Mark has spent the majority of his career in the technology sector. He has served on a number of boards with a focus on Business Development.

Born in Wolverhampton, Mark's early career was at James Wilkes Ltd (a family printing business). The business was sold in the early 1980's following a period of industrial unrest, and having found himself out of work, he went back to college with the ambition of joining the RAF as an air frames engineer. Achieve a diploma in Communications and Systems Engineering, and distracted by success, Mark went on to complete a degree in Electrical and Electronic engineering at UWIST in Cardiff.

He moved to Bristol where he joined British Aerospace and worked as an engineer in manufacturing development. He was head hunted by Mitsubishi Electric and joined the sales team. After gaining an MBA in 1993, from Bath University (where he met his wife), Mark moved to Germany to join Samsung, where he spent 12 years, eventually becoming a director in the Semiconductor Division.

In 2006, he joined SiConnect, a fabless semiconductor start-up providing communication network technology. The financial crisis of 2007 caused funds to dry up and in 2008 SiConnect was sold to Poem Technologies of China where Mark became CEO. Having spent time in China, Mark returned to the UK and set up his first consultancy. In July 2008 he approached H Fine & Son Ltd, a textile engineering company, and subsequently joined the board.

Mark has been with Shirlaws since April 2012. He enjoys coaching and supporting people to enable the realisation of their goals. A cyclist and avid rugby supporter, Mark is also a keen sailor, and is always looking for a crew. He now lives in Burnham, Buckinghamshire, not far from the Beeches.

Natalie joined Shirlaws in July 2012, after running a coaching practice for six years, delivering executive coaching and customised training for private and public sector clients.  She is passionate about helping businesses and individuals to flourish and relishes working with people who are energetic about change and growth.

Natalie's commercial and managerial experience draws on 19 years working in diverse industries, including filtration technology, pharmaceuticals and outsourcing.  Her core skills are in sales and sales management, marketing, new business and product development, gained while working in corporate and mid-sized businesses.  She has worked extensively overseas, with R&D and production teams throughout Europe and with business research teams in India, Chile and China.  Leading multinational projects taught her a lot about the need for clear communication and cultural understanding to enable cohesive teamwork.

Natalie is known for her calm and down-to-earth style and enjoys helping clients to gain more clarity, strategic direction and energy - to drive business performance and have a life outside of work. She lives in Cambridgeshire with her husband and loves to get out and about on her horse or a bike.  In her spare time, she runs a coaching network in Cambridge and is a trustee for an Indian charity that supports impoverished villages in Rajasthan, India.

 

Tony thrives on meeting the next challenge and is 'all about now'. He is an experienced entrepreneurial professional with a proven track record of developing and growing successful businesses.

Tony's vision is simple: to inspire and empower clients at the heart of their enterprise with world-class commercial and cultural skills, giving them freedom to focus on what matters most in their lives.

Prior to joining Shirlaws, Tony's professional experience has been developed within major blue-chip corporates for over 24 years (including: Canon, Kodak, Gartner, Informa) and he has also run a number of personal entrepreneurial ventures. He is passionate about business and likes to motivate and energise clients around maximising the return on their business investment.

Tony lives in Cheshire with his wife Lisa and their two young energetic sons; Elliott and Oliver. He has a strong sporting/team background having in the past played ice hockey for many years. More recently, he plays golf when time, weather and his wife permit.

 

Dan has a strong track record of building successful businesses from start-up or small beginnings into worthwhile and profitable entities.  Much of this has taken place in overseas markets.  Dan spent seven years in Asia which culminated in the establishment of a manufacturing facility in Southern China, returning to the UK in 2007.  More recently, he spent seven months in New York, revitalising and re-energising a business for a UK parent company, while also directing a growth strategy for their business in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.

Dan has a passion for business and his experience spans service and manufacturing sectors.  While his roles have largely been commercial in nature, Dan has also managed technical product development and the roll out of related projects for UK companies.  More recently, Dan started a company that specialises in export services for UK businesses seeking to develop their presence in overseas markets.

As a Shirlaws coach, Dan blends the Shirlaws Intellectual Property with his wealth of business experience in assisting entrepreneurial businesses seeking growth or a new direction. In 2012, Dan completed an MBA with the University of Liverpool, achieving a Merit. Dan is based near Manchester and operates across the UK.  He is married with two teenage children.

Liam brought a wealth of business experience, gained within the Retail marketplace in both the UK and abroad, when he joined Shirlaws in 2012.  His leadership expertise combine with a record of success and a passion for operational efficiencies, all assets when working alongside Shirlaws' entrepreneurial clients.  In particular, Liam has proved his ability to think creatively yet strategically, in developing sustainable and new revenue streams whilst reducing costs.

Before joining Shirlaws, Liam had enjoyed a hugely successful career in the retail sector, starting on the shop floor in Debenhams when he moved to the UK from Wicklow, Ireland in the late 1960s.  Liam has owned and run his own businesses within the sector, and was previously Operations Director at Signature Brands PLC.

Away from work, Liam will regularly be found on the golf course, and the Project Management role he plays for the European Tours Ryder Cup Team (dressing the players' wives and partners) is a particular favourite contract!

"I love being part of the Shirlaws family.  We combine the vast breadth of commercial and cultural experience of our coaches, with a unique set of coaching and consulting skills, to grow asset value in entrepreneurial business.

Together we create multi-millionaires.

What clients say to us is 'Thank you for changing my life!'"

Adam has fun working with energetic and visionary entrepreneurs, who have a desire to grow their business and their wealth beyond expectations.  Drawing on his years of experience as a successful accountant, and using a hybrid of coaching and consulting, he takes pride in supporting entrepreneurs to grow the commercial and cultural asset value within their business.

He has a calm and focused approach when helping entrepreneurs rediscover their love for business, giving them more choice and more perspective.

"I understand my clients.  I love adding real value and helping them to achieve lasting change and ensuring they get what they really want from their business."

A qualified accountant with well over twenty years experience in the SME market, Adam has launched two successful businesses and is a trusted professional advisor to his clients.  He has a knack of helping business owners understand their, often complex, tax and accounting obligations, without using complex jargon.

His clients have ranged from internationally based company groups to small regional owner managed businesses  He does not specialise in any particular industry type, preferring to 'connect' to his clients at a more personal level to ensure the maximum benefit from the coaching relationship.

A powerful combination of his ability to understand people and business at a deep level, the decades of commercial skills as an accountant and his natural approach to coaching has helped his clients to achieve significant success and reward.

At weekends Adam can be found throwing himself around the Sussex countryside on his mountain bike and spending some quality time with his wife and children.  He is passionate about poker, having travelled numerous times to Las Vegas with a good degree of success.  He is also in love with Indian food, the spicier the better.

"I consider myself very lucky to have had Adam take me on as a client.  He has given me a new lease on life.  His straight talking, no flannel style and calm questioning have helped me turn my business around, during some very tough times.  I now have the freedom to spend far more time with my wife and kids, and it's always great fun working with him!" - SB, Founder, IT Company.

"Adam is a very warm and approachable person.   He knows how to use his empathy to put people at ease and communicate at their level, for maximum results.  He is a very good listener who has a natural rapport with people."  - MD, Professional Services Company.

"Adam is an extraordinary man, who has a unique ability to take in and understand everything that is happening around him.  He listens with intent and his responses are always appropriate to the conversation." - Mentor.

His broad commercial background as a successful accountant and his deep understanding of human nature and relationships, have added immeasurable value to our business." - SS.

"Adam is a natural coach, combining empathy and insight with complete credibility as an entrepreneur in his own right." - AH - Marketing and Sales Specialist.

Connect here with Adam on LinkedIn.

Click here to follow Adam on Twitter.

As a successful entrepreneur with a group of companies in manufacturing, property, training and commercial design, Nic knows about the challenges of being in business and managing people. This is why, as a Business Coach, Trainer and Presenter, his philosophies are based on practical experience and finding solutions that work. This, coupled with his energy and enthusiasm, explains why he is becoming one of the most sought-after speakers in the UK.

Nic is one of the Founder Partners of Shirlaws Business Coaching and has been responsible for driving the growth of the business.  His role in Shirlaws includes coaching clients all over the UK from the South cost of England to Scotland, as well as presenting to groups of business leaders all over the world.

Click here to connect with Nic on LinkedIn.

Click here to follow Nic on Twitter.

]]>http://www.shirlawscoaching.co.uk/profiles/rss-comments-entry-15973492.xmlAdministratorTue, 24 Apr 2012 10:53:00 +0000http://www.shirlawscoaching.co.uk/profiles/2012/4/24/nick-winton-business-coach.html726565:16016165:15973460

Nick Winton

Nick specialises in helping SMEs achieve their objectives through developing their people.  He assists companies during the introduction of new systems and processes, and helps them to create growth and manage change.  He has acted as Interim CEO for several companies after selling his own business.

In 2007 he became a coach with Shirlaws, where he applies his technical and practical skills together with more than 30 years of commercial experience to support clients through change to achieve their commercial and cultural objectives.

Nick holds an MBA (Cum Laude) from Imperial College, London, is a Member of the Institute of Directors, and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.  He lives in London and enjoys motorbike holidays with his long-term partner, journalist Monica Porter.

Click here to connect with Nick on LinkedIn.

Click here to follow Nick on Twitter.

]]>http://www.shirlawscoaching.co.uk/profiles/rss-comments-entry-15973460.xmlAdministratorMon, 23 Apr 2012 10:37:39 +0000http://www.shirlawscoaching.co.uk/profiles/2012/4/23/frans-glazener-business-coach.html726565:16016165:15957255

Frans Glazener

Frans joined Shirlaws in March 2012 after having spent over 20 years in the paper and packaging industry and in the IT business.  Frans' career success was built on business development and sales, with more recent focus on the development of innovation and sustainability.

Amongst other jobs, Frans was responsible for the development of mobile business worldwide at Logica.  He was a pioneer in this area and prides himself on being one of the first people to have mobile access to email, at that time nothing less than wizardry.  Frans was a thought leader in the mobile arena and spoke at many conferences and seminars on this subject.

More recently Frans was involved in the road pricing project of the Dutch government.  His job as project manager of a very diverse group of companies and government agencies, tested his leadership and management skills to the max.

His jobs in the packaging industry also took him to all corners of the world during which time he was able to further hone the intercultural skills that he learned as the child of an expat family.  Frans will naturally be focusing on companies where IT, Innovation, mobile and sustainability are part of their core business, however the packaging industry also remains one of his areas of interest.  Prior to starting work Frans got his Masters Degree in Dutch civil law at Leiden University.

]]>http://www.shirlawscoaching.co.uk/profiles/rss-comments-entry-15957255.xmlAdministratorFri, 13 Apr 2012 08:38:22 +0000http://www.shirlawscoaching.co.uk/profiles/2012/4/13/glyn-heald-business-coach.html726565:16016165:15825162

Glyn Heald

A business graduate with over thirty years' experience in commercial roles, Glyn began his career in the public and banking sectors before joining one of the world's largest family run businesses - Mars - where his first role was selling pet food, and occasionally, tasting it!

During his time at Mars, Glyn specialised in revenue generation, introducing new products and sales propositions across Europe whilst managing Sales, Training, Marketing and Client Services functions.  He developed and led the Mars business in Ukraine from start-up to a multi-million dollar operation during which time he acquired the expertise into how to develop a strong internal culture to drive outstanding commercial success.

Upon returning to the UK, Glyn set up his own coaching business which he integrated into Shirlaws in 2004.  During his time with Shirlaws he has become one of our most experienced and sought after coaches, clocking up more than 10,000 hours of coaching time.  Although a self confessed 'generalist', Glyn's depth and mastery allow him to specialise in coaching business owners, corporate executives and boards who wish to elevate their commercial performance, reshape their businesses and often themselves.  Having taken time to understand the brief, Glyn works with his clients to co-create their desired outcomes.  Typically they describe his style as "authentic". "challenging yet relaxed", "engendering confidence", "grounded", "calm", "humorous" and "stacked with eureka moments".  Having coached companies employing 4 to 240,000 employees, his experience extends into Telecommunications, IT, FMCG, Construction, Environmental Services, Legal, Financial Services, Banking, Utility and Logistics sectors.

Spare time? - An avid rugby fan and fair weather golfer, he resides in the Thames Valley close to the picturesque town of Henley-on-Thames.

Click here to connect with Glyn on LinkedIn.

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