Our People

Richard Sharpe

Richard is Principal Consultant and Managing Director at Elementa Leadership.  He is an experienced leadership and organisational development consultant and higher education specialist who provides expert support in the fields of strategy, leadership and culture.

Prior to establishing Elementa Leadership, Richard was Associate Director, Leadership at The Work Foundation in London.  Over the last decade, Richard has worked extensively at a strategic level with a number of universities across all mission groups.

Richard adopts a human centred, systems thinking approach in his practice that places the capacity to learn quickly and adapt to changing external conditions as central to sustainable organisational success.

Richard has an MSc Organizational Behaviour (Distinction) from Birkbeck College, University of London.  He is a Chartered Fellow of CIPD, RSA and Member of the Association for Coaching.

Áine O'Keeffe

Áine is an experienced coach, facilitator and leadership development professional.  She works with leaders to catalyse their thinking, enabling them to generate new perspectives and to explore how to respond more adaptively to the issues they encounter as they lead their organisations and teams with purpose.

Áine began her career as a political adviser to a MLA and Minister for Employment and Learning in the Northern Ireland Assembly, giving her an insight into a range of issues in higher and further education.

At The Work Foundation she worked as the advisor to the CEO and later Head of Public and Parliamentary Affairs.

Áine holds the Academy of Executive Coaching Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching is trained mediator and Member of the Association for Coaching.

Paul Boustead

Paul is a consultant in organisational development, transformation and change. Until recently he was the Chief People & Culture Officer at the University of Leeds.  Paul has over 20 years’ experience in HR and OD, which has included local government, local education authorities, the NHS and higher education institutions.

During his career Paul has led a number of large-scale change programmes, including the merger of three UK Higher Educational Institutions to create a single university and also led the NHS workforce transformation programme across parts of the East Midlands.

As an accredited executive coach Paul supports and coaches a number of senior leaders and also works with the CIPD supporting the development of future HR and People Directors.

Before joining the University of Leeds, Paul was the Executive People and OD Director at Lancaster University, for nearly a decade and was responsible for developing and implementing their first and second People and Culture strategies.  Paul was until recently the elected Chair of Universities Human Resources (UHR). He is one of a select few Companions of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD) and was voted as #14 leading HR influencer by HR Magazine in 2022.

Linda Holbeche

Linda is an international consultant, developer, researcher and author in the fields of HR, leadership, strategy and change.  She has a strong interest in helping organisations achieve sustainable high performance.  She combines extensive experience and expertise in leadership and OD with a strong track record in leading-edge research and writing.

Linda has held senior roles at the CIPD where she was Research and Policy Director, at The Work Foundation, where she was Director of Leadership and Consultancy, and Roffey Park where she was Director of Research and Strategy.

As an author and researcher, Linda has produced a number of research papers, including Changing Times in UK Universities (UHR, 2012).  Her recent books include The Agile Organization: How to Build an Engaged, Innovative and Resilient Business (2018) and Organization Development: A Practitioner’s Guide for OD and HR (2021).

Linda has a PhD in Sociology of Work from the Open University.  She is a Fellow of ILM, CIPD and RSA.

Jane Sullivan

Jane is a chartered occupational psychologist, leadership and organisation development consultant and accredited professional executive coach.  She is an experienced consultant and coach working across the public, private and third sector.

Jane has a deep understanding of the challenges of managing and motivating diverse individuals. She is passionate and knowledgeable about employee engagement and the ‘deal’ for individuals.  She spent over ten years as a leadership and organisation development consultant with The Work Foundation.

Jane has an MSc in Occupational Psychology from Birkbeck College, University of London.

Sally Bernham

Sally is an executive coach and leadership development consultant with over twenty years working with the public and private sector organisations.  She has held senior roles within the university sector and the health service with responsibility for several change and leadership initiatives.

Sally was a University Head of Learning and Development for 10 years responsible for developing, delivering and monitoring the University’s leadership development strategy and a senior member of the HR Executive.

Sally has a real understanding of the challenges and opportunities of leadership in the university sector and of its complex, competitive and changing landscape. She fosters rapport and credibility with clients. Her focused coaching equips senior leaders to develop their strategic leadership in ways that enhance their careers and impact on organisational success

Sally’s is a member of the CIPD, ILM, European Mentoring and Coaching Council.

Nigel Seaton

Nigel is an executive coach and consultant in leadership development, who helps senior leaders to fulfil their potential, with a particular focus on the interface between individual performance and team effectiveness.  Nigel was until recently Principal and Vice-Chancellor at Abertay University.

He joined Abertay University as Principal and Vice-Chancellor in 2012 and was one of Scotland’s longest serving Vice-Chancellors when he stood down in 2022.  During his tenure at Abertay, the University grew its reputation for teaching excellence and research quality and widening access to higher education, while building a series of important collaborations with industry and forging international relationships.

Nigel has also held the role of Vice-Principal at the University of Edinburgh, having previously been Head of the School of Engineering, and between 2008 and 20212 was Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Development) and then Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Surrey.

He has more recently had extensive board experience, mostly in organisations connected to higher education, include Jisc and UCEA.  He is currently a Governor of Robert Gordon University.

Natalie Saunders

Natalie is an organisation development consultant and former employment lawyer, who is specialist in culture change, HR transformation and complex, sensitive people problems. She has considerable expertise in highly regulated sectors and in risk, compliance and governance.

Her passion is enabling organisations to perform and transform through their people and culture particularly focusing on wellbeing, psychological safety and inclusion & diversity.  She seeks to help build organisational cultures in which staff and students can flourish.

Natalie’s previous higher education roles have included Director of Human Resources at Leeds Beckett University and Interim Director of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion at Durham University.  Natalie has board-level experience of private and public sector organisations from start-ups to large, complex businesses.

Nick Isles

Nick is a consultant, writer, and researcher with more than twenty years experience of engagement with organisations across the private, voluntary and public sectors. Until recently he was CEO of Condé Nast College of Fashion & Design and has worked extensively in both HE and FE.

Nick has worked with a broad range of universities and colleges in the UK and beyond as a senior executive, consultant, and visiting professor.  He has previously acted as Deputy Principal & CEO of Milton Keynes College Group and a Director of Advocacy at The Work Foundation under the leadership of Will Hutton.  He is a Visiting Professor of the Business School at Richmond American University London.

As an author, Nick has written books including The Good Work Guide (2010), What Kind of World Do We Want? (2015), The 7 Steps to Frontier Leadership (2021) and Leading and Managing the Hybrid Workforce (2022).

Nick was the inaugural Chair of the High Pay Centre and advisor to the High Pay Commission. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a qualified executive coach.

Robin Sharpe

Robin is Director, Research and Operations at Elementa Leadership.  He specialises in higher education policy and research into the Adaptive University.

Robin is responsible for quality management of all Elementa Leadership’s services, developing and implementing strategy and leading business improvement initiatives.  His research portfolio involves a focus on global higher education and the strategic landscape in which universities operate.  His work informs and underpins Elementa Leadership’s organisational and leadership development programmes and interventions.

Robin holds an MSc in Public Policy (with Distinction) from the University of Bristol.  He has written policy papers including Change in Australian Higher Education, Higher Education in South-East Asia: A Policy Digest and What is a World Class University?’ 

Janet Sharpe

Janet is Company Secretary and Director at Elementa Leadership.  She is responsible for financial, legal and administration of the business as well as client liaison, marketing, HR, and business development.

Janet has a background as a human resources consultant and professional specialising in learning and development and strategic workforce development.  Janet previously worked as senior manager for a large local authority in the South West of England in Children’s Services.

Janet has supported the delivery of diverse range of projects Elementa Leadership has undertaken for client universities.  She leads the organisation of Elementa Leadership conferences and seminars.

Janet has a Level 7 NVQ Diploma in Strategic Management and Leadership, has experience as a teacher, lecturer and leader in further education and is a member of the British Psychological Society.