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I started in commercial debt recovery, recovering outstanding balances for UK and international companies and for credit insurers. It meant negotiating with directors, finance teams and lawyers, often with large sums at stake and several parties pulling in different directions.
It taught me to keep difficult conversations calm, to understand what each side actually needs, and to keep things moving towards an outcome.
I then moved into the non-profit world. As a consultant to schools I worked on Ofsted and registration inspections, premises and building projects, HR restructures, supplier contracts, and finance and fundraising.
I’ve also served as Director of Operations and CEO in CQC-registered emergency services, registering organisations with the CQC from scratch and running compliance, HR, operations, finance, fundraising, events and trustee relations.
Much of my work sits between people who want different things: trustees and staff, regulators and providers, funders and frontline teams, parents and schools. I’m used to being the person in the middle who keeps everyone talking and gets a decision made.
I start by talking to the people who do the work, not by sending forms. I find out what’s really stuck, tell you honestly what I see, and then do the work alongside your team, whether that’s structure, policies, staffing, finances or a system built around how you work.
The name is about taking the high view: seeing the whole organisation and where it needs to get to, then doing the ground-level work to get it there.
National charity supporting schools
Staff time, school billing, consultant payments, events and resources were spread across spreadsheets and inboxes, with no single picture of the organisation.
I’m building one platform to run it: time logging, billing, consultant payments, school records, a portal for schools and a live view of every school’s Ofsted position.
Volunteer emergency medical service
A volunteer ambulance service that needed to operate to the standard of a CQC-registered provider.
As Director of Operations I’ve led CQC registration and compliance, HR and volunteer management, finance, fundraising and trustee relations.
Long-established volunteer community charity
A charity doing important work that had grown faster than its structure.
As part-time operations lead I’m setting up fundraising and grant applications, recruitment, communication with members and the structure to support them.
Independent and faith schools
Schools facing Ofsted and registration inspections, building work, staffing changes and contracts that had never been properly reviewed.
I’ve taken schools through registration and Ofsted inspections, managed extensions and renovations, restructured staff teams, rebuilt finance and fundraising, and renegotiated supplier contracts.
UK and international companies and credit insurers
Large sums owed, disputes going nowhere and several parties with a stake in the outcome, often under real time pressure.
For ten years I negotiated with directors, finance teams, lawyers and insurers to recover commercial and international debts and settle disputes, then helped businesses put the credit control and reporting in place to stop it happening again.
Book a free consultation. We’ll sit down, look at where things stand and talk through where I can make a real difference. No obligation and no sales pitch. If I’m not the right fit, I’ll tell you.