Leadership Forums

Andrew built his family Food Import business to revenues of $100 mln p.a. and is one of the global industry leaders on a United Nations project for more nutritious and sustainable foods. Andrew now spends most of his time as a Social Action activist with Citizens UK and coach/mentor to charities and social enterprises through his extended network & Ella Forums.

David has worked in leadership roles in the voluntary sector for over 20 years, with his last two roles being CEO of local charities. He has recently set up a new recruitment business, Jobs with Purpose, supporting non-profit organisations to source people who connect with their values. His background cuts across the charity, public and private sectors and he brings with him senior management experience in the fields of youth, learning disability, mental health, employment support, corporate social responsibility and local regeneration. He has also held posts in private sector recruitment and sports retail buying. David takes a real interest in the community and voluntary sector, especially in the North East and has held trusteeships with regional voluntary sector infrastructure organisation Voluntary Organisations Network North East (VONNE) and Healthwatch North Tyneside. He is a Clore Social Leadership fellow, completed the Common Purpose North East Meridian leadership programme and has been involved with Pilotlight, both as a leader of a charity benefitting from the programme and as part of a team supporting a charity. David has chaired the North East forum since January 2021 and from October 2022 he will join Ella Forums as a Director. He has a degree in Management and Masters in Psychology.

David has spent over 25 years as a leader within the global software industry, leading large cross-national, cross-cultural teams, with a focus on creating the right culture and psychological safety needed for the team to flourish. Always an active mentor, David began his journey as a coach some five years ago, and recently left full-time employment to focus on his coaching practice, working with individuals to create that self-awareness, unlock those insights and identify the concrete steps that will truly lead to transformative behavioural change whether in a leadership, professional or personal capacity. He is ACC accredited and working towards completing a Masters in Coaching for Behavioural Change later in 2024.

This forum is chaired and facilitated by Sarah Law. Sarah has an extensive and proven experience of organisational and leadership development plus expertise in coaching and team development. Feel free to contact Sarah on 07831 202730 for further details of the Southern Forum.
You can be assured of a warm welcome from Sarah and the members of the Southern Forum. They have lively debates on a genuinely diverse range of topics, and they take the time to get to know each other as they find that this makes the forum stronger. Sarah facilitates and also participates in the discussions which focus on issues and challenges faced by the members. This can cover a wide range of issues and they also share the learning from the monthly speaker sessions.
The charities represented by the members of this forum include a hospice, an online payment provider, adult learning, a community farm, literacy support to underprivileged young children, a large hospital charity, a virtual medical advice provider and a charity for the blind. And they do have some spaces for new members.

This session will be facilitated by the Chair of the forum – Niamh Thorpe, who is an experienced executive coach and has many years of management and leadership experience.