Coaching Experience

A former tennis coach, I have been a freelance Communications Coach since I trained in Germany in 1992. Since then I have spent over 23 000 hours of experience coaching literally hundreds and hundreds of business executives and politicians. 

Clients include: Mercedes Benz, SAP, Bilfinger & Berger, ThyssenKrupp, The Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Rheinhold & Mahler, SGL Carbon, Boehringer Mannheim, Deutsche Bank, the Conservative Party and many individual political candidates - including nearly 50 Conservative Members of Parliament.

Real World Business and Management Experience and Roles

I was Group Managing Director of the eastern division of a German industrial group for 3 years, with full P & L responsibility for 3 manufacturing companies on 2 sites with over 130 staff.

This group of companies was bleeding money yet contractually could not be closed. My job was to limit the losses while the parent group tried to survive the post-reunification recession. Within 18 months I took this group of ex-Treuhand companies from a £8M T/O with losses of over £1M to breakeven - with no reduction in personnel (disallowed by Treuhand).

In the company I managed directly, we cut our LOSSES by ca. 90% despite a 20% reduction in T/O.

This turnaround was achieved by focusing on 15 key areas (covering SALES, OPERATIONS, PRODUCTION, STAFFING, PURCHASING), increasing margins and decreasing cost of sales from 56% to 47%.

Turn Around Management (TAM) / Communications / Crisis Management role for an award winning Sussex manufacturing company. This part-time advisory role developed literally overnight into a full-time turnaround and crisis management role following a fire that destroyed the entire UK production facility.

• Winner: Queens Award for Export; Winner: British Chamber of Commerce: National Exporter of the Year 2004; Runner up: National Export Communicator of the Year
• co-handled a successful 7 figure claim vs Lloyds following the fire that destroyed the factory
• managing extensive and complex relationships with 20 key customers in as many countries in Europe, Africa and the Middle East following the fire

Public Sector, Political and Voluntary

• Non-Exec Director: Bexhill and Rother PCT, 2003-06.
• Founding Director of what became Policy Exchange - Centre right academic think tank, 2001.
• Sussex Advisory Sub-Committee – Magistrate Selection, 2007 - to date.
• A variety of voluntary positions within the Conservative Party including Association Chairman and Deputy Chairman, Agent, Sussex Area Officer - Target Seats, Agent assessor.

Member: Carlton. FRSA