Consultants, coaches, mentors

ConsultancyCoach Mentoring Ltd consultants have a great breadth of experience and have worked with clients from a range of sectors.

Lis Merrick

Lis Merrick

Following a successful career in Human Resources with senior posts for Merrill Lynch, European Investment Banking and The Thomas Cook Group, Lis moved into a consultancy career in mentoring and coaching. She is currently Managing Director of Coach Mentoring Ltd, was EMCC UK President from 2015 to 2018 and was voted ‘Mentoring Person of the Year 2011/12’ by Coaching at Work magazine in the UK; in November 2021 they presented her with a ‘Lifetime Achievement Award for Contributions to Mentoring & Social Change’.

Her experience in mentoring programme design and development is now internationally acclaimed, with over 300 mentoring programmes to her name. Lis researches, writes and speaks about mentoring and coaching and this work also informs her practice as an executive coach and designer of programmes. Her expertise and research are predominantly in the field of designing coaching and mentoring programmes with regard to: talent management, especially female talent, leadership, diversity and inclusion, change and transition and mentor supervision.

Lis operates as a coach and consultant on a global basis and has over 30 years’ experience of working in cross-cultural environments. She has lectured at Sheffield Business School on the MSc Coaching and Mentoring and on Coach Mentoring Ltd’s own Postgraduate Certificate in Coaching and Mentoring for Leadership in Organisations, in association with Leeds Business School.

She holds an MBA and an MSc in Coaching and Mentoring from Sheffield Business School. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and the Chartered Management Institute in the UK.

Linda Grant

Linda Grant

Linda’s career in coaching and mentoring follows over 20 years of working in the fields of management and people development with her final corporate role focusing on strategic change and people development as Head of People and Leadership Development at Skipton Building Society. She is Principal Consultant of Coach Mentoring Ltd and Chairperson of the Board of Trustees at Leeds Mind.

Linda’s expertise is focused on making a difference to organisational performance through people. She has worked extensively with individuals and teams to facilitate change through the design, implementation and management of a range of interventions: as well as coaching, mentoring and supervision these include to support culture change, brand development, people engagement, leadership development, talent management and performance management.

Linda has worked as an executive coach and consultant in coaching, mentoring, organisational change and leadership development on a global basis for 10 years. She has worked with organisations across a wide range of sectors, including NGO, charity, engineering, manufacturing, legal, financial and public sector. Linda can provide consultancy to review leadership needs/behaviours prior to introducing a leadership programme; develop bespoke 360° Feedback questionnaires as part of wider coaching and leadership development programmes; work with a team to improve their performance through facilitation and coaching.

Linda holds an MSc in Coaching and Mentoring (Sheffield Business School), ILM Level 7 Certificate in Coaching Supervision, Diploma in NLP, Level 4 NVQ in Human Resource Development and Certificate in Facilitating Learning in Organisations. She is an accredited trainer in the suite of psychometric tools provided by TMSDI and a Member of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council, Fellow of Institute of Consulting, Member of Chartered Management Institute and Associate of Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Paula Brennan

Paula Brennan

Paula works with leaders and teams to help them thrive in complexity. Drawing on over 20 years of global leadership experience, she partners with organisations to unlock potential, strengthen collaboration, and build resilience in fast-changing environments. Known for her calm presence and thoughtful insight, Paula delivers individual and team coaching, leadership development, and cross-cultural mentoring programmes.

With a background in the humanitarian sector, she brings a deep understanding of leading through uncertainty and change — helping people find clarity and confidence even in the most challenging circumstances. She is passionate about mentoring and has trained mentors and mentees across sectors including finance, education, healthcare, and international development, supporting them as they build strong, rewarding partnerships.

In addition, Paula is an Associate at Deakin University’s Centre for Humanitarian Leadership, where she facilitates the Crisis Leadership Programme. She designs and delivers leadership and team development solutions tailored to the needs of today’s complex, interconnected world.

Paula holds a Master’s in Executive and Business Coaching from Leeds Business School. She is an EMCC-accredited coach and team coach, a qualified Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) Practitioner, a Systemic Leadership Constellations Practitioner, and a certified Process Consultant through the Society for Process Consulting.

Earlier in her career, Paula worked in public relations in London and Sydney, supporting major brands across technology, finance, consumer goods, and business services - an experience that continues to shape her belief in the power of connection, influence, and purposeful leadership.

Auriel Majumdar

Auriel Majumdar

Auriel Majumdar brings over 25 years of experience as an innovative and creative coach, supervisor, educator, and thought leader. As an EMCC accredited Master Practitioner, Coach Supervisor, and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, she employs creative, arts-based approaches to leadership and team development—bringing fresh perspectives to the development of national institutions, universities, and cultural organizations.supervision.

At Sheffield Hallam University, Auriel guided and inspired the next generation of practitioners as Course Leader for the MSc in Coaching and Mentoring Programme. Her innovative contributions include publications on Creative Coaching Online in The Digital Coaches Handbook and Poetry in Coaching in Arts Based Approaches to Coaching, reflecting her commitment to advancing creative methodologies.

Auriel chairs the Flux Rotherham Consortium while serving on the Advisory Group for No Bounds Festival and the Board of Music Local. Her academic foundation includes a Psychology BSc from Durham University, Coaching and Mentoring MSc and Teaching in Higher Education certification from Sheffield Hallam University, and Advanced Coaching Supervision credentials from Oxford Brookes University.

Bob Garvey

Bob Garvey

Professor Bob Garvey is one of Europe’s leading academic practitioners of coaching and mentoring and an experienced coach/mentor working with, for example, Musicians, HR Managers, Small Business Owners, Young people, Academics and Executives. Bob has great experience in a whole range of organisations. This includes large corporates, small business, the public and private sector, voluntary organisations and NGOs.

He has worked in many different industries including financial services, manufacturing, scientific, creative arts, education and health. Bob subscribes to the ‘repertoire’ approach to coaching and mentoring. He is also in demand internationally as a lively and engaging conference speaker. Bob is an experienced international webinar facilitator and has delivered webinars for a wide range of organisations including the International Mentoring Association and the National Institute for Health Research.

A client recently said about Bob in an unsolicited testimonial “He is someone multifaceted, who is creative, positive, pragmatic and professional: someone with a critical intelligence, plenty of ideas, rigor and challenge. Bob’s generosity, good humour, enthusiasm and ability to put people first are especially striking.”

Bob has a PhD in Mentoring from the University of Durham. He has published many papers and books on the practice of coaching and mentoring and is a member of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council. In 2014 the magazine Coaching at Work honoured him with their ‘life time achievement award for mentoring’ and in the same year, the EMCC gave him the mentor award.

Dаvid Firmаn

Dаvid Firmаn

David is Business Development Director and a Consultant at Coach Mentoring Ltd. and is an accredited coach and mentor from the Leeds Business School Postgraduate Certificate in Coaching and Mentoring. Following an earlier career in digital communications, consumer electronics & online services, David has gained considerable experience in mentoring programme design, development and delivery since 2018 with Coach Mentoring Ltd.

In particular, his expertise in designing and developing skilful mentoring matching algorithms for clients has been a breakthrough for many of our clients, as well as his creation of innovative mentoring literature for clients’ in-house intranets. David’s consultancy contribution has been insightful and beneficial to many of our clients and he has been working closely with NHS Lothian, Save the Children, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Greenpeace and the Society of Research Software Engineering most recently.

Lydia Sparrow

Lydia Sparrow

Lydia is an experienced operations and leadership professional in the charity and non-profit sector. She has worked as a leader, manager and advisor both in the UK and programme set up, implementation and evaluation across the world. Through this work she developed a love for the development and flourishing of others, and is now a trained coach and mentor.

She is an accredited coach at the Senior Practitioner level with the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC), with her practice spanning a variety of settings, countries and cultures, often with non-native English speakers. She has worked as an internal coach, with peer organisations and within leadership programmes. She has worked as a faculty member for the Centre of Humanitarian Leadership at Deakin University and has been a regular training facilitator in a variety of programmes.

She holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Coaching for Leadership for Leeds Beckett University, as well as a Postgraduate Certificate in Humanitarian Leadership, a MA in Development and Education and a BSc in Psychology.

Janet Leonard

Janet Leonard

Janet is both a consultant and coach with over 20 years of experience focusing on personal, team and leadership development. Janet combines a natural enthusiasm with highly developed facilitation skills to bring about greater awareness and increased performance. She facilitates learning processes that are challenging and supportive, delivering great results for clients from a range of different backgrounds and cultures.

She has also mentored many talented individuals to focus on their careers, inspired them to see what is possible in their career, enhanced their leadership development and supported behavioural change.

Janet is a Master Trainer in the suite of psychometric tools provided by TMSDI and has used the Team Management Profile, in particular, with hundreds of teams worldwide, supporting teams through change, clarifying purpose, improving commercial performance, enhancing trust and co-operation in teams and facilitating the introduction of new team leaders. She has also much experience of facilitation in the areas of improving resilience, developing values and enhancing personal leadership skills using the extensive range of TMSDI profiling tools.

Janet has worked with global organisations in the pharmaceutical, construction, oil and gas, technology, banking and finance sectors, within both private and public organisations as well as charities and SMEs.

Stephanie Sturges

Stephanie Sturges

Stephanie has worked in a variety of sectors including public, private, corporate elite sport and 12 years in University Business Schools leading Executive Education and development. Through this varied and extensive range of experience, Stephanie’s work addresses individual and organisation challenges. Stephanie designs and provides innovative initiatives, including flexible executive coaching, to support and enhance personal and professional performance and progression.

Working to achieve high performance has included work with clinical directors, business leaders and elite sport organisations and leaders. For example, Stephanie was invited to work with Japan Rugby as they prepared for for the 2019 World Cup and 2020 Olympics where she provided High Performance Leadership consultancy.

Stephanie has a range of professional qualifications including a coaching Masters (Business and Executive Coaching). Postgraduate Diploma in Coaching Psychology and Doctoral research into leadership and coaching within an organisation. In addition, she is an accredited practitioner of personality and emotional intelligence psychometric, engages in and provides coaching supervision and currently incorporates aspects of scientific research from the field of neuroscience into her practice.

Jo Flaxman

Jo Flaxman

An independent OD change and transformation consultant and executive coach who leads change and transformation projects which improve company and individual performance. Jo has held senior operational and HR roles, including heading up HR for two businesses. Her career has been diverse; She has headed up reward, established OD teams, held senior operational roles and been a member of senior leadership teams. As a consultant, Jo has been privileged to work with outstanding leaders and senior directors running successful people, customer and profit driven businesses.

Within her change and transformation work, Jo most loves bringing together the existing skills and capabilities within a clients’ company and delivering outstanding work. As a coach it is seeing someone move from uncertainty and fear to clarity and confidence that is most satisfying. Jo loves learning and as well as her ACIB (banking exams) and MCIPD, she hold a Master’s degree in Executive Coaching and Business Development and has recently undertaken a Neuroscience and Psychology of Mental Health course.

She holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Coaching for Leadership from Leeds Beckett University, as well as a Postgraduate Certificate in Humanitarian Leadership, a MA in Development and Education and a BSc in Psychology.

Paul Stokes

Paul Stokes

Dr Paul Stokes is Associate Professor of Coaching & Mentoring at Sheffield Hallam University and a Master Practitioner with the European Mentoring & Coaching Council. For the last 25 years he has worked with many different organisations and their leadership teams on the development of their staff using a range of group and team-based interventions including action learning, open space methodologies and appreciative inquiry.

Paul is also an experienced researcher and, using action research methodologies, has developed impactful interventions within organisations on creating a culture, organisational learning and organisational design. As a coach and mentor, he has worked with a range of individual coachees and mentees, as well as teams, from the public, private and third sectors and with first line managers up to senior executives.

As a teacher and people developer, Paul was instrumental in setting up one of the first Masters courses in Coaching & Mentoring in 2002. He has worked on numerous leadership development programmes with clients such as Diageo, BP, Health Education England, Norgren, Sheffield City Council, South Yorkshire Police, Barnsley Hospital, Sheffield University and Robert McBride Ltd. Paul is also an experienced supervisor of coaches and mentors, with both individual and team supervisees. He has co-written two best-selling books on coaching & mentoring: Mentoring in Action (Kogan Page) and Coaching & Mentoring Theory & Practice (Sage) as well as several book chapters and journal articles.

Susan Dennis

Susan Dennis

Throughout her multi-faceted and varied career, Susan has mentored business owners and managers to deal with the changes associated with growth and improvement. She has assisted innovative companies to break into the European and North American high-tech markets, implemented improved financial processes and disciplines into family-owned businesses, and established partnerships with cutting edge technology companies such as Apple and Boeing.

Starting her working career as a Research Chemist, becoming a teacher, moving back into research to new start tech companies, Susan has continued to support the learning journey of her students through her work as a Yoga Therapist and Mentor. It is here that she has worked with individuals, groups and corporations to realise the benefits of an improved work/life balance that can be achieved through taking on disciplines and philosophies that are traditionally associated with yoga, such as mind-body synergy, meditation, Ikigai and physio-structural therapy. Susan has first-hand experience of the benefits of yoga practice in balancing the demands of everyday life and a high stress job.

During a successful career in R&D and new technology start-ups, supplying clients such as Apple, the US Military, and high-end sportswear companies, she relied heavily on her yoga practice and meditation to maintain her energy levels and personal perspective. She continued to deepen her practice and studies, becoming a BWY Dip TT, FCT, Forrest Yoga Teacher through Yoga Alliance and Structural Yoga Therapist, a British Wheel of Yoga Diploma teacher, and Yoga Therapist delivering Self Development Courses via the Foundation Level 1 & 2.

Susan takes the time to get to know the business, its products/services and its people and brings her own extensive experience to support and guide them through their change management and process improvement programs. She is currently a director of Enhanced Skills Training and owner of Naturally Twisted Yoga. Susan has a great interest in different philosophies across various cultures, including Ikigai, which resonate with individuals to facilitate finding one’s purpose in life. She also has an MBA focusing on International Marketing, Financial Strategy and Change Management and the Director of Enhanced Skills Training.

Sue Makin

Sue Makin

Sue worked in HR for the NHS and as Business Manager for the Director of Public Health before building her counselling and coaching practice. She has 20 years of experience in the NHS, and in her project management role she was part of a team commissioning and decommissioning hospitals. She also worked in private industry as Business and HR Manager for DataMed, who were providers of IT systems for the NHS.

Sue is an experienced counsellor, coach and coach supervisor, and also a Mindfulness practitioner. She runs a successful private practice in Ilkley and Leeds. Her energetic and insightful approach to client work enables clients to resolve difficulties using their own qualities and strengths. Her coaching clients have been from both the NHS and the private sector.

Sue also works for Relate Bradford and has developed the psychosexual service, improved IT communication and fostered professional partnerships. She is also a qualified COSRT accredited psychosexual therapist and an IAPT Tavistock trained counsellor accredited through BSCPC.

Being both a coach and counsellor, Sue is able to adapt her contracts with clients who wish her to work as their personal consultant. She is a qualified supervisor, working with coaches, sex therapists, counsellors and couple counsellors.

Sue specialises in running programmes in Stress Management, Mindfulness, Emotional Management, Health and Well Being, Developing Resilience and Supervision Programmes for Coach Mentoring Ltd.

 

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We refer to Lis as “The Guru” of coaching and mentoring, she has such extensive knowledge and enormous empathy; Lis makes every individual feel special, she invests the necessary time to get to know them and to understand their needs.”

Laila Merval, Partner, People Development, WWF International.

Lis was amazing — loads of great feedback from our members.”

Ross Coxon, Director of the Learning Collaborative, LINGOS

It was great and worth every cent spent by the company. We cannot thank the facilitators enough. I will always remember the experience and the facilitators.”

Abercrombie & Kent

As my coach, Lis single-handedly encouraged me to believe that a goal I had thought impossible was achievable. The focus and momentum her coaching sessions provided ensured that I did not prove her wrong!”

Leona Deakin, Lead Business Psychologist, Barnes Kavelle

A great relief to meet someone who immediately understood what a “difficult” team I had and recognised my skills in managing them, but more importantly, made them appreciate how challenging they were and instilled a desire to learn and change.

Lis is a charming lady who gently persuades you to commit to doing something which you intrinsically know is right.”

Lise Soltani-Sadeh, Senior Manager, Training and Development, Bradford & Bingley plc.

We have worked with Coach Mentoring Ltd, Lis & more recently Linda, for more than 5 years. We have always received a service that is everything that we want

Their approach is pragmatic, thoughtful, informed, engaging and enlightening. CM are able to provide solutions in the boardroom and for the "shop floor". It is difficult to express the added value and professional friendship that CM provide; you will need to work with them to appreciate what they will bring.”

Ian Jenner, Group Head of Learning and Development, Robert McBride Ltd.

Just wanted to follow up and let you know that I’m so glad for this opportunity! It came at a time when I really needed it — Mentor and I have been communicating and it has been tremendously helpful! Thank you again for offering up this program to us.”

Mentee from Network Wide Mentoring programme, WWF International.

The whole week was brilliant, thank you!”

Amazing — insightful, motivating and a great learning experience. Also brilliant to be able to meet more of our colleagues!”

I loved my time with Lis and felt she was really able to assist me in pinpointing what I wanted to get out of my personal development plan.”

The coaching part of the course was excellent and the most important part of the Management Training.”

Thanks for all your help, and glad we have found as a great coaching company as yours.”

Inspire, Develop, Enthuse