Who we are

To contact, click here Geraldine Gallacher

As one of the pioneers of executive coaching in the UK, Geraldine left industry to set up the Executive Coaching Consultancy in 1994. She possesses an unrivalled depth and breadth of experience as a coach and has worked with top teams and individuals across a wide range of industries. Geraldine is fast paced and has a particular talent for galvanising people into action. Her highly pragmatic approach works especially well in fast moving environments.

“I particularly enjoy assisting people in settling into their roles and I thrive on the challenge of supporting my clients to be effective in the First 100 Days of a new role. I have seen significant success re-energising and re-vitalising people who have been in the same company for some time. I am inspired by new beginnings whether a newly formulated team, an individual who is new to the role or an individual who wants to make a fresh start and drive their business forward.”

Special Interests & Coaching style

As one of the most accomplished executive coaches in the market, Geraldine’s expertise is born of fifteen years working with an exceptionally wide range of businesses and industries. Geraldine's fast paced style is highly effective and she sees her role and purpose as providing a catalyst for enhanced performance. Geraldine is frequently described by her clients as challenging, pragmatic and insightful.

Geraldine is highly skilled and experienced working with corporate boards. Most recently, she has helped two very different boards (one a fashion retailer and one a property investment company) to enhance their effectiveness through a combination of individual coaching and team building.

Clients

Recent clients include:

• Aramark
• Avis
• AngloAmerican
• The Waste Recycling Group
• Atkins
• Arcadia
• Sainsbury's
• Wilkinson
• Warehouse
• BT
• Royal Mail
• J.C.Decaux
• Deutsche Bank
• Bank of New York Mellon
• Allen & Overy

Background

Geraldine started her career in the Ford Motor Company as a Sales and Marketing graduate trainee where she spent five useful years figuring out how to succeed in a global organisation and convince the UK public to switch from the Ford Cortina to the Ford Sierra. Her grasp of organisational dynamics steered her to management consultancy where she spent 2 years consulting for large organisations such as IBM and the AA, only returning to the client side as Management Development Controller for women’s wear at the Burton Group. Geraldine stayed for 5 years and was appointed Head of Group Management Development with responsibility for the development of the top 300 senior executives. Quickly identifying a significant market demand for one to one coaching (long before it became mainstream in the UK), she launched the Executive Coaching Consultancy in 1994. As one of the first executive coaches, Geraldine has worked with an exceptionally wide range of industries and sectors during her 15 years as a coach. She has had the privilege of working with many corporate teams, coaching them both together and as individuals.

Training & Qualifications

Geraldine has a BA in Business Studies and Spanish and an MBA from the University of Edinburgh. She is a non-executive director for Morgan Sindall plc. Geraldine is an accredited coach with more than 10,000 hours of coaching. Geraldine is a member of EMCC and both an individual and founding organisational member of the Association for Coaching.

Testimonials

I first worked with Geraldine shortly after she established The Executive Coaching Consultancy 15 years ago and I have regularly worked with her and various members of her team ever since. Geraldine is an excellent coach and is one of the very best that I know. She understands business and brings that knowledge to the coaching relationship, ensuring that her clients do not lose sight of the need to develop their skills in a way which will improve their contribution to their respective companies. She has a pleasing, direct style and she has never failed to quickly build a strong relationship with every executive that I have sent to her from Sodexo.
Andrew Patrick: HR Director - Sodexo Europe.

I worked with Geraldine for a period of 2 years, my growth as an individual was immense. I grew a true understanding of what made me what I am and was able to apply my strengths to achieve increased business success. My understanding of relationships with others was heightened to the degree that I achieved many stretching personal goals in my organisation. Geraldine’s calm, but firm style of challenge left me in no doubt that I was accountable for my destiny and indeed gave me a greater focus of the control I had both on myself and in relation to the development of my team. Her open and frank questioning style quickly enabled us to build a relationship of trust that in turn led to me being totally honest with her and myself to a deeper degree than I had previously experienced. I regularly use skills and techniques that I gained during this period - and others have also adopted many of the practices I have shared.
Carol Muldoon, HR Director, Convenience Stores, Sainsbury's

Geraldine's coaching, support and advice over the last two years has helped me make significant step changes in my approach to a range of management challenges. She has given me great insight into complex issues around influencing my direct reports, peers and managers and how best to play to my strengths. Her holistic and human approach, taking time to understand me as an individual as well as a professional has benefited me both inside and outside work. Finally our sessions were always very open and candid and felt like talking through issues with a wise friend who has known me all my life.
Caroline Hoare - Head of M&A, Corporate Finance for Anglo American

Geraldine has just completed a highly challenging coaching intervention with our board. Her high level coaching input was immediately noticeable even after just a few initial sessions with the board. This very significant impact and accompanying improvement continues.
Richard Sims, Chairman, A/wear

To contact, click here Kate Buller

Kate is a founding Director of ECC where she works predominantly as an executive coach. Kate also heads up ECC's Executive Coach Training Programme. Kate works with clients to support them in setting and achieving meaningful and motivating goals. She is solution-focused and future-oriented in her approach. She has built a strong reputation as both an executive coach and a team facilitator where her clarity and her direct approach open up intelligent debates to challenge orthodox assumptions and stimulate new ideas.

With over 10,000 coaching hours experience as an executive coach and 25 years in executive development - Kate brings all this experience to her work supervising executive coaches, building an enviable reputation as an outstanding supervisor.

"Clients like my clarity and directness and enjoy the intelligent debate and challenge to their thinking. I am an active listener and enable clients to feel understood, this in turn enables them to shortcut to conclusions through a process of incisive challenge and feedback."

Special Interests & Coaching style

Kate's work as an executive coach is characterised by pragmatism and challenge. Kate helps coachees to understand their unique strengths, their impact on others, how these strengths can be over or underplayed and enable this information to be used in day-to-day business.

Kate supervises executive coaches, in groups and one to one, her supervision expertise informs and consolidates the professionalism of the consultancy. Heading up the Executive Coach Training Programme, Kate provides professional training to experienced HR professionals and senior managers/directors who wish to take their coaching to an advanced level. This academically rigorous programme has won approval from the Association for Coaching. The programme is highly respected by HR professionals, coaches and executives alike. Running over 9 months, it provides the coaches with both tuition and support to strengthen and develop their coaching activity.

Kate actively leads the continuing professional development at ECC, keeping the practice up to date with the latest coaching and business research. She provides her colleagues with new thinking, latest research and articles to provoke thinking and debate. An active member of several networks of coaches, she participates regularly in coaching master classes and discussion groups.

Clients

Current coaching assignments include working with a sales director who has been identified as a future board member. Kate has helped this individual clarify and close the gap between their current and future role, developing their profile as an established member of a demanding board. Kate also works with executive teams, supporting them to operate more effectively as a team in order to create realistic plans to meet their strategic and ambitious goals.

Current clients include:

• Aramark
• BoAMerrill Lynch
• Live Nation
• Allen and Overy
• Herbert Smith
• The Arcadia Group
• TelerealTrillium
• Deutsche Bank
• White Stuff
• Wolters Kluwer
• Bank of New York Mellon

The supervision group has been extremely valuable to me - I think it is very important that, as a coach, I have a forum where I can share the best and the worst of my coaching experiences.  I always leave the sessions feeling I have learned something about myself and my coaching style, so I feel more confident and stimulated in my work.  Kate is very calm and reassuring in her style, but also pushes us to explore broader and deeper issues relating to coaching.
Jane Storer

The coaching supervision group I attend gives me the opportunity to gain valuable input and constructive   feed back, from like-minded professionals, in a supportive environment. I very much value the time I spend with my coaching supervision group and have no hesitation in recommending the group's format, particularly to coaches operating on an individual basis.
Gillian Toal

Background

Kate joined ECC in January1996, before which she spent 10 years as a management development specialist, heading up management development areas within The Burton Group (Arcadia and Debenhams). With over 15 years as a coach and 25 years in executive development, Kate has built an enviable reputation as an outstanding coach and coaching supervisor.

Training & Qualifications

In 1998, she gained a post-graduate Diploma in Career Counselling from Birkbeck College, one of the earliest and best UK academic qualifications then allied to coaching. Kate has recently achieved an Advanced Post-graduate Diploma in Coaching Supervision, one of the first UK Executive Coaches to qualify in this emerging field. As one of the first coaches to achieve the prestigious, full Accreditation as a coach with the Association for Coaching, Kate was invited to join the assessment panel, assessing applications for full accreditation with the AC.

A Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development; Founding Member of The Association for Coaching; PG diploma in Career Counselling (Birkbeck College); Diploma in Business Coaching; Advanced PG Diploma in Coaching Supervision; BPS level A and B; Qualified to use many well known psychometrics, such as MBTI Step One and Two and 16PF; Member BPS and BPS Special Interest Group in Coaching Psychology.

Committed to professional development, Kate is under regular supervision with a Professor specialising in TA. She also regularly attends various talks and workshops run by the coaching organisations and networks she is part of.

To contact, click here Sue Raby

Sue specialises in developing the leadership capabilities of senior executives in fast-paced and challenging business sectors. Working with CEOs, MDs and Directors, as well as Board members and top management teams, she is an experienced and highly effective coach.  Sue delivers challenge and support in equal measure through high levels of insight and empathy. With a background in large organisations and having worked as Management Development Director as well as HR Director, Sue understands organisational dynamics and what is required to achieve leadership success in today's business environment.

"My work focuses on personal effectiveness as well as leadership, Board and top team development.  I bring insight into how teams can best operate and what good, effective teams actually look like and can achieve.  My approach is to encourage and challenge individuals to grow as leaders by taking responsibility for their own development and effectiveness."

Special interests / coaching style

With 15 years experience as an executive coach, Sue's focus is on developing leadership capabilities and enabling individuals to achieve their full potential, whether through organisational or individual change.  This includes supporting leaders through their first 100 days in a new role. Sue particularly enjoys working with CEOs and MDs on the unique challenges they face as leaders.

Whilst the primary objective is often business development through performance coaching, the personal development needs of the individual are always incorporated. Sue creates a confidential contract with the individual which is characterised by trust and openness. Sue is able to quickly identify needs and the fundamental issues to be addressed. She strongly believes in working on strengths as much as on development needs and so builds on the positives throughout. Sue is known for her high quality and creative approaches, as well as measurable results.

The scope of Sue's coaching has been a mixture of one-to-one coaching, team development and board review work. She is also interested supporting the development of leaders through working with them to develop their own coaching skills. Sue coaches through a mix of face-to-face meetings and telephone and video conferencing sessions.

Clients

Amongst Sue's current clients are:

• White Stuff
• ASOS.com
• Dwell Ltd
• Arcadia Group Ltd
• Wolters Kluwer UK
• Tata Group
• Deutsche Bank

and a number of the large legal firms.

"I began working with the Executive Coaching Consultancy in 2004 when I first joined White Stuff, although I had known Debbie and Sue for many years before that. Over the past 5 years the team at ECC has helped me to develop a management team that has taken the business from £13million to over £50 million turnover and put us on The Times top 100 companies to work for. Their training and coaching is amongst the best I've come across in the business."
Sally Bailey, CEO, White Stuff

"Executive Coaching Consultancy carried out an exceptional coaching program that yielded really positive results and was hugely instrumental in developing the management and leadership skills of our top team.  The coaching sessions were really positively received and many otherwise sceptical participants were won over and effusive in the support of it.   I personally found the sessions with Sue insightful, inspirational and immediately beneficial in helping me lead the company and motivate my team. Her observations and questions were spot on and I would heartily recommend her."
Aamir Ahmad, Managing Director, Dwell Retail Limited

"Sue has worked with me personally for some years as a coach and as a top team facilitator for some of the Brands and Senior Executives within Arcadia.  She works with me in a way that has enabled me to achieve speedy, increased and sustainable effectiveness in my career through focused learning."
Siobhan Forey, Group HR Director, Arcadia Group

Background

Sue Raby has over 20 years experience working in management development and latterly as an executive coach, making her one of the most experienced management development professionals in the UK. Before joining ECC early in 2007, Sue had spent 20 years specialising in people development, the last 10 years of which was in executive coaching and leadership development as the Director of Management Development for Arcadia Group, the largest UK fashion retailer. She had responsibility for the development of 7 Operating Boards and their teams, and for 150 of the top Senior Executives in the company. Prior to this Sue had HR Director roles, as well as working within the Finance sector.  Her extensive business background enables Sue to quickly grasp the complex issues and corporate environments facing many of her clients.

Training and Qualifications

Sue is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, and has a post graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management.  With extensive experience and training in psychometric tools, Sue has BPS Level A and B qualifications and is trained in a number of psychometric and evaluation tools including; Myers Briggs Type Indicator level 1 & 2, 16pf, OPQ and FIRO B. 360° tools including; MRG's Leadership Effectiveness Analysis (LEA), Hay Group's Inventory of Leadership Styles (ILS), Hay Group's Emotional Intelligence Inventory (EQI), and Sue is also experienced in using PILAT and Psymmetry feedback reports. Sue is a member of the Association for Coaching and the EMCC.

To contact, click here Emma Spitz

Emma is particularly interested in working with individuals during transition points in their careers - either to a more senior role, working within a new organisation or through periods of significant change.  She enjoys working with high potential individuals and managers to enable them to realise their potential and their aspirations.

Emma has a highly empathic and intuitive approach to coaching which provides her with insights into her clients which allows her to challenge them in a fearless and demanding yet encouraging and supportive way. 

"Clients describe me as being open and challenging within a highly supportive and constructive framework.  I bring objectivity and structure to a client's personal and professional development goals, as well as thought-provoking insights."

Coaching style

Each coaching programme is tailored to her individual client's needs, where they will examine their strengths, development areas, coaching and business objectives using a structured framework which allows them to develop relevant and achievable action plans leading to significant results.  Emma combines perceptiveness with a strong pragmatic and business focus to ensure that her clients focus on action and achieving results. 

Special Interests

As a natural development of her interest in transition and development coaching, Emma successfully created and launched Maternity Coaching in 2005.  As the first UK consultancy to offer tailored maternity coaching programmes, Emma continues to successfully lead and develop this growing area of executive coaching and ECC now lead the market as providers of maternity coaching programmes.

Background

Prior to joining the Executive Coaching Consultancy in February 2004 Emma spent over 10 years working in the financial services sector, working for the Prudential, the Liberty Life Group and JP Morgan Chase. As an HR Manager, a Learning and Development Specialist and now as a coach, Emma has worked extensively with individuals across a wide variety of roles, levels, organisations and sectors to help them optimise their performance and realise their potential.

Clients

Since joining the ECC in February 2004, Emma has worked with clients in a variety of management and professional roles at:

• Allen & Overy
• AOL
• Avis
• Bank of New York Mellon
• Bridgepoint
• Deutsche Bank
• Herbert Smith
• HG Capital
• Land Securities
• Media Planning Group
• Merrill Lynch
• MJ Media
• Morgan Sindall
• Oracle
• SJ Berwin
• The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority
• The Royal Bank of Canada
• Telereal
• The Arcadia Group
• Total Media and White Stuff.

She has most recently worked with senior individuals at Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch, Bridgepoint, Bank of New York Mellon and White Stuff.

"The 360 feedback was great to do and Emma’s challenging style suits me. The coaching helped me to focus on my development and enabled me to reflect on my actions. I found the coaching challenging, but also supportive, Emma challenged my thinking by asking some difficult questions. She was very focused and kept the sessions moving forward and on track."
Jessica Taylor, Head of HR, White Stuff.

"Life changing best describes the results of working with Emma. The coaching was incredible fun and the apparent ease with which I became a confident, goal setting and action oriented business person continues to amaze me. And the results followed!"
Kirsty Hutton, Buying Director, Total Media Limited.

Training & Qualifications

Emma is a Psychology graduate, with an MSc in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations from the London School of Economics and has completed a Certificate in Coaching. Emma is trained in the use of psychometric profiles and often uses these, together with 360 Degree Feedback, to help individuals increase their self-awareness. She is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Personnel and Development, a Member of the Association for Coaching and was granted AC Accredited Coach status in March 2007.  She is also a member of the EMCC.

To contact, click here Debbie Moore

Debbie works with both individuals and groups, supporting them to realise their full potential through coaching them to attain their personal and professional goals. Her operational experience brings a highly practical focus to her coaching, particularly highlighting the personal action planning necessary for change. Debbie enjoys working with high potential managers to realise their full potential and become successful.

“Clients describe me as bringing positive energy and optimism to my work, creating an environment where they feel confidence to explore wider options, try new things and challenge themselves further than ever. They like the practical nature of sessions, my action orientation and the balance of support and challenge as they review the changes they are making.”

Special Interests & Coaching style

Debbie’s natural interest is in helping others to unlock their leadership potential. She typically works at director and potential director level where she helps individuals to explore, reflect, and take action to fulfil their goals. She has a focussed, energetic, and practical edge to her coaching helping individuals develop awareness and confidence, and organisations improve on their business results through their people.

Whilst Debbie's primary role is as an Executive Coach, she also specialises in Leadership Development Programmes for Middle and Senior Managers which are of a blended nature including group learning events, business improvement projects, peer learning partnerships and of course 1:1 coaching. Each programme is tailored to the client needs to ensure there is both a personal development and business focus.

Background

Debbie's career started in commercial management where, by her mid 20s she had responsibility for a major retail unit, a large team and a significant turnover.

She soon recognised her success not only came through her commercial understanding and execution, but also her leadership ability and this led her to make the move from line management into a career in learning and management development, helping others to recognise their own capabilities as leaders.

She worked for 11 years within a large organisation, latterly heading up a Group Management Development function, providing leadership development and coaching to managers and senior executives from businesses across the group. In 2000 she took this experience into consultancy where she continues to offer executive coaching and leadership development.

Clients

Debbie’s recent clients include:

• Arcadia Group Ltd
• ASOS.com
• Carphone warehouse
• Dwell Ltd
• Medical Protection Society
• Telereal Trillium
• Topshop
• Waterstone’s
• Wolters Kluwer UK
• White Stuff

"I have worked with Debbie and the team at ECC both in this and my last organisation.

They have provided executive coaching at both Director and Head of Department levels and individuals value their support in helping them shape their vision and identify their personal strengths to enhance their own performance and effectiveness to drive personal and company performance.

In addition, Debbie has worked with me to deliver an excellent Leadership Programme for our executive and management population where we have experienced a measurable change in leadership capability, helping our managers to develop strong and supportive personal leadership styles, and equipping them with the influencing and coaching skills to help their own teams to develop and deliver more. "
Andrea Anderson, Head of Human Resources and Training, ASOS online.com.

"We have worked with the team at Executive Development for the last three years on a number of projects. The speed at which they understand what is required and the quality of the work produced means that they are at the top of the list when we need external support."
David Ashley, Head of Learning and Development, Waterstone's.

Training & Qualifications

Debbie holds a BSc Honours degree and is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Personnel and Development and a Member of the Association for Coaching. She has trained extensively in the use of psychometric profiles and holds BPS Level A and B qualifications, Myers Briggs Type Indicator level 1 & 2, 16pf, ILS-Inventory of Leadership Styles (Hay Group), and LEA- Leadership Effectiveness Analysis (Management Research Group). Debbie is also experienced in using some of these tools in 360 feedback format together with others such as PILAT and Psymmetry.