Advisory Council

Nigel is currently a Non-Executive Director with Fuller Smith & Turner plc, a Non-Executive Director with Yellowfin Limited, and Chairman of Premier Pub Estates Ltd.

He joined Courage Ltd in 1979, following five years with the Royal Green Jackets, and was appointed Tenanted Sales Director in 1987. In 1990 he became Chief Executive of George Gale & Co Ltd, a position he held for 15 years until its sale in December 2005.

He has until recently held NED positions with GCap Media plc(formally Capital Radio plc) and The South East Enterprise Agencies.

He specialises in assisting private companies, multi-site business’s and the leisure sector.

This combined experience, coupled with both public and private sector service as a non-executive director, has given him the ability to bring a mix of strong support and skills to an executive team.

Nigel is Trustee of HMS Warrior 1860, Chairman of St John Ambulance in Hampshire, a Vice President of the Duke of Edinburgh Award, and Vice Lord-Lieutenant for Hampshire.

Pavita’s focus is on leadership, talent and diversity bound together with a compelling philosophy founded on her own experience of organisation transformation.

Pavita has 17 years’ experience building leadership and organisation capability within a wide range of blue chip companies including BAA, Shell and Barclays. Pavita led the Leadership, Talent and OD practice for Barclays plc where she was responsible the attraction, retention and development of the Group’s most senior leaders and talent pool. Pavita developed a new talent strategy for Barclays and facilitated the CEO succession process.

Much of Pavita’s success in organisations has come from her innovative and creative approach; Pavita is passionate about creating results, but achieving this by looking at the world through many lenses.

Pavita works with Board-level and senior teams, who want to develop the personal leadership, vision and culture of their organisation to inspire their people to stay, grow, create and lead. Her client list includes: BP, Department of Constitutional Affairs, PWC, Cargill, PMDU and BBC.

Pavita is an executive coach applying her NLP master practitioner skills; she is particularly committed to supporting the development of leaders from diverse backgrounds. Pavita coaches senior leaders facing complex challenges and who truly want to move to the next level.

Irene Cowden has been Group HR Director for G4S plc since 2004. G4S is the world’s leading security solutions business operating in 115 countries with over 570,000 employees. It is the largest employer in the FTSE and the world’s second largest multinational employer. Since 2004, G4S has been through a period of expansion, particularly in emerging markets, and has undertaken a number of acquisitions to build market share and capability.

Irene has extensive experience of acquisition integration including the merger between Group 4 and Securicor in 2004. One key aspect of the integration was the identification and retention of key talent within the combined organisation and talent management is a key area of focus in her current role.

Irene spent her early career specialising in industrial relations and remuneration issues before moving into generalist HR management. She is a graduate of the University of Manchester and a Chartered Member of the CIPD.

Patrick joined 3i in 1985 and today is responsible for 3i's external and internal communications. His career has involved doing deals and building up 3i's people programmes internationally. He is a regular speaker and commentator on boardroom issues and has written several books on the subject.

Patrick is a member of the General Council of Warwick University, a Visiting Professor at Cranfield School of Management, a Visiting Fellow of Kingston University, a member of the CBI’s London Council and Chairman of the charity LEAP – Confronting Conflict. He is also a regular guest host on CNBC Europe's Squawkbox.

Jonathan is Director General, Human Resources for the Ministry of Defence. He joins a growing number of senior managers whose careers have been in both the private and public sectors.

Prior to this he was Head of Human Resources at Westminster City Council when he was appointed with the mandate of bringing about change in HR and to equip the function to drive the organisation forward.

Before joining Westminster he founded and managed a successful management consultancy business, but on missing working in a large organisation he sold the business. For 11 years Jonathan was UK HR Director of Orange and was instrumental in growing the business from 10 employees to one of 14,000 in the UK alone.

His particular expertise around organisation development and reward was developed over many years and in a variety of manufacturing and commercial organisations.

He has been published many times and is in demand as a speaker at business schools and conferences around the world.

Paolo Gallo is Director of Human Resources at the EBRD and has been with the Bank since 2002. He has been responsible for co-ordinating and implementing strategic staff initiatives in the EBRD such as incentive systems, talent management, succession planning and career development.

Before joining the EBRD, Paolo gained 15 years of international managerial experience in Management, Human Resources and Project Finance at Citicorp in Milan, New York and London, and at the World Bank and IFC in Washington. Paolo has worked on assignment in more than 60 countries mainly from the emerging markets.

Paolo has an Advanced University Degree in Business Administration with specialisation in Organisation obtained from Bocconi University in Milan, Italy, is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD and graduated from the Professional Development Institute in Belgium.

Paolo has been a Speaker at several international conferences and seminars, and more recently has provided Lectures for university students in Italy.

Nigel is currently the Chairman at Countrywide Farmers plc. He is also Senior Independent Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee of Unite Group plc, a Non-Executive Director and Nomination/ Remuneration Committee Chair of Pinewood Shepperton plc and Non-Executive Director and Audit Committee Chair at C&J Clark Limited.

He joined The Burton Group in 1984 and in 1992 was appointed Group Financial Controller and a member of the Management Board of the Group. In 1995 he became Group Information Systems Director and, following the announcement of the proposed demerger of Debenhams from The Burton Group, on 8 July 1997, Nigel was appointed Demerger Director.

He was appointed to the Board in August 1997 and became Group Finance Director in November 1997. Following the successful demerger of Debenhams in January 1998, The Burton Group was renamed Arcadia Group plc and Nigel was Group Finance Director until March 2003.

Nigel Hall is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. He trained with Price Waterhouse in London and qualified as a Chartered accountant in 1980.

Jim is a retail entrepreneur and currently holds a number of Non-executive Directorships including Wyevale plc, Furniture Village plc, Edinburgh Wool Mill Ltd., Ideal Shopping Direct plc and Polymer Logistics Ltd.

Previously as Chief Executive of New Look Group plc he presided over the successful flotation and growth of the business exceeding 500 UK branches and 28 in France. Prior to this Jim was Chairman and Chief Executive of B&Q plc part of Kingfisher plc, the UK's biggest and Europe's most profitable DIY retailer with a £4b+ turnover. His career started as a management trainee with F W Woolworth, moving to B&Q in its early days, where he established the fourth store and rapidly progressed to the operating board where he remained for 22 years. He additionally served as President for Home Depot - European Division and was also invited to join the main board as Chairman of DIY, Kingfisher.

Past directorships have included Hamleys plc, Provident Financial plc, Upton & Southern plc and Superflicks.

Mike Johnson is one of Europe’s leading commentators and researchers on the Future of Work, Talent Management, Organisational Development and Corporate Communications. A regular presenter and chairman on conferences and seminars around the globe on emerging world-of-work issues and trends, he is the founder of The FutureWork Forum, (www.futureworkforum.com) an independent international think tank and consulting network of business professionals. The FutureWork Forum allows Mike to initiate and deliver on in-depth, multi-disciplinary research and consulting assignments around the globe.

In addition, Mike is the managing partner of Johnson & Associates, a consulting firm he founded in 1982 in Brussels, following a career in business journalism and corporate communications for multinational corporations. The author of nine books on business and management issues, he has developed a series of world-of-work studies for the Financial Times and The Economist as well as more than one hundred global and Europe-wide studies for many international corporations and institutions. Mike’s most recent books are Winning the People Wars (2001) and Talent Magnet (2002), both published by the Financial Times and The New Rules of Engagement (2004) published by the CIPD. His latest book "SMARTER CONSULTING How to start up and succeed as an independent consultant" was published by the Financial Times in October 2007.

Sandy holds Non-Executive Directorships at United Business Media plc (January 2005), Paternoster UK Ltd (June 2006), and Lloyds TSB plc (October 2005). He is Chairman of Intrinsic Financial Services Limited (August 2005), BUPA (November 2006) and Scottish Widows plc (October 2007).

Until 2004, Sandy was Chairman and Chief Executive of ZFS UKISA/Asia Pacific Division and Head of Zurich’s Global Life business. Zurich Financial Services is one of the World’s largest insurance companies.

He has had extensive experience as a chairman (e.g. Threadneedle Asset Management, Eagle Star, Dunbar Bank, Gresham) and on Plc Boards (e.g. BAT Industries, Allied Zurich, Allied Dunbar). His responsibilities have spanned 30 countries and covered almost every area in Financial Services.

He has played a prominent role nationally and was Chairman of the Life Insurance Council, the Association of British Insurers and the Pensions Protection and Investment Accreditation Board.

Sandy has devoted enormous energy into improving Society. He was Chairman of UK Cares and Deputy Chairman of Business in the Community. In 1999, he received The Prince of Wales Ambassador’s Award for outstanding achievement in charitable work. He was Chair of the Balance Foundation.

He Chaired the National Employment Panel (reporting to the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions) until Jan 2007 and is Deputy Chairman of the Commonwealth Education Fund.

In December 2006 he completed “The Leitch Review of Skills in the UK” - an independent review advising Government on how to define the UK’s optimal skills mix in order to maximise economic growth and productivity by 2020.

He is a Freeman of the City of London and a member of Worshipful Company of Insurers.

David McLaren is Chairman of Cohn and Wolfe London, having joined the consultancy at the beginning of 2005.

Prior to that, he was Chief Executive, and subsequently Chairman, of Hill and Knowlton in the UK. During his time there H&K outgrew the industry, quadrupling in size in six years and winning the Agency of the Year Award, the first and only time it has been won by a Top 5 agency. His clients included major corporations, the City of Athens, the Safra Foundation and family, and several government public information campaigns. Currently he is advising the London bid for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Before joining Hill and Knowlton, David ran his own successful consultancy was Managing Director of Collet Dickenson Pearce and was CEO of KMP, for whom he led a successful MBO.

His original ad agency training and experience was at Ogilvy having started his career as a journalist with the BBC. He is a graduate of the University of London and his postgraduate study was at The Courtauld Institute of Art. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising and is a Board Member of the Public Relations Association.

He's corporate management's best-kept secret. For multinationals worldwide, Dr Eddie Obeng is a lethal weapon in their battle to succeed in the 'New World' of global economics. He stands between them and the growing graveyard of corporate stalwarts trapped by 'Old World' thinking. You only know him if you are in the know.

He advises the 'big boys' of commerce and industry who respect his expertise and embrace his no-nonsense direction on how to improve the performance of managers and business.

Eddie is founder Director of Pentacle The Virtual Business School, one of the World's leading e-learning businesses. He was previously an Executive Director at Ashridge Management College, having begun his career with Shell.

His list of books include All Change!, Putting Strategy to Work, Making Re-engineering Happen - Financial Times Publishing and New Rules for the New World - Wiley Publishing.

Jon is currently Chairman of Aria Networks and Low Cost Travel Group, as well as advisor to UBS AG. He has a wealth of relevant experience in the UK IT industry and was CEO of Anite Group plc from 1989 to 1997. He also served as Chairman of the National Council for Education & Technology reporting to the Minister of State from 1992 to 1995.

Since 2000 Jon has chaired to exit a number of Private Equity backed companies including Belle Associates, CityMeeting, MM Group, Propero, Quadstone and Redsky IT. His First Class Honours degree is in Mathematics.

John had an illustrious career in the British Army including Commander of the SAS and in Special Forces. He is currently a Non-executive Director Of Trailfinders Ltd.

He is also President of the Burma Star Association and President of the Special Air Services Association to name but a few. Previously he was Chairman and Chief Executive of Peek plc a relationship that lasted 27 years.

Past directorships have included Boyden International Ltd, Banque de la Meditarranee, Jasra Jackson Pty Ltd and in the Morgan Crucible Group. He has been a member of the House of Lords since 1971, where he is a member of the Defence Group, The Parliamentary and Scientific Committee and a number of internal committees.

Duncan is currently Group Finance Director of Kingfisher. He joined Kingfisher in January 2001 as Finance Director of B&Q and was appointed to Group Finance Director in February 2004.

He began his business career with Rank Xerox (UK). In 1990 he moved to Burton Group plc, and had a number of positions including a time as acting Finance Director of Burton Menswear when he was 28, and latterly Finance Director of Principles. He was part of the team which worked on the demerger of Debenhams plc from the renamed Arcadia Group plc in 1998. He then became Group Finance Director at Virgin Entertainment Group.

Honorary Legal Counsel

Accipitor is an Organisational Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
 

© 2004 - 2008
Accipitor Ltd.
www.accipitor.com | Tel: +44 (0)1962 794554 | contact@accipitor.com
UK Registered Company 05252485 | VAT No: GB 851 6235 32