MEET THE LEADERSHIP TEAM
Natalie Wilkins
Co-CEO
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Natalie Wilkins, PCC
Co-CEO
| Specialties: | Diversity & Inclusion Consultant, Change Management, Executive Coach & Trainer, Keynote Speaker |
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| Location: | Suisse Romande, Switzerland |
| Delivery: | Global |
| Languages: | English |
Background
Natalie, co-founder and co-CEO 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
Co-CEO
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Deborah Croft, PCC
Co-CEO
| Specialties: | Diversity & Inclusion Consultant, Executive Coach & Trainer, Keynote Speaker |
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| Location: | Suisse Romande, Switzerland |
| Delivery: | Global |
| Coaching languages: | English |
Background
Deborah Croft, co-founder and co-CEO 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.
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.
OUR SUPERSTARS
Melina Bousseau
Managing Partner
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Melina Bousseau
Managing Partner
| Specialties: | Transition to Parenthood, Advancing Women, Executive Coaching |
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| Location: | Suisse Romande, Switzerland |
| Delivery: | Global |
| Coaching languages: | French and English |
Background
Melina is passionate about helping people to better manage their work-life balance. She believes that we shouldn’t have to choose between caring and career and that thriving in both is possible.
As a working mum, with 15 years of business experience in Management roles for international companies, Melina understands the challenges to succeed in an organization while being available
for your loved ones. She has been expatriate for 6 years and can relate to the difficulties of a family move, cultural differences, different school and support systems, and dual-career management to name only a few.
She is an INSEAD certified coach with experience in both group and Individual coaching, fluent in French and English.
There is no one size fits all and no magical formulas. Melina is ready to tailor-make your coaching experience, using a blend of inspiring success stories, sharing her own experience and leveraging proven coaching tools to guide you through the process of formulating, experimenting and reflecting on what will work best for you.
Melina’s purpose is to help you navigate the transition to parenthood with greater ease and to enjoy your career and parenthood without feeling you are failing in both. She is ready to support you to pursue your professional aspirations whilst being the parent you want to be.
Skills & Accreditation
- Master Degree in Marketing & Sales
- INSEAD Coaching Certificate
Jenna Clarke
Senior Partner
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Jenna Clarke, CPCC, ACC
Senior Partner
| Specialties: | Transition to parenthood, change management, communications, leadership, team development and group facilitation |
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| Location: | Geneva, Switzerland |
| Delivery: | Europe |
| Coaching languages: | English |
Background
As a new parent facing the daunting task of going back to work, who can best support you on fulfilling your personal and professional ambitions?
After all, you’re looking for an elusive combination. It’s not easy to find a highly experienced and senior executive-level coach and facilitator who can roll up their sleeves with you to face your self-limiting beliefs and take the necessary steps forward.
Imagine finding that person who is also a parent themselves and has more than 20 years of management experience in various international organisations.
That person may actually be much closer than you realise – really close.
As a certified coach, executive trainer and seasoned facilitator, Jenna Clarke can bring you powerful action-oriented coaching support. Born and raised in Canada, is fluent in English and mostly fluent in French.
Her coaching and training philosophy is based on drawing out your hidden strengths, resourcefulness and creativity. Her training approach uses interactive, energising and behavioural-based activities blended with the best practices of coaching.
However it’s hard for a short bio of achievements and skills to fully capture the energy, and passion that form her personality and coaching approach.
Jenna is willing to shake things up and believes that humor and fun are amongst the best ways to learn and become more self-aware. She also applies effective drama techniques to help foster your creativity and allow space for innovative solutions to emerge.
If anything you’ve read here ticks some of the boxes in your checklist or piques your interest, contact Jenna to continue this conversation.
Skills & Accreditation
- Certified in Co-Active coaching (CPCC) and accredited with the International Coaching Federation (ACC)
- Certified in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
- Masters in Arts (Journalism) and Bachelor of Arts (Sociology)
Caroline Dykes
Operations Manager & Sophrologist
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Caroline Dykes
Operations Manager
Background
Caroline is an organised and dependable operations manager, ensuring the smooth running of the operations of the business. Her contribution is instrumental in enabling the execution of the delivery function of the Inclusion & Diversity programme support services that Thriving Talent provides to its clients.
As a qualified Sophrologist, she is able to help individuals find their way to a healthy, relaxed body and a calm, alert mind, through the use of easy-to-do physical and mental exercises that can be done anytime, anywhere. Her approach is engaging, open and compassionate. Her work allows clients to find calmness and appreciation of their lives.
Working with Thriving Talent allows Caroline to combine her business experience with a focus on supporting both the individuals within a company and the company as a whole - ultimately assisting each client to become an employer which respects, supports and values its people.
Sophrology is offered as one of the coaching options within our leadership development programmes as well as the working parent programmes, to help busy professionals juggling work / life balance.
Caroline lives in a village in Switzerland not far from the Jura mountains with her husband and two sons and their favourite pastime is to head off in their old campervan for adventures in the great outdoors.
Bethany Carter
Social Media Manager
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Bethany Carter
Social Media Manager
Background
A curious and creative wordsmith, Beth creates and curates content for our social media channels. She is also responsible for overseeing the articles written by our coaches and publishing them on the website, as well as sharing them with our social media communities.
With a first class degree in Public Relations and Communications, Beth wrote her dissertation about blogging and gained her first graduate PR job through Twitter in 2010.
Since then she has worked in a global communications consultancy based in London, gained experience as a group marketing manager, and written articles for various publications, blogs, and websites. She launched her own social media business, Lemon Squeezy Marketing, in 2013.
Beth is a new Mum to little Elijah, so she has personal insight into the journey from pregnancy to working parent which she is able to draw from in her role for Thriving Talent.
Eleanor Nevill
Client Account Manager
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Eleanor Nevill
Client Account Manager
Background
With a background in business consulting as well as two master's degrees in psychology and business administration, Eleanor is well equipped and highly experienced in managing clients' needs, nurturing relationships and finding the best solutions for everyone involved.
She is energetic, engaged and prides herself in fast and practical solutions. Having written about diversity in work teams for her psychology degree, Eleanor still has a great interest in managing heterogeneity. And after taking time off to travel between every job change, Eleanor has a personal interest in non-linear career development and enabling people to fulfill their passions and personal values on the job.
Eleanor grew up in Basel and now lives in Zürich with her partner. Her life is always a balance between working passionately and filling every minute of her time off work with adventures - be it hiking up a mountain, swimming or diving in a lake, horseback riding, running, or catching up with friends over a cold beer or a nice meal.
Simon Lunt
Business Development Director
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Simon Lunt
Business Development Director
Background
Simon Lunt has 20 years of senior global sales and marketing experience across industries as wide ranging as aviation, mass participation events, space exploration, cryogenics and personal safety, providing Thriving Talent with a broad and unique insight to help drive our client experience and growth ambitions.
Simon has led global sales teams in the sale of products and services which keep people safe on space rockets, enable paper to be written on with ink, alert deep sea divers to the dangers of hydrocarbons from the jurassic period and to keep paint wet in the tin. He is uber-enthusiastic about the development of people and is an advocate of a more compassionate workplace.
Simon lives with his wife in Teesside in the North East of England where they attempt to herd their son, daughter and two cats daily with varying degrees of success. Simon enjoys retro gaming, manga, playing the ancient Viking game of hnefatafl and realises this list makes him sound like the geek he really is. He has a significant passion for D&I, particularly in relation to working parents and disabled workers, both of which are topics close to his heart.
Vinay Deshpande
Associate Coach & Trainer
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Vinay Deshpande, CPCC, ACC
Associate Coach & Trainer
| Specialties: | Life transition, Design and lead change, Develop creativity, Build resilience and growth. |
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| Location: | Basel, Switzerland |
| Delivery: | Europe |
| Coaching languages: | English |
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)
Daniela Rusu
Associate Coach & Trainer
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Daniela Rusu, MSc, ACC, CPCC
Associate Coach & Trainer
| Specialties: |
Leadership, Resilience, Performance, Change Management, Mindfulness |
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| Location: | Suisse Romande, Switzerland |
| Delivery: | Global |
| Coaching languages: | English, French, Romanian |
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
Michal Abel
Associate Coach & Trainer
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Michal Abel, ACC
Associate Coach & Trainer
| Specialties: | Transition to Parenthood, Social and Emotional Intelligence, Work Climate, Facilitating Engagement and Performance |
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| Location: | Suisse Romande – Switzerland |
| Delivery: | Europe, Middle-East |
| Coaching languages: | English and French |
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
Catherine Hickel
Associate Coach & Trainer
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Catherine Hickel, PCC
Associate Coach & Trainer
| Specialties: | TWomen in transition, Leadership and Team Development, Burnout Prevention |
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| Location: | Suisse Romande – Switzerland |
| Delivery: | Europe |
| Coaching languages: | English and French |
Background
A seasoned business-minded coach, Catherine has 20 years of experience across sectors and geographies in management consulting, executive search, and today, professional coaching.
An economist by education, she started her career in a high growth US startup, experiencing the whole corporate life-cycle, from Nasdaq IPO to take-over, from 100 employees to 1’000, during an accelerated five years. In this context, leading multicultural teams, she gained solid insights into the many challenges of today’s business leaders. After she had to implement organizational change and restructure the team she had developed, she decided to build on this challenging experience to develop innovative ways to increase resilience, get inspired, embrace what is and lead with purpose in today’s corporate world.
Having lived across Europe, changed career path several times and as a mother of two, Catherine has been working as an independent professional coach since 2013. She understands what it takes to re-define what ambition and quality of life mean to you, today. She particularly cherishes the coaching work which aims at rebalancing the “work/life/ambition/values/family/couple/self” equation.
To the question “Is it possible to have it all?”, her answer is “Yes, it is, and even more, once you know what ‘ALL’ means to YOU!”.
She developed a niche working with people who are on a professional journey or transition of any kind. First, as a coach, she will question, challenge, encourage and also gently confront you: you will become who you are. Then, as a former headhunter, she will guide you to refine your career strategy to land your next professional challenge.
Whatever the coaching context, Catherine strives to create a meaningful dialogue with clients, to help them develop the confidence and clarity to move on and take action. Her clients say that she brings a warm, deep though fun and engaging presence to their work together.
Skills & Accreditation
- Professional Certified Coach (PCC), International Coach Federation (ICF)
- Coaching toolbox: Somatic Coaching, Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP), Transactional Analysis (TA), team coaching, Systemic, Clean Language
- Master of Arts in Economics and Business Management (University of Strasburg, FR) and in European Integration (College of Europe, BE)
Cornelia Asanger-Lexa
Associate Coach & Trainer
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Cornelia Asanger-Lexa, PCC
Associate Coach & Trainer
| Specialties: | Women in Transition, Change Management, Transition to Parenthood |
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| Location: | Sweden |
| Delivery: | Global |
| Coaching languages: | English, German and French |
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
Henri-Michel Yéré
Associate Trainer & Facilitator
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Henri-Michel Yéré
Associate Trainer
| Specialties: | Inclusive Leadership, Unconscious Bias, Mentoring, Emotional Intelligence, Team Communication |
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| Location: | Basel, Switzerland |
| Delivery: | Switzerland |
| Languages: | English, French and German |
Background
Henri is driven to support organisations, leaders and teams to overcome bias and fixed ways of thinking, in order to help them to become high performing and unleash their potential for innovation.
Henri has over seven years experience in Diversity and Inclusion work in the pharmaceutical industry and has experience of training, coaching and mentoring leaders and managers across multiple cultures.
Trained as a historian and political scientist he knows first hand how different perspectives and diverse thinking styles can enrich teams and drive better business results.
Areas of expertise:
- Workshops on how to practically mitigate the effects of unconscious bias
- Enhancement techniques for better intra-team engagement and communication
- Employee engagement work
- Coaching and mentoring techniques
Accreditations
- PhD in Contemporary History (African History Specialist)
- Certified MBTI coach
- Certified CQ (Cultural Intelligence) coach
Elissa Bertot
Associate Communications Consultant
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Elissa Bertot
Associate Communications Consultant
| Specialties: | Change, Communications, Branding |
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| Location: | Geneva, Switzerland |
| Delivery: | Global |
| Coaching languages: | English and French |
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.
