I bring people and ideas together to create the conditions for deep change in complex systems, and support others to do the same.
My work tends to fit into three (overlapping) freelance buckets:
- Facilitator.
- Coach for changemakers. I work with individuals who are looking to do good in the world to give them structure, questions and accountability as they go through career transitions.
- Consultant. I play this role when I have some expertise to offer or where it’s a longer engagement.
Roles I’m playing at the moment:
- Stewarding Group member for the Transformational Governance project. Our vision is for inclusive, open, transformational governance that invites change, redistributes power, and enables everyone to thrive. I’ve played several roles: co-facilitator of the 2023 Power Shift learning cohort, Community facilitator, member of the Finance Working Group and Reaching Beyond Steward. I am currently our Enabling lead.
- Learning Partner with the Summerfield Community Chest, a pioneering investment strategy that aims to improve the lives of thousands of people in Gloucestershire. I’m supporting with developmental evaluation, facilitating learning, coaching, research and advice on community engagement.
- Consultant at Healing Solidarity, facilitating cohorts of white people working in global development to commit to and practise anti-racism.
- Associate at the Curiosity Society, a consultancy that uses learning and design for systemic change.
Previous work includes:
- Host of White Men: What Next? with Huddlecraft (2022-2024) I hosted a 6-month learning journey for white men who want to explore and embody what it looks like to contribute to change, and create a world beyond patriarchy and white supremacy.
- Network Facilitator for Democratic Ownership Matters (2023) – I facilitated an international online network of organisations whose work is based on the belief that democratic ownership matters. I supported on governance, event design, coaching, facilitation and learning.
- Trustee at RESULTS UK (2017-2023). RESULTS is a global development advocacy charity that builds the public and political will to end poverty. I was Co-Chair for three years up to June 2023 and worked in partnership with the other Co-Chair to lead the board in fulfilling our governance responsibilities, chair board meetings, lead strategic discussions, line manage the CEO, and recruit and induct board members.
- Founder and Convenor-in-Chief at London International Development Network (2012-2021). What started as a Facebook group and a few casual meet-ups grew over time to over 15,000 members, regular events, a mentorship scheme and a team of a dozen volunteers. This taught me a great deal about network weaving and horizontal leadership.
- Consultant at LearnAdapt with ODI and Brink (2017-2020). We worked closely with the FCDO to create systems and processes and nurture an environment that enabled innovative and adaptive programming. I played the role of researcher, idea synthesiser, facilitator of learning processes, convenor of public workshops and author of internal guidance notes.
- Host of Doing Dinner Differently, (2018-2020) a series of dinners where I invited changemakers into a brave space where they can be vulnerable, connect deeply with one another and talk around a theme.
- I started my career as an economist, firstly in the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, then the Zanzibar Plannig Commission (as an ODI Fellow).
And what else?
I live near Exeter with my Dutch wife and our super-fluffy cat, Lewis. I’m a proud Cornishman and farmer’s son. To relax, I play drums (that’s me below at Wilderness Festival 2021 with the Sunday Assembly band), do improv comedy and walk the South West Coast Path. My pronouns are he/his/him.
Helpful things to know about me
- I love working with organisations working at the forefront of whatever they do with a clear purpose of shifting patterns in oppressive and damaging sysems.
- I’m committed to anti-racist and feminist practice and am increasingly looking to make this a central part of what I do rather than something on the side. A key inquiry for me is what it means to pursue systemic change as a cis, straight, white man who stands to benefit from systems of oppression.
- I’m at my best (and happiest) when I’m connecting disparate ideas and bringing people together. This can be a source of creativity, but I have to be careful it doesn’t lead to procrastination when I really need to zone in on one thing for a while.
- I’m a gatherer of people and ideas. I love to host meetups, dinners, workshops and coffee dates, and I am naturally drawn to building communities and networks. I especially enjoy bridging across different worlds.
- I’m genuinely enthusiastic – it’s not just a face I put on. However, at the same time, I’m an ambivert – I get energy both from being by myself and by being with others.
- I’m deeply intentional in how I spend my time and energy. I have daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual processes of reflection.
- I tend to experiment my way to an outcome rather than having a long-term plan.
- I’m an insatiable learner. I rarely press repeat on the same thing, always looking to experiment and improve. I am drawn to new and shiny things and learning from everyone on a team.
- I love to work with organisations who are structured in a non-hierarchical way, supporting self-management and distributed leadership with a clear philosophy of sharing power. I strongly believe that there is a beautiful creative space between rigidity and disorder (which is why I love Liberating Structures).