T C Kelly

Tom was featured by The Conference Board for excellence in executive development. He is the Managing Partner of Kelly Associates. Recent and existing clients include the Chairman and board of Groupe Danone, the global heads of Danone Waters (Evian/Volvic/Bonafont) and Danone Dairy, WhiteWave Foods (Alpro) & Dannon USA, Lactalis & Stonyfield USA, the head of Kraft Biscuits China, USA & Canada, the CEO’s and senior partners of PricewaterhouseCoopers and Clifford Chance Eastern Europe, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, the Presidents of AXA Investment and Levi Strauss & Co. Europe, the MD’s of Saatchi and Saatchi, Selfridges, National Australia Bank Europe and Commerz Banks, members of the board of WHSmith, senior executives at Shell, senior diplomats at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Chairman of Unilever Russia, British Petroleum’s Head of Global Learning, the Director of Executive Development at Lloyds TSB, the Director of Learning at NatWest Bank, a BBC Trustee, the Permanent Secretary heading the UK’s Department of Employment and Learning and the Chairman of Jubilee 2000.

Transforming the effectiveness of individuals, teams, departments and whole organizations is his primary focus. He was a co-founder and Director of Sheppard Moscow Ltd, a leading consultancy in Organization and Leadership Development. He guest lectured in the departments of clinical psychology at Hebrew University, Jerusalem and Gothenburg University, Sweden whilst training professionals in personal and group development.

Specific Focus

Developing the AI business accelerator product grows out of his work with top executives which is strategic, behavioural and personal, enhancing performance, leadership style, balance of life and well being. Within two coaching sessions executives report positive change that is confirmed by colleagues. For example, he recently helped a global FMCG company grow exponentially within two years by diagnosing the organization and coaching the top executives to respond to its needs. And he helped an investment bank improve performance by diagnosing the needs of the financial analysts as well as their clients while coaching the executives to react appropriately. A 50% increase in the bank’s European ranking (Extel survey) from 12th, a position held for seven years, to 6th place occurred after one year of coaching and organization development interventions.

Combining coaching with team development has been a feature of his work. For example, coaching key members of the board of Kraft China during a team development intervention helped improve effectiveness and camaraderie while quadrupling growth.

Qualifications

He trained with Dr Colin Sheppard, founder of the first Organization Development departments at Royal Dutch Shell in assessing markets, growing revenues, enhancing customer satisfaction, cost and time reduction, managing change and resistance, network building, diagnostic surveying, open systems theory, action learning, consulting skills, positive power and influence, negotiation and presentation skills. His MA in Psychology concentrated on humanistic education, coaching and experiential learning. He trained with Dr. Laura Perls the founder of the Gestalt school of personal development and Dr. William Schutz the founder of team dynamic and Firo-B psychometric approaches. He co-authored the The Complete Guide to Fitness and Well Being (Viking/Penguin, New York) after research on well being which he applies in treating executive stress. He contributed to Blackwells Encyclopedic Dictionary of Psychology (Basil Blackwell, Oxford) after research on building effective relationships.

Approach to Coaching, Team, Departmental and Organizational Development

“I enjoy the work because it is personal yet pragmatic combining a depth of focus with a breadth of practical and strategic options that get results. Some clients describe the work as the most important development opportunity of their careers having enhanced overall satisfaction and effectiveness. Others say they are able to influence and motivate staff far more effectively; that skilled feedback and work on strengths and weaknesses is crucial; or stepping “out of the box” of old assumptions and taking a fresh approach to work and life is the key. Through an authentic relationship, individuals, teams and departments are helped to fully understand where they are now and what will further their development. It is a privilege to support extremely capable people and organisations to develop more quickly and exceed their growth targets.”

Inigo Lapwood

Inigo studied for a BSC in Philosophy and Psychology at Oxford, graduating in 2018. In the psychology component of his degree he focussed on the computational modelling of brain functions using biologically plausible neural networks. Working as a research assistant in the Crossmodal senses lab, he worked on Bayesian models of sensory integration, and, as part of his final honours papers, developed a computational model of error correction as a unitary explanation for the symptoms of schizophrenia.

In the Philosophy component of his degree, he focussed on the philosophy of logic and language, engaging particularly with Frege, Russell and Wittgenstein. Much of his subsequent work in natural language processing has been informed by these authors’ insights.

As an AI developer, these two areas of academic interest have been united. With a keen interest in linguistics and hands-on experience with computational modelling, Inigo specialises in creating bespoke neural networks to resolve complex natural language analysis problems.

Recent Career

Since graduating, Inigo has predominantly worked as an AI developer and consultant. Recent contracts include creating a data analysis package for Hivemind ltd to create structured corporate training programs, consulting for Arcopo ltd on implementing AI analysis in an iphone app, and working pro-bono as a developer during the Covid 19 pandemic to help create a system linking vulnerable people with local services. Since 2019 he has been working with YourStaffKnow as co-founder and lead developer, a role in which he is particularly happy.

For the last few years Inigo has also successfully helmed a small marine services business based in Canary Wharf. Under Inigo’s careful stewardship the business has managed an exceptional mean growth of 120%, year on year, for the past 8 years. His experiences running a business have left him sensitive to some of the issues that can occur within hierarchical structures. The information needed to unlock growth and identify and resolve potential problems often remains trapped within the structure. His work with YourStaffKnow provides a technological solution to help emancipate that vital information for other companies.

In his free time he enjoys fixing diesel engines.