Chair: Alan Hodgart – Alan is Principal of H4 Partners. He has specialised in working with professional firms for over 20 years on strategic development and on aligning their organisation to their strategic goals through practical steps. Alan has an extensive client base throughout Europe, the US and Asia Pacific.
Angela Abell joined TFPL in 1994 to develop their consultancy practice and became a Director a year later. Building on previous experience in the private, public and academic sectors she continued to develop knowledge and information management expertise, particularly focusing on the skills, competencies and working practices appropriate to knowledge working. She has undertaken IM and KM consultancy work for organisations from many sectors and her research projects have resulted in a number of publications. She is the author of ‘Skills for knowledge working: a guide to good practice’ published by the British Standards Institution. Angela became a Senior Associate Consultant with TFPL in 2007 and is currently working on a book with a colleague in the inter-dependence of knowledge and information management.
Susie Becker has had an extensive career in HR. Currently running her own consultancy practise, she was HR director at accountancy practise Moore Stephens for a number of years and one of the founding committee members of the PPF (Professional Personnel Forum) a forerunner to the current MPF. Susie has worked in manufacturing with Bowaters, service and distribution with Grundig and also had a period as an advocate at Employment Tribunals.
Pete Belsey - Peter is Business Director for Professional Services at Huthwaite International and a director of HuthwaiteFleming, who provide specialist training and consultancy to the legal profession. Having worked for Huthwaite for 20 years, Peter brings a wealth of experience from behaviour change projects with a wide range of major professional services firms, insurance companies and banks, all to help improve their business development skills and performance. Peter has spent his entire career in financial and professional services and before Huthwaite he qualified and worked with Ernst & Young for nine years.
Steve Blundell - Steve is Managing Director of Gracechurch Consulting whose clients include many of the worlds leading professional services and financial services organisations. He has 20 years’ experience advising on strategy and business development.
Philip Brown specialises in assisting law firms both in the U.K. and internationally with strategic development and management issues. He is a partner at H4 Partners, the leading U.K. consultants to law firms and has lectured widely on issues facing law firms. He is a lawyer by training and was the the managing partner of Wilde Sapte (now Denton Wilde Sapte) for eight years.
Neil Cameron is the Managing Director of the Neil Cameron Consulting Group, a specialist legal technology which advises law firms and legal departments on strategic issues relating to the use of IT systems to aid in efficiency, effectiveness, business development, profitability, client relationship management and commoditisation. He was originally a Barrister, then worked for LexisNexis and then Allen & Overy before joining KPMG Management Consulting in 1986; since then he has worked with over 150 law firms of all shapes and sizes (including half of the top 100 in the UK) from all over the globe on furthering their businesses with IT.
John Collier – John is a Director of Clive & Stokes International , London’s oldest executive search firm where he specializes in finding non executive directors and CFO’s for listed companies. He was a partner with Price Waterhouse for 11 years and also spent nearly five years as the Secretary General of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales where he continues to serve as a Council member.
David Cunningham is Managing Director of Baker Robbins & Company, the leading law firm and legal department technology consultancy and now part of Thomson Reuter's Technology Consulting Services. For the past 20 years, he has led the firm's technology strategy services and worked with executive and IT management of the majority of the world's largest firms. David leads quarterly executive briefings on the state and business implications of legal IT benchmarks.
Ray D'Cruz is a principal of the Centre for Professional Services Management, an Australian based consulting firm. He works with clients in Australia, Asia and Europe in the areas of client loyalty and learning and development. More recently he has focused on developing online performance management and career development tools for the professional services sector. Prior to consulting Ray was a lawyer with Freehills and head of learning at Clayton Utz.
Paul Druckman - Paul operates as non-executive Chairman of businesses and organisations ranging from the world of software to business support, and also works on influencing the accounting community on sustainability matters. A past-president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales, he chairs the European accounting profession's Sustainability Policy Group as well as the Accounting for Sustainability Forum under the auspices of the Prince of Wales www.sustainabilityatwork.org.uk
David Haigh – David read English at Bristol University before qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse in London. He subsequently moved into the marketing services sector, becoming Financial Director of The Creative Business and then Financial Director of WCRS & Partners. He left to set up a financial marketing consultancy which was later acquired by Publicis, the Pan European marketing services group, where he worked as a director for 5 years. He moved to Interbrand as director of brand valuation in its London based global brand valuation practice, leaving in 1996 to launch Brand Finance – the leading independent brand valuation consultancy. David has worked on a wide variety of global projects for blue-chip companies in sectors including telecoms, media, IT, leisure, automotive, transport, petrochemicals, alcoholic beverages, food and confectionery.
Andrew Hedley - An architect by profession, Andrew has an MA and MBA focused on professional services strategy and business development. He has approaching twenty years experience of managing and advising professional service firms including ten years in the legal sector. His firm, Hedley Consulting (www.hedleyconsulting.com), advises European professional service organisations on strategy and change.
Dr Mark Jenner - Mark advises organisations on how to build their leadership capability. He brings an architectural approach, designing and implementing creative leadership development solutions to support collective and individual performance improvement.
Mark has a track record of innovation in learning and development. While at Ernst & Young Mark led the design and implementation of a ‘Virtual Business School’ which won the prestigious Corporate University Xchange European Excellence Award in 2000.
Mark is an experienced coach and facilitator, and has trained with the Institute for Group Analysis and the Gestalt Centre. He has presented at conferences, and lectured at business schools, on teams, leadership and organisational change.
Mark previously held senior learning and organisation development roles in Barclays Bank, Ernst & Young and Bovis Lend Lease.
Richard Kane is Managing Director of Business Development for Advent International, one of the world's leading private equity firms. Prior to Advent, Richard ran International Wealth Management for Bank of America and was a consultant specializing in financial services.
Margaret Lang is Chief Executive of Intelligent Office UK Limited. Prior to joining Intelligent Office, Margaret managed a $100m business in New York providing outsourced office services to leading US investment banks and law firms. In 2001, she returned to the UK with the aim of bringing US outsourcing best practice to UK firms. She completed an MBI to a digital printing business which was then sold to the management team in 2005. Mags can be contacted on 07968 764 953
Steve Lee is founder and partner of Aretai, a consultancy working with organisations to identify solutions to business challenges through the engagement of people. Prior to founding Aretai, Steve was Global HR Director of Heidrick and Struggles, the world’s largest listed executive search firm. A chartered accountant, his earlier professional experience was at Andersen where as HR partner he was responsible for all HR matters for both partners and employees.
Helen J Meekings is a senior sustainability consultant with Golder Associates Europe Ltd and is the European leader on Golder’s global sustainability council. Helen is a chartered Civil Engineer specialising in sustainable approaches to infrastructure development, water and waste management internationally and in the UK. Joining Golder in 2006, she has been developing the sustainability business in the UK and Europe.
Amanda Phillips is Director of AP Consulting an Executive & Organisational Development consultancy. Amanda was a member of the Global Partner and Leadership Development team at PricewaterhouseCoopers, and also held operational HR roles providing strategic consultancy and advice to senior leaders. She has worked extensively in professional services and in other sectors including Banking, Technology and Telecoms, Media, Education and Health Care. Amanda was the external examiner for London’s South Bank University Masters Degree in Human Resources for a number of years. She is also Coaching Supervisor for the Oxford Brookes Masters Programme in Coaching & Mentoring Practice.
Jane Ridley - Jane Ridley's career in risk management spans two decades. She has been advising the professions on strategic and operational risk for many of those years. Now working independently Jane sold her risk management consultancy to Alexander Forbes in 2003. With assignments in the UK, Europe and SE Asia Jane is a regular speaker at conferences and events for the professions and is a recognised leader in her field.
Reena SenGupta is Managing Director of RSG Consulting, a specialist research and consulting company for the legal industry. An ex-investigative journalist and previously Editor and Publishing Director for several publications at Chambers & Partners, Reena has been analysing and researching the profession for over 13 years. RSG Consulting, set up in 2001, is best known for its joint venture with the Financial Times on the Innovative Lawyers Report.
Nigel Salter, Founded salterbaxter in 1998 with Penny Baxter. Nigel is the lead strategy and communications consultant for the company. Advises clients across the full spectrum of corporate communications issues including branding, corporate responsibility and financial communications. Nigel has worked with clients including: Allen & Overy, Barclays, BBC, Blue Circle Industries, BSkyB, Business in the Community, EMI, Ernst & Young, GlaxoSmithKline, Kelda Group, Land Securities, London Electricity, O2, Reuters, Shell, Tetra Pak, Unilever, Vodafone, Yell. Writes articles and speaks widely on a variety of issues including corporate responsibility generally, CR in professional services, corporate governance, and branding in professional services.
Adrian Smith - Adrian is Chief Executive of The Woolton Group LLC, a firm that provides board and advisory services to public and private companies in the USA and Europe. He is a non-executive director of Byotrol plc, RTI Biologics Inc. and the non-executive chairman of Gaming VC S.A. After 24 years of senior management experience with Procter & Gamble and Ecolab, he joined Arthur Andersen LLP in 1991 as a worldwide managing partner, Grant Thornton LLP as Chief Executive in 1997, and retired from Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu as a global managing partner – marketing in 2004.
Kim Tasso - Kim is an independent strategic marketing consultant, trainer/coach and writer. She has advised over 200 legal, accountancy and professional partnerships on all aspects of strategy, marketing, business development, selling, key account management and communications. Her first book was on selling in the professions and the second on media relations in the property industry. She started in the technology sector and then progressed to senior marketing appointments at Deloittes and Nabarro before setting up Practical Marketing Consultancy in 1994. She is qualified in psychology, marketing, coach/mentoring and management.
John Timperley - John is Managing Director of The Results Consultancy which specialises in helping professional firms win high value business through hands on pitch advice, business development and client managment skills and one to one coaching for Partners. He works extensively in the UK, Europe and Asia, and has more than 15 years' experience in advising organisations at Board and senior management level. John is also author of three books on wining business in the professions, all of which have worldwide distribution. www.winningbusiness.net
Steve Warshal has been working with Greenpeace since 1985. He is a former board member of Greenpeace Ltd, was the founding editor of Greenpeace Business from 1991 thru 2007 and is currently chairman of the Greenpeace Environmental Trust. Steve also works with Centaur Media creating business conferences including the annual Lawyer Summit for law firms and in house counsel.
Nicola Webb - Nicola has worked in business-to-business marketing since 1983 and in the professional services arena since 1989, working with Wansbroughs Willey Hargrave (now Beachcroft LLP), Ernst & Young in the South West, and Osborne Clarke. In particular, she has focused on implementing client relationship management and business development programmes in law firms. Since setting up her own consultancy, Implementor, in 2003, she has been involved in a range of projects, including a interim head of marketing positions for Alder King and Dreweatt Neate surveyors and Manches LLP in Oxford among others.