Career History
Since 2004
I am a full-time independent communications consultant, coach and trainer, offering personal development coaching and small-group training to senior executives, often at board level, on their communication and presentation skills
I pride myself in developing strong ongoing relationships with my clients, and have worked with many of them for years. I work with Private Equity firms and larger corporate organisations across industries and sectors
1994 to 2004
I was a Senior Communication Consultant at McKinsey & Company for 10 years, based in the London office but working across Europe and globally
I coached McKinsey people to be effective communicators and trusted advisors to their clients, working with them to explain clearly and persuasively complex strategic analysis and the resulting recommendations. I also coached McKinsey clients on how to communicate strategic change within their organisations
As well as being an advisor and coach, I also designed and delivered training workshops on a range of relevant communication skills
Early Career
I started my career in politics as a public affairs consultant based in Westminster for 4 years.
I advised clients on the impact of government policy on their business and helped them to write and deliver communications that effectively argued their viewpoints and policy recommendations with civil servants and politicians
Education
I have a first class Masters degree from Edinburgh University, and was a post-graduate researcher at Oxford University, Nuffield College, where I was awarded the Pirie Reid scholarship for research in public policy
Some of my clients
Client testimonials
MD Investor Relations,
Global PE Firm
Global PE Firm
Partner,
Leading PE Firm
Leading PE Firm
Board Director,
FTSE Corporate
FTSE Corporate
Senior Executive,
Global Technology Firm
Global Technology Firm
Partner,
Global Law Firm
Global Law Firm
Senior Executive,
Global Consumer Company
Global Consumer Company
MD Investor Relations,
Global PE Firm
Global PE Firm
“We could not imagine organising an AGM or a webcast without the precious support of Hazel. We value Hazel’s feedback on the material to make it impactful and relevant for our Limited Partners.
We also greatly appreciate Hazel’s coaching for both on-stage and on-line presentations, ensuring that we all become better at conveying our messages in a clear, succinct and efficient way. Hazel has been year after year a welcomed extension of our IR team”
Partner,
Leading PE Firm
Leading PE Firm
“Hazel has been advising us for almost a decade now. Working with her has helped us to make our presentations (both written and oral) much crisper, with a more focused message and easier to understand structure.
This has made our thinking process going into the presentations clearer, more organised and ultimately more impactful with our investor audience”
Board Director,
FTSE Corporate
FTSE Corporate
“I worked with Hazel over a 6-month period with regular coaching on my presentation skills in Board meetings and with senior customers. Hazel did my career a world of good. I still tell people things I learned from her”
Senior Executive,
Global Technology Firm
Global Technology Firm
“I benefited enormously from the communications coaching with Hazel. A critical part of my role is creating presentations to C-Suite and Board level
Hazel’s coaching measurably improved the quality of the content I create by guiding me to think about my audience, plan the narrative up front and then structure the presentation to make the “so what” jump out of each slide”
Partner,
Global Law Firm
Global Law Firm
“Hazel created and ran a series of workshops for our partners to strengthen our capabilities in explaining complicated legal information to our corporate clients, and ultimately to build stronger relationships with them
I thought the training was superb, one of the best sessions I have ever attended. Hazel is excellent. A very good and personable facilitator with lots of experience to draw on”
Senior Executive,
Global Consumer Company
Global Consumer Company
“Hazel is a talented communicator and her workshops proved pivotal for my team’s ability to engage with their audiences in an efficient and effective way. Her workshops enabled the team to synthesise and distil messaging down to get to the heart of what they wanted to communicate and then build their story around it.
As such, the team has grown in confidence in delivering succinct and concise objective-driven presentations, which has given the business clarity and improved our ability to make faster and more effective decisions”