About the Author - Professional Credentials

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 Over three decades, I've worked in senior roles in large, complex organisations that were often going through big change. Most of that work came down to three things: steering transformation, keeping businesses financially strong, and making sure strategy served the long term rather than just the next quarter.

Chief Financial Officer
Global and regional organisations | 15+ years

As CFO, my remit went well beyond finance. It covered treasury, governance, investor relations, planning and analysis, and at times operations, HR and IT too. I learned early that results come from people, and the teams I worked with were always the reason things got done.

Highlights include:

• Steering businesses through major crises, including the global financial crash and COVID-19.
• Raising over £1 billion in debt financing, including sustainability-linked loans.
• Rebuilding finance functions so they gave clearer insight and worked better with the rest of the business.
• Bringing environmental and social responsibility into financial and strategic planning.
• Building strong finance teams and mentoring the next generation of leaders.

Board & Governance
Non-Executive Director | Advisory Board Member

I've served on the boards of NGOs, charities and mission-led organisations, bringing financial discipline and sound governance to causes I believe in.

Partner to the C-Suite

I've worked closely with CEOs, COOs and boards to connect financial strategy with wider change, from acquisitions and digital projects to ESG and shifts in culture.

I'm an entrepreneur and angel investor in Tanzania, and I founded ElimuMatokeo to help improve education for every child in the country.

This one is personal. I was given the chance to leave Bukoba and study in the UK, and I've often wondered why I was the one who got that chance, and what I owe in return. Every time I travelled back to Tanzania, the same worry came up in conversation after conversation: the quality of education children were getting.

ElimuMatokeo grew out of that, out of gratitude and a wish to give something lasting back. We build tools that help children learn, from the classroom to career and financial literacy. Our aim is simple. We want every child in Tanzania to have the kind of chance I was given.

I'm Chairman of the Board at Reforest Africa. For me, it comes from a simple love for Mother Earth. We work to restore the land and bring people and nature back into balance, so that both can thrive together, now and for the generations to come.

I'd like to keep doing more non-executive and advisory work, especially with organisations that care about people, about the planet, and about changing things for the better. 

 I had a nervous breakdown while I was working as a CFO. Years of overwork and burnout had caught up with me, and I came very close to seriously harming myself. That moment changed how I think about leadership, success and what it means to be well.

It's also why I do this work. I want to help people who are where I was, ideally long before they reach that point.

My coaching is gentle and practical. I help leaders find balance, build emotional resilience and work in ways they can actually sustain. The approach draws on positive psychology, combined with awareness and intuition. Together we look at their relationship with stress, strengthen the foundations underneath them, and help them find meaning and connection again, at work and in life.

This is personal for me. I know how lonely burnout can feel, and how hard it is to admit, even to yourself. And I know that with the right support, it's possible to move from just getting through each day to leading in a way that feels true to who you are.

 As someone devoted to Shiva, I've found that the stories and qualities around him hold real lessons for leaders, whatever their own beliefs.

This side of my coaching invites people to look at what they truly believe and value, and to bring their working life and their personal life into line with it. For me, Shiva stands above all for integrity: a steady commitment to truth and fairness, and a clarity that holds even when everything around it is shifting.

Each part of his story speaks to something leaders face. As Neelkantha, he held the poison no one else would take, steady and calm, so the world could carry on. That's what it means to stay composed under pressure. As Nataraja, the dancer, he ends what has run its course so something new can begin, a reminder that change and renewal belong together. In meditation he is perfectly still, which is where awareness and clear seeing begin. And his third eye sees past appearances to what is really there.

From these, leaders can draw resilience, the courage to let go, the creativity to begin again, and the clarity to see what matters. The aim isn't simply success. It's leading in a way that means something, and bringing your team with you honestly and with strength.

You don't need to share my faith for any of this to be useful. The lessons are human ones.