Sarah MacDonald

Founder and CEO

Sarah is a business leader who spent 25 years leading change for some of the world’s top brands. With a degree in sport management and psychology, she was instrumental in the growth and development of the Nike women’s retail business in the UK and Europe and went on to work as a senior leader for GlaxoSmithKline and the world’s leading Investment bank, Goldman Sachs.

Sarah is an expert in building experiences and believes they help us create emotional episodes which shape our attitudes, behaviours and performance.

She is an entrepreneur, mum of four, Founder of The Leadership High, MacExperience (MacX) and Inclusion-X.

Sally Storey

Transformation Partner

Sally has over 20 years’ leadership experience across all aspects of commercial pharmaceuticals and previously five years in FMCG. She was the first female leader of any pharmaceutical company across the Gulf Co-operation Council. She has a track record of delivering transformational change programmes across different functions and geographies.

With 13 years’ experience operating at board level, she is currently an advisory Board member for a leading strategy consultancy. Sally was also Chief Operating Officer at Surfers Against Sewage, a national marine conservation charity. 

Simon Ash MBE

Transformation Partner

Simon started his career as Bomb Disposal Officer in the British Army. His experience on various operational tours gave Simon a personal insight into leadership in adversity and managing risk where the stakes are highest.

After leaving the Regular Army Simon went on to be a project manager for Mace Ltd, working on large construction projects such as The Shard in London. He also worked as a senior manager and trustee within the charity sector before turning to consulting and becoming a qualified executive coach. He now specialises in facilitating leadership development programmes to support high-performance teams across various sectors.

Simon is also a serial adventurer, having led operations and expeditions around the world. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and was awarded an MBE in 2019.

Peter Redhead

Transformational Partner

Peter’s career path started with the Home Office looking at crime patterns. But he soon joined Northumbria Police where he ended up as a detective covering all major crimes.

An MBA with distinction led him to Hong Kong to become an equity analyst. Peter was Head of Asian Research for JPMorgan and Head of European Research for them in The City, and has managed staff from tens of countries and worked with clients and regulators world-wide. He was Global Head of Equity research and co-head of Asian equities at Macquarie.

Peter is a non-executive board director, a Leadership Coach and is active in a number of charities. We’re excited to have Peter as a member of the TLH team.

Professor Ian Robertson

Academic Partner

Ian Robertson is Professor Emeritus in Psychology at Trinity College and was the founding director of Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience. He is Co-Director of the Global Brain Health Institute, a Member of the Royal Irish Academy and a Member of Acadamia Europea. He is a highly-cited researcher on the brain’s attention systems and his most recent of a series of widely-translated popular science books is How Confidence Works: the new science of self-belief, published by Penguin in  2021.

Mel Marshall MBE

Belief Partner

Mel is the National Centre Lead Coach for British Swimming and coaches Olympic Gold medallist Adam Peaty MBE.

Mel Marshall MBE is a double Olympian, five-time Olympic finalist, and the second most decorated female at the Commonwealth Games – taking home no less than six medals at the 2006 Melbourne Games alone. In 2004, she was ranked number one in the world when she broke the British 200m freestyle record, which cemented her place in the Olympic Games in Athens.

Mel announced her retirement from swimming following the 2008 Beijing Olympics and started her world-leading career as an elite coach. She joined City of Derby Swimming Club as Head Coach, before joining Loughborough University in 2017 as the National Centre Lead Coach for British Swimming.

Mel’s extraordinary career as Lead Coach has resulted in over 20 international medals across the World, European and Commonwealth Games. Mel is coach to Adam Peaty MBE, who under her coaching has won 3 Olympic gold medal titles.

As a coach Mel has been recognised for her coaching excellence winning British Swimming Coach of the year three times in a row and in 2014 Mel was named UK Sports Coach of the year. Mel was shortlisted for the 2021 BBC Coach of the Year award.

Mel has a BSc in Sports Science and an honorary Doctorate from Loughborough University.

Mel currently resides in Loughborough with her two dogs, Missy and Jetson.

Mel is passionate about helping people go in pursuit of better so this was a match made in heaven and TLH are absolutely delighted that Mel has joined the TLH Advisory Team as a Belief Partner to help guide us and our clients.

Tom Bates

Performance Partner

Over the last 15 years Tom Bates has become a leading Performance Psychologist applying fast, effective and accessible performance-enhancing techniques to elite sport; based on the science of psychology.

Starting his career at Cambridge United, Tom moved to AFC Bournemouth and quickly progressed to Birmingham City FC and West Brom during their years in the English Premier League before taking up a role at Aston Villa FC as Head of Performance Psychology & Culture.

Tom’s expertise has been employed by other professional sports such as GB Basketball, Swimming, Boxing, Rugby Union, Golf and Fencing. He worked with Team GB athletes at the 2021 Olympic Games to maximise performance under pressure and to be at their best when it mattered the most. This included helping the British Olympic Swimming Team to win their highest medal count in Olympic history.

He enjoys engaging with television and radio broadcasters, appearing numerous times on the BBC, Sky Sports and BT Sport. Tom works internationally, promoting the importance of mindset in achieving excellence, has delivered a TEDx talk “Creativity – The Power of Imagination” and is the author of ‘The Future Coach’, his first book released in 2017.

Tom has extended his work from sports teams to business teams and now works as a Consultant, specialising in sport, education and business. TLH are delighted that Tom joins them as a Performance Partner, bringing a wealth of knowledge, passion and experience.

Dr. David Fletcher

Academic Partner

Dr David Fletcher PhD CPsychol is the Director of Performance Psychology and Management at Loughborough University. He is the senior advisor on a PhD co-funded with The Leadership High to research the impact of physical challenge on workplace performance.

His experience of consulting with high-level performers spans the past 20 years and includes working closely with Olympic and world champions from a variety of sports, special forces and emergency services, and senior leaders and their teams in FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 companies. David has published widely in performance psychology and consulting, including ground-breaking research studies in scientific journals and practical articles that demystify complex human phenomena.

He is currently an Associate Editor (Social and Behavioural Sciences section) of the Journal of Sports Sciences, a Consulting Editor for Sport, Exercise and Performance Psychology, and sits on the editorial board of five other international peer-reviewed journals. David has won multiple awards for his professional practice and research from organisations such as the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences, the American Psychological Association, the Association for Applied Sport Psychology, and most recently FindAUniversity’s inaugural British Postgrad PhD Supervisor of the Year Award. He is regularly interviewed about performance psychology-related topics on British national television (e.g., BBC Breakfast, BBC News, Sky News, ITV News, Sky Sports), radio (e.g., BBC World Service, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 5 Live), and newspapers (e.g., The Times, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph).

Sally McMurray

Client Experience Director

Sally has over 20 years experience developing complex  and effective communication projects designed to increase employee engagement, motivation and help to change behaviours. 

With a strong focus on client experience, she brings energy and confidence in delivering projects, delivering intuitive and personalised solutions.

Sally heads up client experience at TLH. She focuses on optimising the client journey with the leaders and teams we work with, ensuring TLH are always in pursuit of better. 

Sally has a passion for volunteering, her latest role working to help mentor and rehabilitate ex offenders.  A city girl but with a love of the sea she’s never happier than walking the dog along a coastal path.

Susie Hudson

Team Assistant

Susie has worked alongside several C-Suite Executives and brings with her over 20 years’ experience across a variety of sectors; Mining, Retail, Finance and Charity, the House of Commons, Events Management and Public Relations. Susie’s many skills ensures that the team at TLH are always prepared and organised, working effectively and efficiently with all our clients.

If Susie’s not juggling work and parenthood, you’ll find her on the beach with her crazy, but lovable cockapoo, Honey.

Will Tyne

Academic Researcher

Will is a Post Graduate Researcher at Loughborough University and is supported by The Leadership High. Will’s Research focuses on how physically challenging experiences can help us thrive in the workplace and more broadly our lives. TLH and Loughborough are looking at the impact of recreational challenge on workplace performance. Will took time out of academia, and with a sense of adventure, moved to Canada – British Columbia, for two years, competing in mountain bike events. Upon his return to the UK, he resumed his studies with Loughborough University and completed a Masters in Sport and Exercise Psychology, along with his First class degree honours in Sports Management.

Kirsty Kothakota

Marketing and Communications

Kirsty has extensive marketing experience across a range of industries and organisations, from established brands to tech start-ups.

Having planned and implemented many multi-channel marketing campaigns, involving digital, experiential and traditional ATL channels – Kirsty brings a passion & enthusiasm to TLH for delivering relevant, inspiring and authentic brand and client communications.

Kirsty holds a Master’s Degree in Strategic Marketing Management as well as a Professional Diploma from the Chartered Institute of Marketing. She also has a BA Degree in Modern European Languages and enjoys travelling.

She relishes physical challenge, whether open water swimming, running, or triathlon and is a qualified Yoga teacher with a particular interest in Mindfulness and speaks 4 languages which comes in very handy. Kirsty is also a busy Mum with two boys.

Jaya Puri-Parsons

Business Strategy Intern

Jaya has assisted TLH on several important strategic projects. With a degree in Economics and Politics, Jaya has positioned her career toward the finance industry and has already interned at some of the worlds’ leading financial institutions including Goldman Sachs and EY.

She is set to join Lloyds Banking Group as an Analyst in their Corporate Banking Division and is passionate about refining and strengthening her confidence and those around her as she develops into a leader of tomorrow.

Clive Rawlings

Clive is a barrister at the U.K Bar where he has practised in public and administrative law for over 20 years. He is a member of Doughty Street Chambers in London.

Clive is nationally recognised as a leading expert in education law, having been a teacher and education manager prior to his career at the Bar. He has regularly advised and represented private individuals, companies, local and national government, voluntary sector organisations and charities. He has developed a particular expertise supporting young people with disabilities or special educational needs.

Clive has held organisational leadership positions for over 35 years, including roles on the senior leadership team of schools, local authorities, chambers management teams, private companies, and voluntary organisations.

Clive is presently engaged in the sport industry as Director of 4 Corners Sports Management, in the strategic oversight of culture, arts, sport and leisure as a Trustee of the Cheltenham Trust, and arranging sporting opportunities for young boys and girls as the Chairman of a large local youth football club in Hertfordshire.

Clive has a long-standing passion and commitment to promote equal opportunities for all and recognises fully the role that confidence and physical challenge plays in developing human skill, expertise and achievement. He is excited by the innovation, energy, enthusiasm and engagement TLH will bring to organisational and personal development and wishes in due course to help TLH develop the confidence muscle™ of young people from a variety of backgrounds through a TLH charitable venture.

Annabel Saunders

Annabel has achieved sustained global leadership impact during her career with a track record of outstanding sales and marketing achievements. She has wide experience as a high performing senior commercial leader within blue chip organisations, across multiple regions including the Emerging Markets, Asia Pacific, USA and UK and was latterly Vice President, Commercial Excellence Emerging Markets and Asia Pacific at GlaxoSmithKline. After 25 years in the corporate world, Annabel established her own Consultancy, Skylark, to help businesses achieve competitive advantage by developing bespoke partnerships with clients to achieve even greater commercial excellence within their teams. Annabel is known as an inspirational leader and coach and is passionate about developing teams. She has also been involved with The Prince’s Trust for over seven years working as a mentor to support young people as they develop and launch their own businesses.

Kate Holden

An engaging, influential global leader and Board Member, Kate has extensive experience in strategy formulation and execution, digital transformation and complex stakeholder engagement having worked in high performing environments in the Education, Information Services and Media industries.

Kate’s leadership skills and experience in managing P&L of up to £223m and staff of 1,000 has been gained through a successful career with some of the most respected global brands: RELX PLC, Pearson PLC, Financial Times and McGraw-Hill Education and through her own consulting business, providing Strategic Planning and Digital Transformation Services.

Born in Cyprus and educated at an Italian school, Kate completed her undergraduate studies at Southampton University followed by several executive courses at Harvard Business School, Chicago Management School and Cranfield Management School.

Kate enjoys working with Boards, CEOs and their teams facing strategic choices and responding to the challenges of today’s digital disruptions to achieve scale, grow market share and deliver profitable results. She is a Board Member on the Learning Change Programme at The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and a Member of the Finance and General Purposes Committee at the University of Warwick. Kate is also a freeman of the City of London, a Liveryman and a Mentor at the Worshipful Company of Marketors – a City Livery Co. which promotes Marketing as a force for economic and social good.

She speaks English, French, Italian and Greek, loves working with different cultures and channels her passion for coaching executives, entrepreneurs and their teams by focusing on helping them gain strategic clarity and create a culture of belief and excellence for themselves and their teams.

Peter Redhead

Peter’s career path started with the Home Office looking at crime patterns. But he soon joined Northumbria Police where he ended up as a detective covering all major crimes.

An MBA with distinction led him to Hong Kong to become an equity analyst. Peter was Head of Asian Research for JPMorgan and Head of European Research for them in The City, and has managed staff from tens of countries and worked with clients and regulators world-wide. He was Global Head of Equity research and co-head of Asian equities at Macquarie.

Peter is a non-executive board director, a Leadership Coach and is active in a number of charities. We’re excited to have Peter as a member of the TLH team.

Peter Newhouse

Peter Newhouse is a well-known expert on how to reward and recognise people. Peter was Unilever’s Global Head of Reward from 2010 to 2022. He was previously a senior executive at Ford in North America and Group Head of Remuneration at Standard Chartered Bank in London. After graduating with a Law degree, Peter started his career in Reward in 1980 when he joined the American consulting company Organization Resources Counselors Inc (ORC).

Peter is currently focused on the future of reward and recognising people. He is now a Global Reward Counselor advising companies, he is a frequent speaker at international conferences, has had articles published in newspapers and specialist publications and has featured on television and radio. Peter is committed to understanding what motivates leaders and teams and working with people to develop better ways to do this. The Leadership High are absolutely delighted that Peter has joined their Advisory Team so we can benefit from his ideas, creativity and energy.

Duncan Adamson

Duncan is the Director of the International Snowsport School. He is also a trainer and examiner of ski instructors and has decades of experience in coaching human performance on the slopes.

Duncan believes the very essence of leadership and decision-making is at the core of every skier, no matter their level. Understanding and using these processes empowers the learner to lead their own path on the mountain, to make their own choices and conquer the challenges ahead.

As instructors and coaches, we move towards understanding psychological and neurological responses to better understand how we guide a developing skier. A change of emotion and understanding by the skier at any moment gives them highs and lows. The emotional lows can never be ignored; they are an essential prerequisite for experiencing the highs. Although we present skiing content to overcome and embrace challenge on the slopes; there is a clear application of this experience to everyday leadership in life.

We use skiing to represent examples of the challenges we face; the ultimate goal being to define a process everyone can follow to lead us through life’s challenges.