Our people
There are four Directors here at Waverley, supported back at base by Penny Hogan, our Office Manager. In addition we have a long standing network of trusted associates from whom we can assemble the best team for our client's particular needs.
We are all highly experienced and fully qualified to help support our clients with their development goals. We enable people to focus on their strengths and bring these fully to their work. Our approach is always professional but informal; relaxed but efficient. For us, it's less about listening and more about hearing.
Please click on one of the names below to read in more detail.
Chris Blakeley is the founding Director of Waverley Learning and heads up our leadership and organisational development practice. During his 15 years of organisational consulting, he has advised many large companies on the human aspects of change. Chris combines a strategic business perspective with a talent for releasing potential to create ‘watershed' learning experiences - particularly for people needing to take leadership in a context of change.
Belinda Smith is a Director of Waverley Learning and leads our one-to-one coaching and career management practice. Belinda's talent and insight for the unique development journey of each individual is underpinned by a 15 year track record of establishing and implementing long term HR solutions to meet business needs, both in large blue chip organisations and smaller firms. Her particular expertise is in ensuring that individual learning is sustained over time and leads to lasting change in the workplace.
Karen Blakeley is a director of Waverley Learning and also Assistant Director of the Centre for Leadership, Learning and Change at Cass Business School. She recently completed her doctorate looking at how managers learn during times of change. Karen is interested in how to accelerate learning in times of uncertainty, particularly with regards to leaders. She has appeared on TV and in the press and regularly presents at conferences in the area of leadership learning and has publish her first book: ‘Leadership Blind Spots and What to Do About Them'.
Guy Rothwell is a director of Waverley Learning and specialises in leadership development with a particular emphasis on releasing individual and team potential through productive relationships. With over 20 years experience in a variety of national and international leadership contexts including the army, voluntary sector and senior HR positions in the pharmaceutical industry, Guy has specific expertise in cross-cultural working and team development.
Janet is a director of Windeatt Consultancy Ltd, specialising in the area of leadership and management development. Janet enjoys helping organisations develop robust people strategies to deliver their planned business objectives. Her particular interest is in the inter-relationship between learning and development, employer branding and employee engagement, and the powerful role that leaders can play in accelerating performance by paying attention to these key levers.
Having worked within the US and Europe, Janet has a breadth of international business experience. She has worked within the consultancy field as well as having held a variety of roles within IBM and British Airways. Janet has a clear appreciation of the demands and opportunities facing leaders today, and enjoys working with executives in developing their individual and organisational capability.
Alison believes passionately that work is a place where people should flourish. She has a special interest in teams and what makes them work well and loves to grow people, encouraging them to become more effective in the workplace. She is a founding partner of MCA, a growing Organisational Behaviour consultancy, and has experience of facilitating team development workshops and coaching individuals in different sectors, including healthcare, manufacturing, consulting, banking and not for profit, working with Senior Managers, Executives, and Boards.
Prior to starting MCA, Alison worked as a senior manager in the NHS. She has a geography degree from Cambridge University, an MSc in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and she is a Member of the Faculty of Public Health. She lives with her husband and 4 children near Winchester, and has a special interest in singing early music, and enjoys dinghy sailing, walking and skiing.
Peter has been an associate of Waverley since 2007 specialising in leadership and time and project management coaching and training. He has worked at different levels in a variety of industries and uses this experience to help clients identify practical solutions to workplace issues.
Although a gentle and empathetic man, Peter is an energetic coach with a strong creative streak who challenges his clients to think differently about their situations and commit to actions. His ability to listen and challeng is used by clients for 1:1 mediation team building events, with the focus on measurable action steps.
Peter’s first career was in the Army where he held a variety of leadership and training roles before leaving to join MaST, a training consultancy and then setting up his own consultancy specialising in project management and leadership. He has written two books on project management published in 2001 and 2009 and is currently engaged in writing a third on meetings to be published later this year.
Peter has 3 children and lives near Reading. He is an increasingly decrepit sportsman who still dreams of representing his country at something despite the overwhelming evidenced that this will never happen!
Daphne Clifton is an Executive Coach and trainer with over 25 years experience in business management, sales and customer service. She trains her clients in the private and public sectors to be powerful influencers, negotiate well, manage their time, network effectively to identify prospective clients and close sales.
Daphne works with high achievers, entrepreneurs and senior managers, who work hard and think fast in their desire to deliver increased profitability for their business at the same time as developing their full, human potential. She does this by means of intensive 1:1 coaching with powerful, proprietary tools that her clients can apply directly to their working environment for fast results. When training, Daphne’s energetic, inclusive style ensures delegates not only gain fresh insights but also have tools for instant impact on effectiveness and profitability.
A graduate from Corporate Coach U she is also a member of the International Coach Federation, the C.I.P.D. and is a Director of the South East London Chamber of Commerce. The author of “Network with Confidence” and “Franchising on a Shoestring” Daphne is also a speaker, facilitator and radio commentator. An Associate of Waverley Learning since 2007, Daphne has delivered the “Influencing & Negotiation” training and follow-up coaching, as part of the Southern Water Leadership Programme. She also coaches within the marketing function at Pizza Express. Other clients include Mazars, Lewisham EBP, The London Print Company and Kent & Sussex Properties.
Prior to her association with Waverley Learning, Daphne spent 20 years in Outdoor Advertising as both media buyer and seller. The majority of her time was spent with Primesight and TDI (now CBS Outdoor) as Senior Vice-President, Sales and Customer Service Director. She was instrumental in the cultural change from Government entity to full privatisation as an American sales operation when the London Underground and Bus franchise became available.
One who lives life to the full, Daphne can be found relaxing on the hockey pitch or watching cricket. She is committed to her local community, in particular in building the bridge to employment for excluded teenagers who live on the outer edge of society.
Jill brings a diverse toolkit to her work as a Coach, Facilitator and Career Management Consultant. She has extensive experience in the design and delivery of 1-1 coaching programmes, workshops and training interventions. Her focus is on personal development, CPD, coaching through change and coaching for effective business performance.
Jill spent much of her corporate career working in large and often extremely complex television production teams, and during this time developed a reputation as an empathic and insightful coach, supporting and guiding individuals through this highly competitive and challenging sector. Her coaching style encourages people to recognise their skills and potential and she pays particular attention to enabling a sense of wellbeing and self-confidence.
A keen amateur musician and singer, Jill has recently started singing Jazz for pleasure and performed solo with a Jazz trio in several fund-raising events. Her own love of music has led her to research the impact of music on well-being, self-esteem and identity and she is currently exploring how to develop a specialist area using music in the coaching context.