Director Development Programme – The Strategic Leader

Andy Bate, ACA, is a chartered accountant (ICAEW) and holds a Diploma in Corporate Finance. He brings over 15 years’ experience in corporate finance and private equity, and has held more than 15 board appointments across healthcare, education technology, e-commerce and consumer goods, learning and development and content and communications.

His board roles have spanned PE-backed companies, owner-managed SMEs and early-stage ventures. Across his career, Andy has worked with in excess of 200 businesses in different capacities – as an investor, founder, non-executive director, board advisor and consultant.

Andy is a founding partner of Gunner Cooke Operating Partners, where he works with portfolio companies on governance, value creation and board effectiveness. He has also co-founded and built two businesses: a direct-to-consumer e-commerce company and, in 2019, an education software business focused on capturing and evidencing health and wellbeing outcomes in children.

His programme content is shaped by direct boardroom experience. Andy has led boards through fundraisings, served on PE-backed boards with an exit focus, guided companies through restructurings, and been involved in multiple buy-and-build strategies.

James has extensive experience in commercial and operational roles as a leader within high-growth SME environments.

Initially working within executive recruitment within the construction industry, he has also consulted with all sizes of organisations across multiple sectors. James brings a pragmatic, thought-provoking and experience-led perspective to address the challenges faced by leaders today.

He supports leaders to distribute decision making and deploy coaching practice in order to achieve
sustainable growth and empower the organisation throughout.

Janet is a leadership, resilience and business coach. After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Young she worked in senior management and finance director roles for recognised retailers such as WH Smiths and Littlewoods. She then followed her passion for developing people by becoming a leadership development trainer, currently specialising in wellbeing and resilience with a wide range of companies including BAE Systems, Pets at Home, Janssen Pharmaceutical, SME’s and Charities. She also delivers a wide range of finance programmes from introductory sessions up to Directors Development, together with individual finance business coaching.

Janet enjoys using her finance, business and personal leadership experience, combined with her coaching and training skills, to enable people and teams develop the skills, behaviours and culture they desire.

Janet works with not-for-profit organisations, currently as a Governor for the Trafford College Group, a Trustee & Treasurer for Home-Start Trafford, Salford & Wigan plus a business mentor with the Manchester Business Growth Hub.

Janet is an accredited practitioner for the Kirros RQi resilience programme plus trained in the Drake P3 behavioural profiling system. She is a member of the Association of Coaching (AOC), the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAEW).

Alex is an experienced and dedicated education consultant and trainer. His core skillset is the design and delivery of engaging personal and professional development programmes. He is adaptable and comfortable working at any level in the organisation, from front line leaders to the Board.

Prior to working in consultancy Alex was an army officer (making it to Major). A natural diplomat, Alex studied Pashto (the language of Southern Afghanistan) and held a leadership role in supporting reconstruction and development, primarily in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.  Alex supported the development and delivery of the army’s global Security, Leadership and Strategy programme, and later worked to establish the curriculum for Afghanistan’s Officer Training Academy, in Kabul.

Alex has built a consultancy business and delivered a diverse portfolio of organisational development projects. He works across all sectors and his clients include the NHS, NATO, Barnardo’s, Home Bargains, a variety of Academy Trusts and schools, and many smaller businesses and charities. Alex has worked closely with the Chartered Management Institute, and routinely lectures on MBA and Director Development programmes for the Universities of York, Chester, and East London. Alex maintains a high level of currency and is currently developing programmes focussing on Distributed Leadership, and Managing Neurodivergent Colleagues.

Alex holds three Master’s degrees: Educational Innovation, Psychology, and Occupational Psychology. He is married to Katherine and has two children and two Labradors.