars on executive coaching for the Sloan Programme, Executive MBA and Columbia Programmes at London Business School for five years to 2008.

Read Coaching at Work´s profile on Anne http://www.coaching-at-work.com/2011/04/13/the-fast-train/

Aboodi Shabi

Aboodi Shabi is one of the UK’s most senior coaches, and a pioneer and leader in the UK and European coaching community. He was a founding co-president of the UK ICF, and has served the profession at all levels internationally. He has worked in the field of personal development for nearly twenty years, and in coaching since 1996. In that time, he has worked with thousands of coaches across the world.

Aboodi is a Newfield Network certified Ontological Coach, and is currently head of coaching and training for Newfield Europe. He teaches on Newfield programmes in Europe, Asia and North, and has also been an invited presenter on coaching mastery at several European coaching schools, as well as a popular speaker at coaching conferences. Aboodi is a regular columnist for Coaching at Work (for example, http://www.coaching-at-work.com/2011/04/13/myth-buster-pay-attention-but-to-whom/).

Read Coaching at Work´s profile on Julio Olalla, founder of the Newfield Network http://www.coaching-at-work.com/2010/06/24/mystery-man/