The Team
Click the names below to read a brief biography of each team member:
James Shirreff
James is a highly experienced communications skills training consultant with wide international experience. He is a specialist in international presentation and negotiation skills, and cross-cultural communication. He has designed and delivered successful programmes for blue chip companies, the professions and the public sector in 30 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America and Australia over the last 18 years.
He has worked extensively with many business sectors, including pharmaceuticals, aerospace, reinsurance, heavy engineering, information technology and telecommunications. James believes strongly that training should be rehearsal for the situations delegates face in their daily work. This means he works closely with his clients to identify what they need, and he keeps the training relevant, challenging and fun.
James is based in Brighton
Susanna Lyddon
Susanna's experience as a management trainer and facilitator spans 20 years, and has taken her to most countries in Western Europe, as well as the USA, Taiwan and Malaysia. She is a specialist in Presentation Skills, Teamwork, Negotiation Skills and Leadership, and has worked extensively with clients in financial services, telecommunications, personal care, IT and pharmaceuticals.
She has expanded her repertoire even further in recent years, and her experience now extends to public speaking, consultancy support for rural businesses, and sales training on global sales training programmes for multinational organisations. Susanna believes the best training should be a mix of short memorable lectures and maximum practice and feedback: "I hear and I forget, I see and I remember; I do and I understand", coupled with a sensitive and observant approach on the part of the trainer.
Susanna is based in the South of England.
Nina Clarke
Nina Clarke is an internationally reputed training consultant in communication skills. She has worked with clients in a wide range of sectors including pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking, telecommunications, manufacturing, railways, public and political bodies and media. Nina has worked with these clients in most countries in Europe, and in every continent except Australasia.
She works with groups and in one-to-one coaching. She specialises in presentation, negotiation and international teamwork training. She also trains trainers. She has many years' experience in recruitment and has trained a number of clients' HR departments in interviewing skills.
Before going freelance in 2000 Nina was a Director of a leading training company. She believes that you learn by doing and that a visible improvement in performance is usually worth a truckload of theory.
Nina is based in London and Portugal.
Simon Patterson
Simon has over 15 years experience in international communications skills training, and is a specialist in Presentation Skills, International Negotiation Skills, Train the Trainer, Effective Customer Relations, Cross-Cultural Communication and Writing Skills. He has designed and run training in 20 countries for a wide range of blue chip companies in diverse fields such as pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, IT and telecommunications.
Before beginning his training career, Simon worked as an accountant for KPMG in the City of London. His own background is extremely international: he has lived in South Africa, Oman, and has recently returned to the UK from living in Italy for 10 years, where he had a successful international communications skills training business. He speaks fluent Italian, and in 2003 completed his MSc degree in Organisational and Social Psychology at the London School of Economics. He is passionate about life long learning, and this motivates him to train and develop other people. Simon is currently on a three- month assignment to China, to develop his knowledge of Chinese culture and business practices.
Simon is based in London and Milan.
Christopher Simon-Evans
Christopher is an international executive coach and consultant, with almost 20 years' experience of helping professional people improve their communication and people skills, develop their careers and achieve their full potential. Over the past 15 years, he has coached and trained hundreds of business managers and professional people from a wide range of sectors and countries, both on a one- to- one basis and in groups. He speaks fluent French and has lived and worked in France.
Christopher's background is in Financial Services, Human Resources and Executive Selection, working for Andersen Consulting, Societe Generale, and Deloitte. In 2003, he set up the Euro-Exec Coaching Institute, which offers traditional face-to-face coaching and training, as well as carrying out pioneering work in the field of e-coaching, using innovative techniques based on state of the art technology.
Christopher is based in Brighton.
Nigel Richards
Nigel has been involved in management training and corporate development for over 15 years. A highly experienced trainer and facilitator specializing in business communication skills, he delivers cross-cultural training, team building, negotiation skills, expatriate coaching, and meeting and conference facilitation. He focuses on helping business people manage, communicate and adapt when
operating physically or virtually across diverse cultures.
After training as a lawyer in the UK, Nigel moved into global training and development, specializing in culturally diverse groups. He has delivered workshops and consultancy in over 30 countries, working in practically every business and professional sector. While working for a UK based international training and development company, Nigel set up and headed their Japanese subsidiary joint venture company in Tokyo. He developed and ran Master classes there in Medical Communications for immunology and transplant doctors for a major pharmaceutical company, and pioneered negotiation skills seminars and cross-cultural programs for multinational companies. Over the last 20 years he has lived in England, Italy, Japan and Thailand.
Nigel is based in San Francisco.
- International
Communication Skills - Presentation
- Leadership
- Management Development
- Negotiation
- Cross Culture
- Writing
- Careers Development