Natalie Wilkins, PCC

Co-founder & Managing Partner

Background

Natalie, co-founder of Thriving Talent, is passionate about helping organisations to improve their female talent pipeline and build inclusive cultures where diversity can thrive. 

She helps companies to create and drive talent and culture programmes that support employees who have caring responsibilities. By valuing the commercial benefits this brings, her clients are able to overcome diversity barriers, reduce attrition, become an employer of choice and drive their inclusion & culture agenda.

With her extensive HR background across the public and private sectors, you benefit from Natalie’s deep experience of organizational change management, leading and managing teams, and coaching and advising leaders and executive within multicultural environments.

Natalie lives in Switzerland, leading a careful balancing act of being a mum, wife, business owner and driving much needed change in business and society. She values family time and takes the time to explore and play in Switzerland’s beautiful lakes and mountains with her young family.

Deborah Croft, PCC

Co-founder & Managing Partner

Background

Deborah Croft, co-founder of Thriving Talent is passionate about supporting organisations to create a more inclusive, socially responsible culture; where parents and carers are empowered to choose career and caring, without the risk of career suicide, overwhelm and guilt.

Deborah spends a great deal of her time understanding the gender diversity challenges and visions of businesses within Switzerland, and sharing expertise and solutions on inclusive leadership and parenthood initiatives; so that organisations increase the retention and engagement of their workforce who are parents &/or carers. Given that over 60% of the workforce become parents and the talent pipeline this represents, Deborah in close collaboration with Natalie and the team, is determined that reaching their goal of helping 1 million parents by 2020, will reap great rewards both in organisations and in Switzerland.    

Deborah has over 25 years of international industry experience and in her former years, worked on multiple change projects across Europe at IBM, in her role as a Project Manager. Prior to the launch of Thriving Talent in January 2015, Deborah had been successfully running a business focused on coaching and training leaders, back to work programmes, team building and effectively managing change, for 5 years in Switzerland.

Deborah lives near Geneva, with her husband and 2 daughters, so understands what it’s like to juggle the many demands of family life, be fulfilled in her career and make the most of the outdoor playground that Switzerland provides. 

Vinay Deshpande, CPCC, ACC

Associate Coach & Trainer

Background

Vinay is an awareness builder, an enabler and a transformation evoker... who engages with individuals, groups and organizations to design their life around their own ideas and bringing it into a reality. He believes that everyone has a choice to design and create the life they want and on this journey he enables you to overcome resistance, build resilience and lead your life.

His mantra is “You have to let yourself in!"

He is your guide on your creative journey. While working with him, be ready - to experiment, to get challenged, to feel vulnerable, to get nurtured, to be playful and to be accountable to yourself!

He uses co-active coaching along with work influenced by Theory U, Immunity to change, Improvisation Theatre techniques and Mindfulness.

Vinay brings into his coaching a rich experience of working for 18+ years in diverse finance roles within big multinational companies. Born in Mumbai, India, Vinay has lived and worked in India and in Switzerland. In 2005 while working with Clariant India, he came to HQ in Basel on an international assignment. Since then he is living in Basel with his wife and a daughter.

Skills & Accreditation

• Associate Certified Coach (ACC) by International Coach Federation (ICF)
• Certified Professional Co- Active® Coach (CPCC) from The Coaches Training Institute
• Certified in Human Centric Design Thinking methodology to design change, build creativity and innovation
• Masters in Cost and Management Accountancy; Bachelor of Commerce (Mumbai University)

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Daniela Rusu, MSc, ACC, CPCC

Associate Coach & Trainer

Background

Passionate to help people and organizations thrive, Daniela works with individuals and teams to develop their inner leadership capabilities, and to use emotional, social and collective intelligence to reach higher levels of performance and well-being.

The workplace is on the brink of change with the emergence of new organizational models and increasing pressure to move from old structures to new forms of cooperation and relationships.

Daniela is excited to take part in this new wave of change by creating integrative training solutions in the form of real-life business simulations that challenge deeply ingrained mental models and allow participants to experiement with new approaches to collaboration, innovation, performance, communication and leadership.

As a coach, Daniela is known for creating safe environments for people to face their fears and limiting beliefs, supporting them in finding new possibilities and opportunities, expanding into their power and full potential. Daniela recently created The Inner Leader program to fulfill this goal.

Prior to founding Quantum Communications in 2011, Daniela held various management roles leading innovative digital platforms and outreach projects for climate change, leadership and talent management, and corporate/employer branding for the Canadian government.

A Romanian and Canadian national, Daniela lives in Switzerland since 2009 with her husband and two grown children. When not reading, she loves exploring the Swiss hiking trails with her friends and family.

Skills & Accreditation

• MSc in International Business Development, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland
• Leadership Program – Building on Talent, IMD Lausanne, Switzerland
• BA in Communications, University of Ottawa, Canada
• Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC), Coaches Training Institute
• Associate Certified Coach (ACC), International Coaching Federation (ICF)
• ORSC (Team Coaching), Center for Right Relationships

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Michal Abel, ACC

Associate Coach & Trainer

Background

Michal is a Leadership and Emotional Intelligence Coach and Trainer living in Geneva. He’s passionate about growing Human’s well-being and productivity by implementing Mindfulness and Social & Emotional Intelligence skills into real life, at work and at home.

He’s dedicated to helping people see what’s most important and creating the attitudes facilitating change, effectiveness and fulfillment.

Success in one area of life is no longer enough to live a good life. You give the best of you at work and still want to be a great parent and a caring partner at home? It’s a constant source of both, challenges and motivation for growth. Michal understands it perfectly.

Working professional and a Father of two, a girl and a boy, Michal turned his parenting into long term training in soft skills – a key component of leadership and high-performance. Michal is a medical doctor and a scientist. His ideas and trainings are deeply rooted in modern research on neuroscience, human psychology and behaviorism.

Living in 6 countries on 4 continents, experiencing radically different cultures, Michal incorporated change as a natural element of life. He brings this advantage to his clients facilitating them the development of new skills useful in both, professional and family life.

Michal’s mission is to empower working parents to living fully their different roles in life, to trust themselves and… still have fun!

Skills & Accreditation

• Certified Coach, ICF Member
• Life and Career Management System
• Brain Talent Profile Assessment
• The Science of Happiness
• Master in Psychology of Achievements and Personal Change
• Resonant Leadership through Emotional Intelligence and Coaching
• M.D. and Ph.D. in Medical Sciences

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Cornelia Asanger-Lexa, PCC

Associate Coach & Trainer

Background

Cornelia is an Executive & Transition Coach and Trainer, living in Sweden. She specialises in empowering others who are at a turning point in their life to get on the right path by achieving their goals yet remaining true to their values and beliefs. Being a working mum herself Cornelia knows juggling the path between giving the best in Parenthood and Leadership at the same time isn’t an easy one. Her passion is to empower Individuals and help them grow both professionally and personally, getting them to develop their leadership skills to finally live a more fulfilled and balanced life.

Cornelia works with individuals and executives to accomplish their restricting prospects by strengthening their excellence and uniqueness, which she reveals by means of various coaching techniques and approved leadership models. Cornelia also trains and coaches teams or groups to provide team-spirit, teamwork and achievement by being engaged. This could be done both in-person and virtually for getting the best result for the individuals, the teams and the organization. Clients have a clear path for success including their personal and professional values by working with Cornelia.

Prior to founding CAL Coaching she worked as an international Finance and Senior HR leader for a range of sectors and industries such as global banks, strategic and IT consultancies including Roland Berger and FJA. Cornelia worked with leadership teams to help them adapt to the challenges of talent management and people development, especially at a time of great restructuring and transition.

Cornelia is convinced that a concerted work-life-balance is key to success and therefore key for being an effective leader. Cornelia trains individuals to getting to know their own purpose in life, being present in every moment (at work and at home) by building up resilience to manage stress better to finally find their own work-life-balance.

Having lived across Europe and as a mother of three active daughters, Cornelia understands the challenges of being abroad and recognises the on-going journey of balancing the multiple roles we play in our lives, without losing sight of our own needs and dreams. And besides this she is making the most out of what nature provides together with her family including a dog.

Skills & Accreditation

• Associate Certified Coach (PCC), ICF Accredited & Member
• Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC), Coaches Training Institute CTI
• MBA Social & Economics Sciences of University of Augsburg

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Natalie Wilkins, PCC

Co-founder and Managing Partner

Background

Leading a revolution for talent progression within large organizations was a natural evolution, given Natalie’s 20 years’ experience within learning & development and talent management and her passion for empowering men and women. 

With her extensive HR background across public and private sector and organisational complexity, you benefit from Natalie’s deep experience of organizational change management, leading and managing teams since 2003 and coaching managers, leaders and teams since 2008 within multicultural and complex environments.

Over the last 10 years Natalie has been developing corporate and academic experiential learning experiences, coaching executives, training line managers, and helping teams to create trust and effective communication, overcome conflict and become high performing.

Natalie is someone who can build relationships with key stakeholders, ask powerful questions and listen, design and execute people development programmes that yield quick and long lasting results for the employees as well as the bottom line.

Natalie lives in Switzerland, leading a careful balancing act of being a mum, wife, business owner and creating unforgettable learning experiences for her clients. She values family time and takes the time to explore and play in Switzerland’s beautiful lakes and mountains with her young family.

Skills & Accreditation

• Professional Certified Coach (PCC), ICF Accredited & Member
• MBTI Practitioner
• Booth Task Cycle 360 Feedback Certified Practitioner
• Whole-Self-Journey Practitioner, Performance Potential System & 7 Aspects Leadership Model
• Hay Group ESCI, SHL OPQ32, Belbin team roles, Gallup Strengthsfinder
• Certificate in Training & Facilitation (CIPD)
• Chartered member CIPD

Deborah Croft, ACC

Co-founder and Managing Partner

Background

Deborah is an Executive & Leadership Coach and Trainer, living in Lake Geneva, Switzerland. She is passionate about empowering individuals to grow both personally and professionally, to develop their leadership skills, communication skills and effectiveness at work. Skilled at building trust, with a warm and open coaching style, Deborah specialises in helping others to embrace change.

Accompanying the transition to parenthood requires a change in assumptions, beliefs, behaviour and motivations on the part of the parents concerned. Being able to successfully navigate these changes so you can have a career and family is critical to being able to enjoy both. As a professional and a Mother, this is Deborah’s big passion - helping others thrive personally and professionally, without the guilt and overwhelm that can often take over.

Prior to launching her coaching and training business 5 years ago, Deborah spent over 10 years as an accredited Project Manager & Facilitator in IBM where she focused on multi-national change initiatives. Deborah worked with leadership teams from several clients, across a range of industries, to help them adapt to the challenges of outsourcing; so that they could create a motivating environment for their teams, at a time of great transition and restructuring.

Deborah strongly believes that to be an effective leader, one needs to have a healthy balance of ‘work hard, play hard’; so that one is energised, truly present and focused in every moment, in and out of work. This larger perspective is always held by Deborah, training individuals to build their resilience, to better manage stress and achieve balance in their work and life.

Debbie lives in Switzerland, with her husband and 2 daughters, so understands what it’s like to juggle the many demands of family life, succeed professionally and make the most of the outdoor playground that Switzerland provides.

Skills & Accreditation

• Professional Certified Coach (PCC), ICF Accredited & Member
• Booth Task Cycle 360 Feedback Certified Practitioner
• Whole-Self- Journey Practitioner, Performance Potential System & 7 Aspects Leadership Model
• Accredited Project Manager & Facilitator (IBM Ltd)
• BA Hons European Business & French

Sandra Martensson

Operations Manager

Location: Germany

Background

Sandra manages operations at Thriving Talent. As part of her role she is looking after the administrative, accounting and customer support side of the business. 

Using her strong integrity, methodical approach and understanding of people, she focuses on delivering high value and exceptional customer experiences.

Sandra coordinates the assignment of Coaches and Trainers to multiple projects, taking care of our clients and team member needs, to ensure a smooth and efficient service.

Sandra began her professional career in Germany, in General Business Administration. In 2006 she moved to Dubai and successfully led a high-end veterinary clinic as Practice Manager.

In 2012 Sandra moved to Switzerland, where she became a mum and enjoyed her life as a stay at home mother. In 2017 she moved with her family back to Germany and joined the Thriving Talent team.

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Francisco Baptista, ACC

Associate Coach & Trainer

Background

Francisco helps business teams and individuals at all levels finding solutions to achieve higher performance through a coaching based-training for leaders, organisational and team coaching, 360° diagnostic assessments, individual executive coaching and leadership development.

Over the last 5 years Francisco has built a practice developing interventions, coaching executives, training line managers, bringing teams nearer to their customers, and helping teams and couples overcome conflict.

Prior to this, Francisco served as program manager in an FMCG environment introducing continuous improvement methods such as LEAN and Six Sigma across different functions. Previously, he implemented Enterprise Resource Planning solutions in various industries and NGO’s, and selling his own startup in South America. Francisco’s success has always been setup with an eye on enhancing human potential empowering team members working more efficiently.

Francisco is well rounded in both managerial and leadership aspects as well as in emotional and social intelligence competencies. His coaching and facilitation skills combine, with his expertise from past careers, to deliver credible, viable, and sustainable change.

Francisco lives near the Lavaux Vineyards in Switzerland with his wife, daughter and son. During his downtime, he loves experiencing the wild, silent nature of the surrounding mountains and valleys with his family.

Skills & Accreditation

• Associate Certified Coach (ACC), International Coach Federation (ICF)
• Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC), The Coaches Training Institute (CTI)
• Leadership Program Graduate, The Coaches Training Institute (CTI)
• Leadership Circle Certification, Full Circle Group/The Leadership Circle
• ORSC (Team Coaching) Core Curriculum Graduate, Centre for Right Relationships,
• Team Coaching International Assessments
• Design Thinking, SAP D.LAB
• Six Sigma Green Belt, Nestlé

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Elissa Bertot

Associate Communications Consultant

Background

Elissa Bertot is a communications strategist, copywriter and trainer. She helps organizations develop employer brands and messages that inspire action and enable change.

Her cross-sector experience spans international organizations, non-profits, NGOs and small/medium-sized companies.

Elissa also leads tailored communications workshops, teaching storytelling and brand strategy to communications teams and business leaders.

With more than 12 years’ experience in branding, communications, PR and marketing in Fortune 50 corporations, agencies and now as a consultant, Elissa is on a mission to help organizations tell stories that drive change.