Justine James – loves to know what makes people tick

Justine has a deep understanding of the way graduates think and what they want from work. For 12 years, she held senior management and consulting roles in top professional services firms and a niche HR consultancy.

She has consulted to BG Group, ING, BP, GSK, E.ON, Tesco, Enterprise Rent-a-Car and BHP Billiton. Justine’s experience running graduate recruitment for PricewaterhouseCoopers gives her real insights into the issues facing graduates and the employers hoping to hire them.

She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD), a member of the AGR development task group and an associate of CRAC (The Career Development Organisation).

Justine is also a keen sailor, having sailed round the world at the age of 22 (the youngest on a boat of 14 crew).

Sally Bibb – passionate about inspiring organisations

Sally is an expert in organisational development and change, with a practitioner’s understanding of how change happens, what works and what doesn’t. She has spent 15 years working with people from different generations and cultures in Europe, USA and Asia.

She has written and contributed to five books exploring the relationship between people and the organisations they work for and writes regular articles for the management and general press.

Before she co-founded talentsmoothie, Sally held senior roles in organisational change, HR, and learning and development at The Economist Group, publisher of The Economist newspaper, BT and Cable and Wireless.

Sally has a BA Honours degree in Economics, Psychology and Sociology and an MSc in Change Agent Skills and Strategies. She is an NLP practitioner and coach and is accredited in  MBTI and EQ.

In her spare time Sally is a keen Argentine Tango dancer.

Simon Walker – could lead your team to the arctic (and back!)

Simon is an expert in leadership, team and organisational development and has been CEO of two SMEs.

Before co-founding talentsmoothie, he built a successful leadership consultancy where he could put into practice what he preached. He worked at every level within large organisations all over the world including BT, Microsoft, Royal Bank of Scotland, Credit Suisse, Savills and Anglian Water Group.

Simon has led teams on polar expeditions and round-the-world yacht races. Before setting up his leadership consultancy, he was MD of a well-known sports marketing business for seven years.

Simon is regularly invited to speak on leadership and team building in complex and challenging environments and was featured in Fast Company Magazine’s ‘Who’s fast 2001′ selection of 16 business leaders.

Bertie Tonks – delivers value where it counts

Bertie knows what it takes to drive sustainable change through an organisation because that’s what he does. He has worked successfully as a senior internal specialist across a broad range of industry sectors including, Finance, Retail, Media, Oil & Gas, Leisure and Property. His career illustrates his ability to combine a genuine passion and expertise for change and organisation development to deliver truly meaningful results. He’s as comfortable working with teams on an oil & gas platform as he is facilitating change within the boardroom and has exceptional ability to engage the hearts and minds of all those he works with.

Bertie loves getting out into the surf at weekends on his wake-board.

Jan Abbey – passionate about her work coaching individuals and teams

Jan has a background in leadership development and executive coaching in a wide range of business sectors. The combination of her consultancy, coaching and her management and operational experience (in the aviation industry) provide an excellent platform for helping clients manage change, achieve more of their potential, improve their impact and effectiveness and increase the performance of their teams. She is an experienced coach and developer of talent and has a strong belief in the enormous potential of each individual.

Jan has a BA Honours degree in business and is an accredited coach with the Association for Coaching. She is accredited in the Schroder leadership competency model and is a qualified MBTI® practitioner. Her multi-sector experience along with her extensive international work enables her to coach leaders and teams for the challenges that face global business today.

Jan’s a keen horse-woman and loves to go riding whenever she can.

Ali Croome – loves helping people and organisations thrive

Ali is an organisational consultant and coach. She has significant experience supporting organisations, leaders and their teams through change and improvement initiatives. With a background as an HR Business Partner and in corporate specialist roles (Ford, Rover, Philips, Bayer) she has a great understanding of the wider HR and business contexts and challenges.

Ali’s expertise includes recruitment, attracting and retaining talent, competency modelling, performance management and leadership and organisation development.

Ali has a BA Honours degree in modern languages. She is accredited in the Schroder leadership competency model and is qualified in a number of psychometric instruments including MBTI and OPQ. She also has strong cultural awareness from insights gained in international project work in Europe, the USA and the Middle East.

In her spare time Ali loves to travel and spend time with friends and family.

Lamorna Trahair – talentsmoothie’s Gen Y

At just 26, Lamorna keeps the talentsmoothie team in touch with Generation Y and its aspirations. That can mean facing some uncomfortable truths but it keeps us real! Like many of her peers, she’s engaged in lots of projects, rather than just “having a job”.

Lamorna and her partners at the League of Adventurists won the 2007 Shell LiveWire Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. They organise a number of innovative events including the Mongol Rally, a charity road-trip from London to Mongolia.

Lamorna now spends much of her time working with FRANK water who fund sustainable clean water projects in developing countries across the world.

She has also worked with the Volvo Ocean Race and the Global Challenge round the world yacht races, producing their websites and media.

If it’s digital, she gets it and knows how to live life to the full in both the real and virtual worlds. And in her spare time she has many interests including sailing and stomping the beaches of Cornwall.

Ali Herdman – loves to help teams reach their full potential

Ali is an organisation development consultant and coach. She has 20 years experience of people and organisation development in the UK and internationally. Before starting her career as an independent consultant Ali was Head of OD for a FTSE 100 company. She has a strong track record of designing and implementing large and small scale change projects in turbulent environments. She is a skilled facilitator as well as an effective coach of individuals and teams.

Ali has consulted in both the public and private sectors and brings a rare combination of insight, practical experience of what does and doesn’t work and the ability to create trust very quickly.

She is an MBA from Lancaster University Management School, a graduate of the Advanced OD/HRM programme at Columbia University, New York and is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) and The International Organisational Development Association. She is qualified in the use of MBTI and TMS.

Ali loves to spend her free time with her young twins and, when time permits, fit in a good stomp in the countryside.

Mary Clarke – loves to help teams reach their full potential

Mary is a highly experienced consultant, facilitator and coach. Throughout her career she has both directed and participated in many major change programmes and her particular areas of expertise include leading and managing culture change, executive coaching, creativity and innovation and leadership and management development.

She has worked with a diverse range of clients including easyJet, United Utilities, Vodafone, HSBC, Westminster City Council, Everton Football Club, Manchester Business School and the Samaritans.

Mary has a BA Hons in languages and an MBA from Liverpool University. She is a graduate of the Coaching for Consultants programme at Ashridge Business School and also from Bath Consultancy’s Coach Supervisor programme. She is a qualified practitioner in MBTI, Firo B, EQ, Time to Think and Mettle Culture Gauge.

In her spare time Mary loves to go sailing or walk her dog on the beaches of Kent.