smaart team

Steve is an experienced and successful finance and business manager, currently delivering bespoke finance and management programmes.

Following qualification as a Chartered Accountant, Steve worked in the City for 3 years gaining experience in finance, working with a range of companies. It was always Steve’s intention to move into business and commerce, applying his financial knowledge and experience to developing the financial performance of companies. Over time he gained experience of service and manufacturing, finally moving into distribution with Unigas Ltd.

Steve was then invited to become General Manager of the company, a position he accepted, becoming Managing Director after 2 years. As Managing Director Steve led the company through a period of growth, increasing sales and profitability, forming a partnership with National Freight Consortium (NFC) to support the supply, and distribution of products. Unigas was finally sold to Shell and merged into their operations.

After a brief, 3 year spell as Finance Director with a group of Ford dealerships, Steve established his own management training and development company, smaartpeople.  Drawing on his business experience, he specialises in management and finance training.

Typically, clients describe Steve’s approach as pragmatic, using his experience to design and deliver finance and management programmes based on the business processes and finances of client companies. He aims to “de-mystify” finance and make it an accessible topic for people – as he says, even finance can be fun!

Eric Evans is an experienced management consultant, trainer and business coach. He has held Director level positions with Dunlop, the NHS and Diageo. Over the last twenty years Eric has developed and managed a range of training courses for some of the best known companies in the world. His experience covers topics such as negotiating, contract and supplier management, commercial awareness, business strategy and purchasing. He is a regular contributor to management journals on these subjects, and is a frequent speaker at conferences in the UK, Europe, North America, Africa and the Far East. He has first-hand experience of running a business at the highest level. His consulting experience gives him an unrivalled insight into how many of the world’s most successful companies operate. His in-depth experience of designing and developing training programmes has resulted in significant volumes of repeat business with clients. The combination of practitioner, consulting and training experience means that he is able to deliver training programmes which are practical, based on leading edge business practice, and which are geared towards the delivery of tangible benefits.

Ricky Coussins career in marketing began in 1972 when he worked for a division of the multinational conglomerate Litton Industries. In the late 1970’s he joined Rank Xerox where he was responsible for exploring the potential of new products.  He left Xerox in 1981 to work for a European based translation company as Sales and Marketing Director.  In the mid-1980's he was recruited to British Telecom working first with BT's system house, NDPS, as Packaged Products Marketing Manager and then in Mobile Communications as network marketing manager, where he worked on the marketing of the first generation of cell phone / mobile communications.

Ricky’s training style includes first hand practical examples and plenty of anecdotes as well as presentation of core skills.  The actual course work includes both instruction elements and practical application of the skills to real life situations provided by the client and / or the delegates themselves in advance.   Where this is not possible, he will use case study materials based on real life scenarios that map their organisation and situation as closely as possible.  He is also keen to make the training workshop insightful, informative and, very importantly, fun for those participating.  Delegates typically come away inspired, enthusiastic, informed and keen to implement the ideas that they have learned.

Sally Moore is a Director of smaartpeople. She divides her time between developing smaartpeople as a business and training people who are new to sales/in a sales role but without formal training. This unique combination of selling and training enables Sally to include and apply her up-to-date knowledge and the latest sales trends in her courses. Over 14 years' experience in different sales environments have proven to Sally that practice is the most effective way to learn and her workshops involve total delegate participation – involving the whole mind, emotions and senses. The basis for Sally’s courses - focusing on the ‘essentials of sales’ and ‘professional telephone sales skills’ - is that learning is not a passive storage of information but the creation and application knowledge.

A training event with Janine is high-octane and highly memorable. She is an excellent facilitator, trainer, coach and presenter. Janine’s specialist subject is interface and communication: her training portfolio supports personal development and relationship building at every level. Janine gains trust and credibility quickly, and is respected and accepted by all strata of an organisation, from management to the working community. She motivates and inspires everyone equally - senior managers and junior staff, one-to-one or many. She is an entertaining and charismatic trainer who focuses on engaging with learners dynamically. She makes a dull subject come alive. She has a unique blend of creative spirit and pragmatic business focus, bringing innovative new training interventions to meet client’s and learners’ needs. Her magic is in adapting her style to suit the needs of the learners and connecting with all. Janine delivers standard length courses as well as half-day and short session training events. She is equally comfortable working with small teams, large groups, conferences or one-to one coaching sessions.

Stefan is an independent Management and Training Consultant specialising in the area of Communication Skills. His real specialism and passion is training people from all levels in Presentation Skills and Business Writing Skills. Since gaining a degree in English from Sheffield University, Stefan has had a varied career, working as an Underwriter for Norwich Union, as a Purchaser for Philips and as a Clerk to the Justices in Sheffield. He is also a trained actor, a graduate of Guildford School of Acting, with work in both theatre and television. The emphasis of all his training is presenting or communicating with impact. He teaches techniques to help participants capture and hold their audiences’ attention whether it is during a sales presentation, a meeting or a conference speech. Stefan trains with enthusiasm to make his learning motivational and the key points memorable. As a trained actor he uses techniques from the theatre in a highly effective way to help his participants in many aspects of making presentations and speeches.

John is a specialist in IT Software training. He specializes in Microsoft software ranging from Office Applications to Server Software and Programming Languages. His many years of involvement in software training have included delivery to audiences of a wide variety of different disciplines in the UK, Europe and the USA. John has recently co-developed and co-delivered a programme with smaartpeople called, ‘Working Smarter with Outlook’, which combines the technical and soft skills required to be more effective with your time, using outlook as your main communication tool.

Angie Reed is a highly experienced consultant specialising in sales and management training as well as negotiation skills, marketing, man management, customer care and presentation skills training. She has over 20 years corporate experience in sales, training and sales & marketing management in the UK & Europe. Angie now works as a consultant specialising in training across all industry sectors. In addition to sales & telesales training and coaching, she has helped clients with marketing, planning and personnel recruitment & development. Angie’s key skills are in making training fun, accessible and real; bringing reality into the training room whatever the training topic. Her training is highly interactive and geared towards producing results on all levels; motivation through training, with positive results for the individual and the organisation. Angie is a graduate (BA Hons, Hull University) with a postgraduate Diploma in Marketing (DipM, CIM) and is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (MCIM).

Piet Breed consults with organizations mainly in the Benelux and Germany on the development of teams and individuals. He specializes in coaching and training, management development, servant leadership and creativity and management of change, but he also provides interim management and formal education. His has experience in manufacturing, IT, food-industry, financial sector as well as in government, education and health care. Piet also works as an Associate Lecturer for the Open University Business School in the area of Strategic Human Resource Management.

After finishing his studies at the University of Amsterdam he became a lecturer at the same University. His career took him through a variety of experiences, ranging from scientific work, through management training and consulting, to a position as Human Resources Development Director for AT&T, later Lucent Technologies. Before he decided to start his own company, he was the Managing Director of KDI, the eldest Quality Management consultancy company in The Netherlands. He is certified to use a variety of worldwide recognized instruments including MBTI©, FIRO-B©, CPI©, Benchmarks©, and PROFILOR©. Piet holds a Ph.D. in social sciences and a masters degree in special education. He uses Dutch, English, and German as working languages with clients.

Graham Bailey has worked extensively in the field of advertising and marketing for a broad cross section of consumer goods manufacturers, industrial products, business to business markets and the charity sector. During his career in advertising, he worked for a number of leading London advertising agencies, devising award-winning advertising for Walls, Birds Eye, Tobler Suchard, Whitbread and R.Whites among many others. He then moved into marketing management, first with Cadbury Schweppes, where he developed retail sales for Kenco Coffee, and later worked to relaunch Oil of Olay. New product launches for Vidal Sassoon and the Insignia range when he worked for Shulton, have been amongst the most successful new product launches in their markets. Graham was then responsible for developing the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s Diploma programme at Croydon Business School and became a member of the faculty at the Chartered Institute of Marketing. He now runs GB Marketing and both trains and consults in all aspects of marketing for organisations such as IPC Media, Ford, Coca Cola, Microsoft, BBC, Kraft, IBM, Institute of Directors, BAA and Kellogg’s. He regularly undertakes programmes on Marketing Planning, Research, New Product Development, Customer Care, Team Building and Presentation Skills. He specialises in Marketing Planning, International Marketing and Communications.

Helen Boardman is a qualified development professional and has worked as a trainer for the Employment Service (Fraud section) and a regional trainer for Yorkshire and Humberside Museums and Arts before joining Hammonds Solicitors as Training Manager. From Hammonds, Helen ran her own consultancy for 7 years. Over the past 10 years she has worked as training manager for Addleshaw Goddard and Nabarros. Helen has been a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of People and Development (CIPD) for the last 15 years. With a strong background in professional services (law), Helen has pioneered partner level strategic management development programmes, set up training academies for qualified lawyers, instigated competency based development programmes and developed unique NVQ programmes for support and secretarial staff within the legal environment. When a consultant, Helen designed and developed performance review programmes in several sectors, wrote staff handbooks, developed and ran a wide range of courses and interventions ranging from leadership programmes for senior managers, mentoring programmes, coaching programmes and staff induction interventions for all levels of employees. A former lecturer on the University of Huddersfield CIPD programme she runs Train the Trainer courses and specialises in designing and writing materials, games, case studies and exercises.

As a qualified Barrister, Peter is an articulate communicator with a well balanced skill-set including negotiation knowledge and change management, and outstanding interpersonal and presentational skills. His extensive managerial ability is demonstrated by a notable track record of innovation and implementing change and improvements in a wide variety of industries.

Peter is accomplished business consultant with a wide experience of general management and a specialist in strategy, finance and marketing. Also skilled in developing and implementing change and business policy in a variety of organisations.

He started and developed a small consultancy with a colleague specialising in service industries and developed a suite of analytical tools to assess the performance of companies.

Peter trained in consultancy at McKinsey and worked with Price Waterhouse developing multimedia material and is also a part-time lecturer at the LSE, Birkbeck College and Westminster in London. His specialist areas are Strategic Management and Business Planning, Finance, Marketing and Operations. He is also competent in Management of Change, Project Management, and Commercial law.

Project Management Institute - Project Management Professional (PMP) Certified PRINCE2 Practitioner

Roger has over twenty years experience in designing and implementing project management solutions. His effective style of delivery is excellent in helping project managers and non-project managers alike learn solid project management techniques and methodologies. In addition to an in-depth knowledge of the subject, he understands which specific tools and techniques will be most relevant to attendees and can help them understand how to apply them. He also has a very relaxed and informative style and makes the training fun and memorable. He has worked with various systems, however in recent years has concentrated on implementing Microsoft Project and the PRINCE 2 methodology in a wide variety of businesses. These include Pharmaceutical, Petrochemicals, Engineering, Manufacturing, Telecommunications, Financial Services and Internet Development companies.

Arun Singh OBE, FRSA is an experienced and renowned corporate educator, facilitative trainer, international lawyer, interculturalist and former partner of KPMG. He has concentrated on leadership, management, negotiations and cross-border trade, investment and outsourcing across a varied range of sectors and countries. Arun specialises in facilitative training in leadership, impact, influencing, negotiating, managing conflict, leading and managing virtual and remote teams, networking, intercultural management and communication, and presentations. His nearly 30 years of involvement with international, and domestic leadership and management in virtually every industry and across continents has created an exceptional knowledge base, and skills set backed by academic study at Cambridge University, which he utilises to train and coach individuals and groups for transformation. Arun’s success in facilitative training is born out of the authority of ‘having done it’ at different levels, his insight, deep listening, design and coaching skills.

John Leach specialises in providing training in product management marketing and business planning at senior management level. Having worked in product management and marketing, he now works as a consultant with many large organisations developing people to achieve higher standards of performance and in particular developing managers and providing them with the tools to run a successful business and team. His consultancy and training has taken him to all parts of the world and across a range of industries, giving him a wide range of experiences to draw on. In addition he has contributed to best selling marketing books. Educational achievements include a Bachelors degree in Economics and a Masters degree in Marketing.

John is a director of smaart people; he is a learning and development specialist in the sales and management arenas. He served an indentured apprenticeship with Hawker Siddeley Aviation, building Harrier jump jets and is an HND qualified Mechanical Engineer. After his apprenticeship, John went straight into a management role as President of Kingston University Student Union. In 1975 he moved into technical selling, product management and subsequently became the UK Managing Director of a German company. He was involved in strategic and functional business planning, marketing and sales management into major UK industrial markets. His responsibilities included the design and provision of career development paths for individuals and improving performance management skills. Since 1995 John has been designing and delivering bespoke, highly focused, interactive business interventions to help people realise their full potential in whatever they do. He is a qualified NLP practitioner and TAP accredited trainer. His international work has included firms such as P&O cruises, Harlequin Mills and Boon, Eurotunnel, Sony, Buckingham Palace, McCarthy and Stone, Mobil Oil and the Financial Times.

Graham is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development having 18 years leading and delivering development solutions in both private and public sectors. His operational experience combined with his Masters Degree in Employment Strategy provides him with a high level yet practical vision across the people management agenda. His success is centred on developing managers and teams to deliver increased business performance. He is accredited to facilitate a high impact behaviour change programme and is an NLP Practitioner. His passion for behaviour change is supported by being an advanced practitioner of the Thomas International psychometric and behaviour-profiling tool kit. Utilising his Prince2 project manager qualification provides a range of personal experiences which enhances his training, in particular in the areas of human reactions to change.

Alan specialises in developing people’s skills in communication, clear thinking and creativity. He’s been a learning consultant and author since 1989. Previously, he had worked as an actor and manager in the entertainment industry for 15 years. Most of his work was in the theatre, where he developed a wide range of skills in communication, behaviourial influencing, teamwork and creativity. Alan’s fourteen books include Creativity for managers, 30 minutes to brainstorm great ideas, Writing at work, How to be a better decision maker, Managing meetings and How to be better at managing people.

A former employee with a major international bank for some thirty years for whom he fulfilled a number of senior roles including Corporate Relationship Banking, Management Training and Group IT Audit. He is now an experienced and successful facilitator in communicating, marketing, management development and finance at all levels.

Gary is also an accredited and highly qualified Business Adviser and helps businesses at all stages of their development to realise their potential. His experience and qualifications as an NVQ Level 4 Assessor and Verifier in Management, Business and Customer Service dovetail in with his ability to act as a Mentor and Coach to senior people.

Jane is a trainer, consultant and coach specialising in sales and communication skills, managing performance and change plus team building skills.  Jane began her career as a sales coach at Norwich Union then moving on to work with Virgin. Within the Virgin group she worked as an internal sales and management development trainer and in the corporate training team developing and delivering programmes as new companies were launched and developed. This included financial services, banking and the wine industry.  Then as an internal consultant for the Royal Bank of Scotland, Jane worked with training providers to ensure that programmes were developed and sustained in house.  This included developing and facilitating company wide development initiatives and team building. Jane has also worked for Lloyds TSB, Scottish Widows, BUPA International, Cambridgeshire Constabulary, Consumer Direct and NPower. Jane has a consultative participative training style focussing on key learning that will support change and development within the workplace – ensuring delegates understand the why and how – this comes alive within programmes using up to date research, exercises and discussion that lead to rehearsal and activities to embed the learning before returning to the workplace.

Matthew is an independent performance consultant, meaning he blends organisational development consulting, training and coaching to deliver human performance enhancement and measurable business results to the companies he works with. In this capacity he has created and implemented learning and development programmes in such diverse areas as negotiation for procurement managers, marketing management for Central Europe country marketing managers, negotiation for sales managers, leadership, conflict management, meeting management and facilitation, influencing skills, problem-solving and decision-making in teams, business correspondence, audience-centred presentations and public speaking and interpersonal communication based on DISC and MBTI psychometrics.

As well as expertise in performance analysis and measurement, Matthew brings to clients expertise in accelerated learning. He works with clients to ensure the proper environment for learning and development to take place, both in their organisations and in his trainings and coaching programmes. He also facilitates client understanding of the barriers and enhancers of performance within their organisations, and works with them to create the performance aids critical to application of skills and learning on the job, where business results are realised.

A native of the U.S., Matthew lives and works primarily in Europe these days. In addition to his consulting work, he lectures on a post-graduate course in coaching at Budapest Tech in Hungary and is a guest lecturer on inter-cultural communication.