Executive Board

Terezia Koczka

Terezia is the Professional Excellence Director of EMCC UK. After having a successful career in structural design for 19 years, she changed her profession in 1995 and worked at Ernst and Young as business advisor, specialising in change management.

She started her coaching business in 1997 in Hungary and around Europe. Terezia worked as capacity building expert for the UN Development Programme in the post-war region of former Yugoslavia for 4 years. She has lived in the UK since 2014 and is currently the director of the coaching consultancy firm. She provides leadership coaching, leadership development programmes and change consulting for private and corporate clients.

Terezia has a wide range of experiences in leadership development, design and management of large scale change programmes and executive/leadership coaching. With over 20 years international experience as executive coach and the founding president of EMCC Hungary,  she played a leading role in developing the emerging profession of coaching and mentoring in Hungary. She is contributing to the profession with translating coaching books from English to Hungarian. She is visiting lecturer at Budapest University of Technology and Economics MBA programme.

Terezia holds an MSc in civil engineering, an MBA from Heriot-Watt Business School, Edinburgh. She is accredited by EMCC at Senior Practitioner level.

Nadia Harrington

Nadia Harrington is a consultant, trainer and HR professional with experience of strategic, business partnering, leadership and delivery roles in private and public sector organisations. 
Her experience has been gained within large and medium sized organisations in a variety of sectors; nationally and globally.  Her career has focused mainly on organisational development and people performance which has resulted in extensive expertise within the area of learning and development. She has held roles as a Strategic HR Manager with responsibility for People Development for a large public sector organisation as well as L&OD Head of Service, OD Consultant and L&D Management roles.  
Nadia has led and implemented cultural and engagement strategies, and managed behavioural change programmes. She has worked in the public sector in political environments as well as the commercial environ of private sectors. 
Currently she is Managing Director of Harrington Associates and Operations Director (designate) for EMCC UK. Nadia is passionate about Mentoring and Coaching and is proud to be part of the EMCC team. She holds a post graduate qualification in Executive and Business Coaching with PBCoaching through Leeds Metropolitan University and is the founder of the Suffolk Coaching and Mentoring Partnership. She is qualified in HR, Training, Employment Law, and is an NLP Practitioner. 

Peter Duffell

Peter is the Governance Director for EMCCUK. He is an experienced, board level, executive and personal coach with 30 years business experience before becoming a full time coach. He has worked in senior roles with a number of global Financial Services organisations such as HSBC and UBS. He has many years practical experience of coaching and mentoring individuals in a leadership capacity and has led a number of organisational transformations.
 
Peter has an MA in Coaching and Mentoring Practice from Oxford Brookes University and is a qualified Coach Supervisor.
 
Peter has coached at senior levels in a range of different organisations, from Financial Services to Education and Health. He is currently a retained coach for a number of Health related organisations and has a number of large organisational clients. In addition, Peter also works with a number of personal clients.

Vera Woodhead

Vera is the Knowledge Exchange Director for EMCC UK.  She is an executive coach  with over  12 years experience and holds a MA in Coaching and Mentoring Practice. Her expertise is in people, leadership and organisational development acquired over a 20 year period working across industry sectors from FTSEs100s to the NHS. Her governance and board level experience comes from serving in roles such as Non Executive Director, Chair and Board Governor in public and not for profit organisations. Inherently curious with a passion for learning and development, Vera is keen to utilise technology and social media to communicate and engage with the membership and wider community to share good practice and knowledge.

Lis Merrick

President

Lis is the current UK President.  Her career in mentoring and coaching follows a successful career in Human Resources with senior posts for Merrill Lynch, European Investment Banking and The Thomas Cook Group. She is Managing Director of Coach Mentoring Limited, a Director of the Professional Mentor Academy Limited, an ISMCP Accreditation Chair (EMCC International Standards for Mentoring and Coaching Programmes) and a Visiting Fellow of the Coaching and Mentoring Research Unit at Sheffield Business School.

Her experience in mentoring and coaching programme design and development is now internationally acclaimed, and this work also informs her practice as an executive coach. Her expertise and research is predominantly in the field of designing mentoring and coaching programmes with regard to talent management, coaching and mentoring women, especially through the Glass Ceiling, supervision in mentoring and coaching and mentoring in a VUCA World.

Her passion for the EMCC UK stems from her early career experience and the enormous mentoring and support she received from the organisation and its founder members.

Lis holds an MBA and an MSc in Coaching and Mentoring from Sheffield Business School. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and the Chartered Management Institute in the UK.

Mark Robson

Mark Robson is President (Designate) of the EMCC UK. Up to his retirement at the end of 2017 he spent more than thirty years in the brewing, food and detergent manufacturing industries, holding a number of international leadership positions in operations, R&D and purchasing. In 2010 he became an internal coach in addition to his day-job, and in 2014 became a supervisor to a number of the coaches in his organisation’s coaching scheme. Mark continues to work with both coachees and coaches at his old organisation. 

Mark has an MSc in Coaching and Mentoring from Sheffield Hallam University. His Masters dissertation project followed the introduction of internal supervisors to his coaching scheme. He is currently working on his PhD, His research is seeking to understand how employees who take on the role experience being an internal coach and what impact the role has upon them.

Rita Symons

Rita is the Membership Development Director. She has over 25 years senior leadership experience in the health service and local government and, having acted as an internal coach for many years, she left a CEO role in the NHS in 2016 to pursue coaching full time.

She is Managing Director of her own consultancy and as well as 1:1 coaching, she supports formal leadership programmes in the NHS. She also works specifically with third sector organisations, particularly focusing on social impact.  She has carried out research in the area of individual motivation in system leadership, and is keen to apply this research in the area of coaching.

She is gaining experience in the design and delivery of coaching programmes and is excited about contributing to the development of coaching and mentoring practice. She joined the Board as she is convinced of the value of professional organisations and wants to do her part to encourage new and established coaches to join EMCC UK.

Alan Potts

Alan is EMCC UK’s marketing director. His background includes a spell in Nuclear Design Engineering, over 25 years as a business leader in the travel industry and a constant, intimate relationship with all things ‘digital’ dating back to the very birth of the web. He has successfully initiated and grown several businesses, developing pioneering eCommerce solutions, innovative promotional campaigns and disruptive business models along the way.

He has held numerous executive and non-executive roles and acted as a coach/mentor to a diverse portfolio of business people and entrepreneurs.

His passion for executive coaching is equally matched by an energy and enthusiasm for building successful businesses with intelligence and real entrepreneurial flair.

Alan is CEO of the UK-based executive coaching talent agency CoachDirectors; an AoEC-trained Executive Coach; and a Network Director and Moderator for the Executives' Global Network UK.

Brigid Russell

Brigid Russell is an executive coach and organisation development consultant based in Scotland and runs her own coaching and consultancy business.  She has extensive experience over the past 20 years of working with senior teams and leaders across both public and private sectors on improving organisational, team and personal effectiveness.  She is passionate about the impact of coaching in enabling individuals to realise their potential and in supporting organisations to develop their capacity to deliver strategic aims.  

She has practised as a coach for around fifteen years and is currently developing her coaching supervision practice.

She is particularly interested in working with public sector leaders in the context of complexity and ambiguity and is keen to keep her coaching, supervision and leadership development practice current and relevant. She has a current interest in the creative application of internal coaching across public services and enjoys working alongside internal coaches in both a co-coaching and supervisory capacity.

Brigid has developed her coaching approach through undertaking the Advanced and Master Practitioner Diplomas in Executive Coaching with the Academy of Executive Coaching. She also has a MBA from Manchester Business School and a BA Hons from the University of Oxford. Her interest in the on-going development of coaching and mentoring approaches, both internal and external, and the professional development pathway inspired her to volunteer in April 2016 to become a member of the EMCC UK Board. She fulfils the role of Director for Scotland & International Relations.