Insight, flair, and unrivalled experience.
Our highly experienced business psychologists combine sharp insight with entrepreneurial flair. We all share a keen interest in socio-economic and political issues, allowing us to view commercial demands through the lens of their wider context and never losing sight of the need to make business a force for good. It’s all part of Global Future’s commitment to creating a better future. Not just for our clients, but for everyone.
The team.
Europe
Anita Kirpal
Partner
Anita Kirpal
Partner
Anita is a business psychologist and accredited executive coach. Her passion lies in helping to create a fairer and more inspired world by encouraging individuals to realise their potential and helping companies develop genuinely inclusive, purpose-driven leadership. Having successfully coached and advised some of the world’s top leaders over the last 25 years, her expertise spans senior level assessment, CEO succession, team development, coaching and leadership strategy across the FTSE 100. Former Director and Global Head of Diversity & Inclusive Leadership at YSC Consulting, her diversity work builds on her earlier grass-roots career in the NGO sector, where she supported vulnerable individuals and actively contributed towards government policy change in housing, immigration and race relations. Her coaching style is insightful and provocative yet highly supportive, leading to lively engagement and positive change.
Gurnek Bains
Managing Partner
Gurnek Bains
Managing Partner
Before Global Future Gurnek spent 25 years as CEO and chairman of leadership consulting firm YSC. He has extensive experience of working with senior executives and teams, including advising boards on key leadership and cultural issues, and coaching a number of FTSE 100 CEOs. He is co-founder of the Global Future Thinktank, the research arm of Global Future, and is a non-executive of Intertek, a FTSE 100 company. He is also chair of Akram Khan, an internationally-renowned dance company, and until recently was chair of the School for Social Entrepreneurs and the New Economic Foundation. He speaks regularly at conferences and leadership summits, and has been named one of HR Magazine’s Top 100 Most Influential People.
Georgia Samolada
Partner
Georgia Samolada
Partner
Georgia is passionate about helping leaders find meaning in their work through establishing a deeper connection with society and the world around them. She has 20 years of experience in executive assessment, coaching and organisational development, working across different sectors and geographies. She loves coaching international teams and helping organisations use cultural diversity as a strategic advantage. Previously a Director at YSC, where she worked for 15 years, she began her career at the Home Office, working on diversity and inclusion before moving to consultancy. A chartered occupational psychologist, she holds a degree in Psychology and masters degrees in Occupational Psychology, Coaching Psychology, Organisational Development and Human Rights. She speaks English, Greek, Italian and French.
Kylie Bains
Partner
Kylie Bains
Partner
Kylie is a business psychologist, executive coach and co-founder of Global Future. She is passionate about helping individuals and organisations to have a positive impact on society through developing purpose-driven leadership and cultural diversity. With over 25 years of experience consulting to CEOs and senior teams, her expertise spans leadership and talent strategy, executive assessment, coaching, organisational change and team development. Previously a Director at YSC Consulting, she has worked internationally in a wide range of sectors across the FTSE100 and private equity backed businesses. She is a key author of Meaning Inc: The Blueprint for Business Success in the 21st Century, and England, Our England which traces stories of Black and Asian migrant pioneers. She is also a chartered psychologist with The British Psychological Society, and founding member of the Association of Business Psychologists.
Roxanne Salvage
Operations Manager
Roxanne Salvage
Operations Manager
Roxanne is in charge of Global Future’s internal and external operational processes. She gained her experience providing back-end expertise for a range of consultancy firms, working across various sectors in multiple administrative positions. Managing the company’s portfolio of clients and the project management aspects of its work, she ensures the business is globally aligned with its growing associate network. Roxanne graduated from Plymouth University with a BSc in Psychology, and is currently undertaking a masters in Organisational Psychology at Birkbeck, University of London. Her passion lies with developing leaders of the future while ensuring organisational success through the frameworks and insights developed by Global Future’s consultants.
Adi Forman
Associate Partner
Adi Forman
Associate Partner
Adi is an experienced facilitator and organization development consultant with an extensive background in the areas of leadership development and organizational change. She is a BPS chartered Occupational Psychologist, holding a BSc. in Psychology, MSc. in Organisational Psychology and MA in Systems Psychodynamic Consulting from the Tavistock Clinic.
Adi’s interests include supporting leadership transitions, exploring work tensions and dilemmas, and enabling leaders to engage with, and take up, their changing roles. Some of her recent clients include: Swarovski, Allianz, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Experian, Boston Scientific, TSB, the British Civil Service and Save the Children.
Adi grew up in Switzerland and the UK and is fluent in both English and French. She started her career in the military as part of a behavioral science research team, before joining Ford Motor Company’s Learning and Development function, focusing on change management. Since 2006 she has worked as an independent consultant, leadership facilitator and coach across a range of industry sectors, globally.
Adi brings a deep theoretical understanding of the human aspects of work at the individual, group, and organizational level which, combined with her practical approach and ability to have honest conversations, makes her highly credible with all levels of executives. She builds long-term partnerships and is valued by her clients for her acute attentiveness and supportive, yet challenging, style of engagement that surfaces valuable insights.
Angelita Orbea
Associate Partner
Angelita Orbea
Associate Partner
Angelita combines her business experience (Marketing in the FMCG sector and Business Development in the service sector) with over 15 years working in Organisation and Leadership Development.
Angelita has worked with a wealth of organisations in different industries, across the globe. She is an Ashridge Accredited Executive Coach, an experienced Organisation Consultant as well as an Ashridge Professor of Practice in Leadership & Organisation Change.
Her work focuses on the relational aspects of change, leadership and strategy.
Her clients value her skill in creating a safe and fun environment, where the goal is deep learning and sustainable purpose-driven change. Her clients appreciate how she supports them to raise their awareness and start experimenting with their insights.
She supports the development of (in-tact and project) teams as well as emerging and established leaders and executives. Partnering with her clients is essential to her. Her clients range from Board level all the way to early career high potentials. She works in international, multicultural contexts, blending face to face and virtual interventions.
Currently she is Programme Director for Continental, Swarovski, and KPN. Current and past clients include BP, FrieslandCampina, Amplifon, DBSchenker, Lufthansa, NovoNordisk, Nokia, Fujitsu-Siemens, ThyssenKrupp, UNAIDS, WHO, amongst others.
She was born in Ecuador and is a French / Ecuadorian national. She studied in Ecuador, The Netherlands, Australia and the UK. She is accredited in a number of psychometric instruments. She lives in France with her husband and son.
Celeste Brito
Associate Partner
Celeste Brito
Associate Partner
As an International Consultant and Facilitator, Celeste has been involved in the coordination, design, facilitation and delivery of Leadership Change Management Interventions, Organizational Capabilities Development and HR Strategy Consulting, over a wide array of markets worldwide – Oil & Gas, Banking & Insurance, Telecom, Pharma, FMCG, Food & Beverages, etc.
She is the Regional Director for Europe and Middle East at IAF (International Association of Facilitators) and is part of the MindTime Collaboratory. She lectures at Porto Business School and Autónoma University in Lisbon. She is an Associate for Leadership Solutions at Center of Creative Leadership (CCL), Global Future UK and Cirrus UK. She is expanding her contribution within the Societal Impact sector in Portugal, partnering with Fundação Manuel Violante – McKinsey Portugal, doing participatory facilitation and lecturing at its Social Management Academy.
Some highlights:
- Participatory and Adaptive Facilitation
- Design, coordination and facilitation of Transformation and Change Management interventions
- Executive Global Assessment Programs
- Faculty and Leadership Capabilities Programs Design and Delivery
- Executive and Team Coaching
- Coordination and monitoring of HR strategic initiatives
She has credentials in Facilitation Approaches and Techniques and is an advocate of Adaptive Leadership and Adaptive Leadership Case-in-Point and Conscious Business by Axialent. She has participated in Advanced Executive Programs, from INSEAD, HEC and LBS as well as certifications in Leadership and People Management Programs – Change Management & Leadership, Disruptive Ideas and Reboot!, DDI Facilitation Certification and Assessment Tools.
She developed her career as a Human Resources Executive, for 20 years, in multinational companies – Pfizer, Allianz, Danone and Ford Electronics Division and led major strategic HR Programs within Europe.
Her native language is Portuguese and she is fluent in English. She also has a good level of spoken Spanish and understanding of French. Located in Lisbon – Portugal she is internationally mobile for short or long term stays.
Eva Blechova
Associate Partner
Eva Blechova
Associate Partner
Eva Blechova is an executive coach, facilitator and consultant with more than 20 years of international business experience. Since 2005, Eva has worked with business leaders in the US, Europe, Middle East and Asia, helping them develop their leadership and communication skills.
Prior to her involvement in executive education, Eva worked in a variety of business roles—as a consultant with McKinsey & Co, she dealt with such issues as corporate strategy, innovation and post-merger integration. She has also had the opportunity to lead large teams in her roles at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic.
Parallel to her business career, Eva pursues her interest in theatre and arts. In 2015, she completed a Ph.D. program at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague with a thesis project on nurturing creativity in individuals and teams. Eva is the author of several award winning radio documentaries and plays for the Czech Public Radio.
Eva earned her M.A. in international business from Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC), a leading French business school, and a B.A. in psychology from Nanterre University (France). In 2010, Eva obtained the Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credential by completing a course at the Academy of Executive Coaching in London.
Eva coaches and facilitates in English, French and Czech.
Ellie Krantz
Associate Partner
Ellie Krantz
Associate Partner
Ellie has 17 years’ experience of working with global leading FTSE100 companies across a range of industries, including financial services, consulting, telecoms, energy, entertainment and leisure. She also works extensively with entrepreneurial start-ups and SMEs striving to become innovators and disruptors in their fields. Her passion lies in working with individuals and teams to develop their potential, harness their strengths and build their distinctive ‘edge’. Her international experience has helped her to develop a nuanced insight into cultural differences and the challenges leaders navigate as they transition into new roles, contexts and organisations.
Prior to founding Baton&Baton in 2014, she worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Merrill Lynch, and YSC. After leading a number of regional assignments for YSC in Hong Kong, Ellie moved to Mumbai to found YSC’s India business in 2009 where she grew and headed the business for 2 years. She holds a B.Sc (Hons) in Psychology from the University of Malta, after which she was awarded the Chevening scholarship and obtained an M.Sc in Occupational Psychology at the University of London.
More recently, Ellie has moved into technology, and is the founder of At My Best – a new-to-market SAAS platform geared at helping middle managers and individuals thrive and accelerate their growth, sense of purpose and impact through democratising access to coaching and mentoring.
Ellie is of Maltese-Swedish origin and grew up in Switzerland.
Fiona Murden
Associate Partner
Fiona Murden
Associate Partner
Fiona is a Chartered Psychologist, Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society and author who has spent the past 18 years working with multi-national companies and leaders across global industries. Following her Psychology degree and Business Masters at Warwick University she completed a Master of Science in Psychology, from The University of London.
She began her career at Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) and then joined the leadership consultancy, YSC in 2003. She founded Aroka in 2007, working with leaders globally. Her speaking commitments have taken her to the Institute of Directors, the Cabinet Office, Lloyd’s of London and the Royal College of Surgeons.
Fiona has recently written her first book, ‘Defining You’. She has also recently launched Dot-to-Dot, a charity aimed at ‘improving lives through understanding behaviour, funding and implementing evidence-based psychology programmes into society and raising awareness of normal behaviour in the general population.
Jürgen Hell
Associate Partner
Jürgen Hell
Associate Partner
Jurgen is a psychologist by background, specialised in leadership and team development, running his own business teamcoaching.one. He brings 25 years of diverse experience in various roles: trainer, coach, assessor, facilitator, mediator. Over the last 10 years Jurgen gained experience at the top level, working with industry leading executive teams.
His expertise and passion are around learning and teamwork – how people work together and sometimes how they don’t. Jurgen is always thrilled to find out which levers to pull so that leaders can ‘play to strength’ and teams can really unlock the potential of their individual members
His style? Feedback includes comments such as: quick to grasp what is going on, inspiring trust, resourceful, friendly confronting, creative, relaxed, free format and a hopeless time manager. To me, any (team) coaching is a balancing act between reflection and action, to finally achieve that more can be accomplished while using less force.’
Justine Javier-Borja
Associate Partner
Justine Javier-Borja
Associate Partner
Justine is the founder of TRIBES, a social health start-up that harnesses the power of relationships and coaching to accelerate and sustain both personal and professional growth.
Justine has spent the last 15 years in a start-up environment : working across 3 cities, 2 countries and 3 industries. She sits at the intersection of technology and human behaviour and has founded 3 companies including Gloss + Polish, a manicure-on-demand business sold to PRIV, a beauty and wellness platform that now operates in 32 US cities.
She sits on the board of Foundrs, a community of 300 ambitious founders whose mission is to create compassionate connections and break new ground without breaking themselves.
She holds a BA in International Relations from Stanford University, California and has completed foundation years in both transpersonal psychology and group analytic psychotherapy.
Lara Menke
Associate Partner
Lara Menke
Associate Partner
Lara is the co-founder and managing director of CAIA.
Lara has worked as a leadership consultant, business psychologist and leadership coach for the last five years. Prior to CAIA, Lara worked for three of the world’s top leadership consultancies, where she assessed and coached senior leaders in FTSE100 companies, globally.
Lara has designed and delivered a wide range of tailored, large scale Leadership Development Programmes for organisations such as HSBC, Allianz Global Investors and ASOS. She has experience across a variety of industries and has consulted through all levels of the organisation, from individual contributor through to the C-Suite.
Lara is particularly passionate about empowering women in their leadership. She is the co-founder of Future Females London, an organisation that exists to support the success of females entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs globally.
Rani Sharma
Associate Partner
Rani Sharma
Associate Partner
Rani is a highly experienced business psychologist, leadership consultant and executive coach who has worked for two decades with senior leaders and executives in FTSE 100 organisations across all sectors and all levels of public and private sector organisations. Her passion lies in assessing and developing modern leaders giving them the insight and practical tools needed to maximise their own impact and to create high performing teams and organisational systems where humans are able to flourish in a sustainable way.
She is one of the authors who contributed a chapter to Meaning Inc –the blueprint for business success in the 21st century. This was also the basis for lecturing on an extensive basis to live audiences and through social media channels. Most recently she was invited to write a peer reviewed paper and deliver a speech to UNESCO ( at the World Humanities Conference) on the “The Art and Science of Human Flourishing.”
Her interest and speciality lies in the emerging fields of positive psychology and the neuroscience of optimal performance. She is currently working with the Design Thinkers Academy to shape the leadership characteristics and benchmark standards of Transformational and Innovative Leaders. She is a core faculty member of the newly established HR Guild which is committed to developing senior HR leaders on their inaugural Future Leaders Programme. She is an AOEC accredited coach and a chartered psychologist with a Masters in Clinical Psychology which was gained at Manchester University and a BA from Sussex University.
Sarah – Jane Last
Associate Partner
Sarah – Jane Last
Associate Partner
Sarah is a strategist, psychologist, executive coach and founder of The Work Psychologist (BSc Psychology, MSc Business Psychology, Board member ABP – Association for Business Psychologists). Her current research interests are focused around the early identification of Intraprenurial talent. She currently coaches private clients, millennial leaders, C-suite leaders internally at Channel 4 and tech entrepreneurs. She also provides coaching for the next generation of senior leaders through the Marketing Academy. Before becoming a qualified psychologist, she worked in many dynamic and challenging roles in the business world and owned multiple businesses. In her early career, she was lucky enough to run world-famous nightclubs and organise events for Elton John and Sir Bob Geldof.
Farah Naz
Associate Partner
Farah Naz
Associate Partner
Farah Naz is a qualified psychotherapist, clinical supervisor, trainer and facilitator for more than 30 years in the UK, New Zealand, India, Eastern Europe and Portugal. Her experience spans the corporate and public sector as a lead consultant and facilitator in nation-wide projects.
She has facilitated globally for the NTT Group, a global innovator of IT and business services headquartered in Tokyo, as well as nationally for New Zealand Gas and Oil.
Farah has facilitated nation-wide workshops in the UK for national policy reviews for the Housing Corporation and the Department of Health. Nationally, also in Hungary to develop Civil society. Regionally in NZ for Health Authorities and in India. She has facilitated for a number of schools and Health Care Centres in the UK.
Katya Thain
Associate Partner
Katya Thain
Associate Partner
Ekaterina Thain with a Masters, from Ashridge has 35 years in business at senior roles, she has chaired or facilitated multiple sessions and discussions both within companies and at conferences, strategic sessions, department reviews and other situations. The focus is always to involve every individual into the conversation and solicit every team member opinion.
As a Facilitator Katya, is a dynamic facilitator and executive coach who feels it is essential to give every opinion value and time to express. Ekaterina has an extensive background, in senior roles. Vice President of sales and marketing, Director, Chairperson, Partner of an International Consultancy, FMCG, Real Estate, Advertising, Food Manufacturing. Property development, Newspaper publishing. Completed first degree in coaching 12 years ago in UK.
Ekaterina is an Ashridge executive coach, accredited by EMCC. In addition, she has graduated from Moscow State University, psychology course, and psychoanalysis at NEWPSY. Working as a coach for 9 years, the most recent year has seen a focus on coaching private clients and leaders.
Africa
Damien Anciano
Associate Partner
Damien Anciano
Partner
Prior to joining Global Future Damien was at YSC, where as managing director of Asia-Pac-Africa he managed some of the company’s biggest accounts. His passion is making a difference in emerging economies. He has 30 years’ experience in profiling senior executives across all industries, is a seasoned top team facilitator, and has coached widely across the business, NPO and political spheres. Having successfully coached executives up to CEO level in Europe, he now works with leaders in a global and specifically African context. Damien works at both advisory level – helping executives and senior managers navigate their organisation, role and career – and at a deeper level, to enable meaningful personal growth.
Wessel Pretorius
Associate Partner
Wessel Pretorius
Partner
Wessel is a business psychologist with more than 25 years’ experience in all issues relating to the human side of strategy implementation, leadership and business transformation. His main areas of focus are strategic organisational change, transformation management, executive development & assessment, senior leadership team development, emerging talent identification and development, and large-scale interventions. Working extensively throughout Africa and Europe but also in the USA and Australia, he is involved with major organisational transformation initiatives on an individual, team and large-scale group basis. Wessel has been a guest lecturer at the University of Pretoria, University of Johannesburg, University of Cape Town, University of Stellenbosch, GIBS, Rotterdam Business School and Oxford University.
Asia
Adrian G. Tsukamoto
Associate Partner
Adrian G. Tsukamoto
Associate Partner
Adrian has gained over 20 professional years of diverse multicultural experiences in organizational development & executive effectiveness in the APAC region. He has led executive planning/problem resolution initiatives to help define organizational vision, corporate values, results & performance indicators so as to achieve mid to long term objectives. Most importantly, his success lies in providing sustainable structures which help facilitate commitment & alignment towards strategic objectives. Prior to becoming an independent coach, he was a Corporate Officer at the world’s largest B to B coaching firm where he focused on multiyear organizational change management coaching projects involving a few hundred to a few thousand leaders to help create positive tipping points within organizations.
Adrian’s main area of interest is to work with leaders to ‘lead other leaders’. He enjoys working with executives who are interested in exploring who they must be as leaders to effectively engage their organizational stakeholders. There is a lot of literature on the subject of leadership which describes how best to lead followers. He believes that executives face a different & sophisticated challenge of needing to work with other leaders which presents a very different dynamic. The success for an executive to effectively lead their organization(s) truly depends on their capability to lead their leaders.
Areas of Expertise:
Strategic executive team direction setting & alignment
Organizational cultural change management
Global leadership effectiveness & executive branding
Transactional to transformational leadership
Multicultural leadership awareness & capability development
Client Types/Levels of Experience:
Executive Board Level | VP | Senior Director | Manager | High Potentials
Industry/ Functional Experience:
Pharmaceutical, Professional Services, Investment Banking, Medical Devices, Insurance, Entertainment
Representative Clients:
Merck, AIG, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, NBC, Universal, Sanofi, Rakuten, Stryker, Zoetis
Cultural / Multi National Experience:
Over 20 professional years of diverse multicultural experiences in organizational development & executive effectiveness in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Japan.
Over 2,900 hours of coaching for executives and their teams.
Professional/ Corporate Experience:
Managing Director, PRAXXIS
Corporate Officer / Partner, COACH A
Principal, IWNC
Education:
Thames Valley University
COACH University
COACH A
International Coach Federation
Professional Affiliations and Accreditations:
MCC (Master Coach Certificate) with the International Coach Federation
Member of ICF (International Coaching Federation) since 2012
Certifications:
MBTI
The Leadership Circle
Change Style Indicator
Languages:
Bilingual (English & Japanese)
Fuyuo Sato
Associate Partner
Fuyuo Sato
Associate Partner
Fuyuo SATO is one of the faculty members of Organization and Relationship Systems Coaching(ORSC®) Training in Japan. In the field of organization development, using ORSC approach, he has worked with various teams from a cross-cultural division head team of an international pharmacy company to a project team of senior managers from several IT business companies after merged/united. He has supported his clients’ teams in recognizing by themselves what’s going on with their team to find their own way of becoming a ‘real’ team.
Besides, as TLC certified profiler and professional coach, he has delivered individual coaching sessions to a variety of clients from managers to executives, using TLC not just as 360°but as a map of leadership developmental stages. He offers a safe and empowering space for his clients to take a moment to reflect deeply on how he/she has walked their leadership journey, rediscover their true values, and take a new step.
Before working as a systems coach, he was a school coach, giving coaching sessions to his colleague teachers and office personnel at a private high school in Tokyo. After teaching English for more than ten years, he felt there had to be something more fitting for him, so he began learning coaching and became a school coach. Within seven years, he built up more than 1200 hours of coaching to empower his colleagues
Educational Background / Certification
BA in French / Minored in English Education by Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
PCC (International Coach Federation Certified Professional Coach)
ORSCC (Organization and Relationship Systems Certified Coach)
by CRR – ICF Accredited
CPCC (Certified Professional Co-active Coach)
by CTI – ICF Accredited
TLCCP (The Leadership Circle Certified Profiler)
By TLC Japan
Helen Barker
Associate Partner
Helen Barker
Associate Partner
Helen is a Chartered Psychologist with the BPS (UK) and a Registered Psychologist with AHPRHA (Australia), an accredited AC Coach, Coaching Supervisor and Facilitator. Her passion for helping individuals to deepen their self-awareness has underpinned her work both in the corporate world and in private practise over the past 15 years. She has been based in both London and Sydney, before moving to Singapore in 2012.
As an Organisational Psychologist she has deep experience in the assessment and psychological profiling of individuals for key organisational roles, and has advised on senior talent decision making up to board level. As a Coach and Facilitator she is warm, collaborative and stretching, blending depth of knowledge with insight into the individual and what makes them tick. Helen’s corporate career spans Sales Management in FMCG, Talent Management and HR roles in Investment Banking and Leadership Consulting roles in Europe and Asia Pacific.
Helen’s interest in the application of Neuroscience to Coaching led her to launch the first ‘Applied Neuroscience for Coaches’ course in Asia. She has recently co-authored ‘Insights from Neuroscience’ in Hall, L et al. Coaching in Times of Crisis and Transition Kogan Page.She has trained with, and is accredited by, the Australian Institute for Nutritional and Environmental Medicine, and she uses a Functional Medicine lens in her Coaching and Counselling to help clients to achieve their goals. She runs a ‘The Inner Circle’, providing Group Coaching for entrepreneurs in Singapore. She also works on a voluntary basis counselling victims of violence and abuse. Whilst Psychology is her passion, her most joyous role to date continues to be being mother to her four boys.
Ida Fan
Associate Partner
Ida Fan
Associate Partner
Ida is a seasoned business psychologist and executive coach who has 15 years of experience in counselling individuals and families and 9 years in management consulting. Speaking Mandarin, English and Cantonese, she has extensive training and exposure to a variety of industries, corporations and NGOs in China, Southeast Asia and North America.
In her earlier career, Ida worked as a Project Purchasing Manager to build the first Four Seasons Hotel in mainland China and then moved on to help one of her suppliers to set up their Shanghai business. In 2005, she moved to Canada where she was trained as a psychotherapist to work with couples, families and groups in a systemic, culturally sensitive approach. Returning to Shanghai in 2010, she reconnected with the corporate world through multiple consulting roles in Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and Executive Search. She joined YSC Consulting in February 2014 and has been supporting a wide range of clients in senior leadership assessments, executive coaching, team effectiveness building and change management across the region of Southeast Asia and China.
Ida graduated from Fudan University with a BA in International Trade, a Master of Counselling in Marriage and Family Therapy from Trinity Western University, and a professional certificate in Screenwriting from University of California, Los Angeles.
Outside of work, Ida enjoys long-distance running and creative writing. She values all kinds of relationships, loves her community and dedicates her life to making a meaningful impact on individuals, organisations and society.
Joanne Nichol
Associate Partner
Joanne Nichol
Associate Partner
Jo is one of New Zealand’s most successful, dynamic and strategic Organisational Development professionals. She has worked at senior management levels in New Zealand, Australia and the UK, where she led award-winning change programmes whilst working for the Royal Bank of Scotland as Head of Organisational Change and Head of Customer Service. As Global Organisation Development Manager for Fletcher Building, she led culture and capability improvements for 19,000 people in 40 countries.
The Fletcher Building Organisational Development team, led by Jo, won several highly-coveted international awards. These included the Fortune 500 Best Leadership Development (International category (2015)) and the international business school EFMD award for most innovative executive development in partnership with Auckland University (2014).
She is also the newly appointed Development Director for NZ Global Women, delivering leadership programmes that accelerate female leader’s performance and success. In 2016, her team won the Diversity NZ award for the talent force youth employment initiative and the ATEED award for mentoring youth leaders.
Jo is a Harvard Business School short-course graduate, an International Coaching Federation (ICF) coach and NZ Global Women Breakthrough leader alumni. In 2015, she was awarded NZ HR Specialist and HR Person of the year by HRINZ. She is a catalyst for change, committed to creating organisations that value leadership, sustainable commercial growth and positive community contributions. She also delights in being a mother of two energetic children.
Mark Hutchinson
Associate Partner
Mark Hutchinson
Associate Partner
Mark has 17 years’ experience in Leadership consulting and executive coaching including 10 years in London working in large blue-chip global companies. He has worked with leaders to improve organisational performance across a range of sectors including financial services, airlines, retail, telco, FMCG, building & construction and the energy sector.
As a coach, his background as a psychologist enables him to help leaders form deep insights about how they operate and unlock their potential. Clients value his ability to understand their business and grasp the strategic context. He is able to work both at a very personal level and to place an individual’s development firmly in the context of driving organisational performance. Mark grounds his interventions in the real issues leaders face and has worked with CEOs and senior leaders to improve the effectiveness of their teams.
His clients describe his style as insightful and challenging but engaging, enabling him to focus leaders on the personal and organisational change required to drive performance.
As well as working for a global leadership consultancy, Mark spent 2 years at Barclays UK retail bank leading successful leadership interventions during the global financial crisis.
Mark started his career in the public service as a Clinical Psychologist, both in NZ and the UK, where he worked at the Maudsley Hospital and Kings College London. This gave him a strong practical and theoretical foundation in working with individuals to develop self-insight, and catalyse personal change and growth. Outside of work he likes to spend time with his partner and 3 children, his dog, and has a keen interest in food and wine, the sea and snow.
Sarah Furuya
Associate Partner
Sarah Furuya
Associate Partner
Sarah Furuya is a trained Organisational and Relationship Systems Coach ORSC™, a certified practitioner in Saville Wave™ and aptitude assessments and Lumina Spark® psychometrics and holds a BSc Hons in Human Psychology and Human Psychology from the University of Aston in Birmingham. Originally from the UK she worked in management in the beverage industry then Telecoms industry before moving to Japan. She spent 8 years as the Learning and Development Coordinator in a corporate training company working closely with key client Microsoft and domestic and international clients across industries. Since 2012 she has had her own coaching business and in addition to being the Senior Consultant and Executive Coach for a corporate training and talent development agency in Tokyo, has a private coaching practice and runs workshops, retreats and delivers speaking engagements. Sarah focusses on creating awareness in teams and facilitating cross-team or alliance relationship effectiveness and helping coaching clients have a better experience of life and work and to optimise their contribution to the business.
She works with clients across industries and has delivered programmes in UK, Hong Kong and Singapore. She also delivers psychometric workshops, as well as crosscultural and executive coaching and programmes. She has taken hundreds of people through coaching programmes and opens an exclusive year-long programme for people who want to upgrade their lives and commit to long-term accountability including monthly calls, webinars and content. She has contributed to the British Chamber of Commerce’s Acumen Magazine on the Future of HR, Spoken on BBC’s Business Matters on Women in Business in Japan, has spoken on bringing your whole self to work at the Women’s International Networking Conference, and spoken about protecting the female pipeline and developing female talent at the HR Conference in Tokyo and Osaka. Her CSR activity includes being a board member of Refugees International Japan and runs Tokyo’s largest clothing exchange for over hundred women in Tokyo.
Amos Szeps
Associate Partner
Amos Szeps
Partner
Amos is an internationally recognised coach of C-suite leaders and their teams, in particular during periods of transformation and change. He has worked at the top of the house of many of the world's most iconic organisations for twenty years, helping them to rethink their strategies and identities at pace and build agility in their executive teams. Amosis a registered Psychologist and Master Coach with the International Coaching Federation, the highest level of coach accreditation available globally. He recently returned to Australia with his family after ten years working in the UK, USA and China, and continues to serve clients globally from there thanks to the rise of virtual working.
Ben Pang
Associate Partner
Ben Pang
Associate Partner
Ben has more than 25 years of working experience in Human Resources, of which specialized in talent & leadership development for 15 years. He has been exposed to diverse industries including Automotive, Consumer, Property, Retail and Hospitality. Ben was the Talent & Leadership Director, Pacific Region for 9 years in the Coca-Cola Company and Learning & Development Director, Asia for 5+ years in Ford Motor Company.
Ben is currently a leadership development trainer, executive/career development coach and talent development consultant. Ben believes in people potential that everyone can reach to the best they can be, hence he is passionate in helping people/organizations make positive changes through multi-level development interventions.
He is strong at deep listening and present-sensing in coaching to help individuals open their mind and heart and seek inner growth sources, and eventually find critical leverage points to improve performance and get greater results.
He lives in Shanghai with his wife and two lovely sons.
Education & Profession:
MBA of Hong Kong University
Trained in Executive Coaching
Achieve Global certified trainer
Certified in MBTI， Hogan， Lumina Spark
Certified coach of KnowDell career development/transition
America
Camille Lee
Associate Partner
Camille Lee
Associate Partner
Camille is a Senior Director in the Ferguson Partners Leadership Consulting group. Prior to joining Ferguson Partners, she worked at a Chicago leadership consulting firm specializing in the selection, development, and retention of leaders throughout the leadership lifecycle. There, she specialized in individual assessment for selection and development, 360 feedback, succession planning, and high performing team effectiveness across a variety of industries such as banking, energy, higher education, manufacturing, construction, and IT. An organizational and social psychologist by training, Camille’s approach to leadership development and selection is rooted in a commitment to providing meaningful insights that are grounded in both psychological and business principles. In her role at Ferguson Partners, Camille’s expertise lies in creating leadership development programs for high potential emerging leaders, preparing and coaching executives through critical transitions, supporting leaders in family-owned companies, team effectiveness, succession planning and personnel selection. He approach is also underpinned by her experience leading teams and building a business line for her company.
Camille also brings 10 years of experience in psychological research methodology and analysis. Her work specializes in interpersonal perception, characteristics that impact judgments and hiring recommendations, how workers navigate the interface between work and life domains, and motivation. This work is integrated into her coaching philosophy as she targets leader’s personal and professional growth.
Camille completed her Masters and PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology at Northern Illinois University. She holds her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from North Central College.
Dominic Cottone
Associate Partner
Dominic Cottone
Associate Partner
Dominic is a Managing Director at Ferguson Partners in the Leadership Consulting group. Prior to joining Ferguson Partners, he was a senior leader in the Chicago office for a leadership development consultancy specialising in talent assessment, executive coaching, team effectiveness, succession planning and organisational culture. Additionally, Dominic founded a leadership consultancy specialising in strategic thinking, group decision making, ethical leadership, inclusion and diversity and presentation and persuasion.
His approach to leadership development is underpinned by his experience managing Fortune clients, operating in multiple industries with c-suite executives, and developing internal and external talent. With knowledge and experience in entertainments/hospitality, financial services/asset management, private equity, biotech/pharma, consumer goods, insurance, retail and real estate, he provides his clients with a depth and knowledge of leadership benchmarks across a variety of industries. In addition to his executive development experience, Dominic has managed internal learning and development programs for corporations and professional services firms, has led academic and leadership programs for institutions of higher education, and has lectured on crisis management and communications.
Dominic completed his Masters in Organisational Communication, Learning and Design and Bachelors in Psychology and Legal Studies from Ithaca College.
Our partnerships.
CAIA
CAIA is a leadership consultancy for startups. Comprising a global team of leadership psychologists, it helps founders become the best leaders they can be. Its mission is to help startups create inclusive company cultures where people can be authentically themselves.
Mindbeat
Mindbeat is a mobile coaching platform that empowers employees at all levels to reach their highest potential. It connects people with professional coaches via a video portal, offering regular one-on-one sessions to build people’s self-awareness, confidence, purpose and effectiveness, leading to enhanced business performance.
Matthew Syed consulting
Blending existing psychological research with Matthew Syed’s unique thought leadership, Matthew Syed Consulting build growth mindset cultures to drive high performance, agility, and innovation. This shift in mindset revolutionises behaviour at all levels of an organisation, delivering significant, measurable outcomes from day one
Tribes
Tribes is a group coaching programme that harnesses the power of relationships and social learning to accelerate and sustain personal and professional growth. Designed and facilitated by leadership psychologists and entrepreneurs, it cultivates awareness, accountability and trust.