Employment History:
- 1987- Consultant and Founder director and chairman of start-up companies including (formerly ASK Europe plc [group, operating, and associate company boards, including Cambridge Management Centres plc] and Cotoco Ltd a specialist provider of award winning job-support tools) Adaptation Ltd and Policy Publications Ltd.
- 1994-97 the Willmott Dixon Professor of Corporate Transformation, Dean of the Faculty of Management and Head of the Putteridge Bury campus at the University of Luton and a Senior Associate at the Judge Institute of Cambridge University. Achieved a turnaround in financial performance by establishing overseas collaborations, new programmes and additional income streams. Subsequently Professor/Visiting Professor at Luton to 2009 and subsequently elsewhere.
- 1984-93 Xerox/Rank Xerox. Head of UK corporate affairs function 1984-87; and Corporate Affairs Counsel 1987-93. Launched new products, handled the media and Government relations aspects of an international crisis. Responsible for issue monitoring and management 1985-93.
- 1978-84 Publisher/Publishing Director. ICSA role 1978-81 included publications and PR. At the Longman Group had general management responsibility for all periodical titles (Launched or acquired over a dozen titles).
- 1975-78 Internal and external management consultancy for Coopers & Lybrand Associates Ltd and IoD, introducing new procedures and processes. Built financial models for the Royal Commission on the Press and for evaluating property and steel mill investments.
Business Appointments and Roles:
Articled Messrs Nevill, Hovey Gardner & Co., Chartered Accountants, City of London, 1970-73
Consultant, Coopers and Lybrand Associates Ltd 1975-77
Research Executive, Institute of Directors 1977-78
Editor/Publisher, Professional Administration 1978-81
Head of Publications and Public Relations, ICSA 1980-81 (also Editor and Publisher of Casebook and Director, Casebook Publications Ltd)
Publishing Director (Periodicals) Longman Group 1981-84 (General management responsibility for over 50 periodical titles)
Manager, Corporate Affairs, Rank Xerox UK Ltd, 1984-87
Corp Affairs Counsel, Rank Xerox, 1987-93;
Chairman, Adaptation Limited 1994- (Chair and C.E.O., 1987-94)
Corporate Affairs Adviser, B.I.M., 1987-91
Member, Advisory Board, The Home Office Partnership 1993-94
Project Leader, European Commission’s COBRA project 1994-95
Chairman, Attitudes, Skills & Knowledge Ltd 1994-2003
Chairman, ASK Europe plc 1995-2003
Chairman, ASK Multimedia Ltd 1995-98
Chairman, Policy Publications Ltd 1995-
Chairman, Cambridge Management Centres plc 1998-2003
Chairman, Cotoco Ltd 1998-2013
Chairman, Creative Database Projects Ltd 2000-2001
Associate Director, The Chamberlain Partnership 2003-2005
Senior Independent Director, Bryok Systems Ltd 2008
Chairman, Bryok Systems Ltd 2008-
Chairman, Elms Global Ltd 2013-2018 and Elms Consultancy Services 2013-2017
Member, Advisory Board, Better Boards, 2014-
Academic Appointments and Roles:
Visiting Research Fellow, Information Technology Institute, Salford University 1987-95
Director External Affairs, European Business School 1987-88
Head of Executive Programmes, University of Southern California (UK) 1987-88
Visiting Scholar, Helsinki University of Technology, 1990
Visiting Fellow, Aston Business School 1988-93
Founder Director, Centre for the Study of the Professions 1988-89
Senior Visiting Research Fellow, City University Business School 1991-94
Visiting Lectures London Business School 1991-94
Member Advisory Board, Northern Ireland Graduate Management Development Programme 1994-96
Senior Associate, Judge Institute of Management Studies, Cambridge University 1994-97
Professor of Corporate Transformation, University of Luton 1994-98 (Willmott Dixon Chair 1994-97)
Dean of the Faculty of Management and Head of Putteridge Bury, University of Luton 1994-7
Hooker Distinguished Visiting Professor, McMaster University 1995
Visiting Professor, East China University, Shanghai 1996
Visiting Professor, Management Development Institute, India 1997-2000
Leader, Winning Business Research Programme 1997-
Visiting Professor, Luton Business School and Centre for Competitiveness 1999-2000
Professor of Competitiveness and Head, Centre for Competitiveness, University of Luton 2000-2006
Professor of Direction and Leadership, Lincoln Business School, University of Lincoln, 2005-2009
Director of Corporate and Executive Programmes, Lincoln Business School 2007-2009
Visiting Professor, University of Bedfordshire 2006-9
External Examiner, BT/UMIST MSc in Commercial Management 2001-4
Distinguished Visiting Professor, e-TQM College, Dubai 2008
Dissertation Supervisor, 2015-, University of Greenwich [Part time academic/Prof. HR & OB, 2009-15]
Adjunct Professor of Geopolitics and International Relations, Manipal University 2011-15
Member, Advisory Council, EMPI Sustainability Centre 2013-
Chancellor, School for the Creative Arts/UCCA 2015-
Professorial Fellow, School for the Creative Arts/UCCA 2015-
Honorary Professor, Aston India Foundation for Applied Research Aston Business School, Aston University 2017-
Distinguished Professorship, Sri Sharada Institute of Indian Management-Research (Conferred February 2017)
Visiting Professor of Direction and Leadership, Lincoln International Business School, 2017-
Editorial Boards
Has served on various editorial boards, including The Learning Organization, the European Business Review, Corporate Communications, An International Journal, Strategic Change, International Accountant and more recently Strategic Change: Briefings in Entrepreneurial Finance and Director Today