Helping organisations succeed
through their people

KEITH WATSON
Director / Head of Consultancy Services

Keith is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), the Learning and Performance Institute (LPI) and the Institute of Training and Occupational Learning (ITOL) and is a Member of the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) and a Master Member of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC).

Keith's pragmatic and commercial focus is supported by a comprehensive knowledge of Employment Law and HR Policy & Practice. Keith has global experience including working in Africa, Middle East, South East Asia and India Keith has an ability to communicate and influence at all levels in the business and has extensive experience of coaching and developing talent to meet business objectives. Keith is also an experienced tutor on the CIPD and CMI qualifications, he was a lay member of the Employment Tribunal and is an Equality Act Assessor in the Sheriff Courts.

Keith has been actively involved in CIPD in a voluntary capacity over a number of years and has held a number of positions in the Institute at a local and National level and is the recipient of a CIPD PACE volunteer award. Keith is currently chair of the Board of Trustees at the Welcoming Association (Edinburgh).

RANIA AZIZ
Senior Consultant

Rania is an experienced Senior Strategist and Leadership Manager with over 16 years of experience in the private sector, civil society engagement, and organizational transformation, particularly focused on Sudan and East Africa. Rania has a proven track record in developing and implementing strategic initiatives, managing cross-functional teams, and fostering partnerships with external stakeholders. Areas of expertise include Program Management, Change Management, People Strategy, Learning & Development, Capacity Building, Facilitation, Organizational Transformation, Diversity & Inclusion, Youth Empowerment, and Movement Building.A dedicated to conscious leadership, guiding teams with empathy, ethical practices, and a commitment to sustainable development.

ABDU ABUELHAYA
Senior Consultant

Abdu is a highly skilled HR professional with almost 20 year’s HR experience, principally in the oil and gas sector. 

With experience in a range of disciplines including learning and development, employee relations and workforce planning his breadth of knowledge is equalled by his level of skill and enthusiastic approach.

In addition to HR qualifications, Abdu has a Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature from Elneelain University and a Master of Science in Business Administration majoring in HR Management from Sudan International University and is a CELTA certified English Language teacher. Native Arabic speaker

Tina Russell
Consultant

Tina Russell is an experienced consultant with over 20 years’ experience working across private, public and charitable sectors, including extensive work with professional membership bodies and small non-profit organisations.

For more than two decades, Tina has worked in professional membership organisations in advisory, project and employed roles, including service on Councils, Boards and Professional Conduct Committees. This work has required a detailed understanding of operations, organisational structures, role levels, accountability frameworks and progression pathways, supporting consistency and clarity across roles. Her background in financial services, legal, accountancy environments give her a strong understanding of frameworks, governance, and the need to balance affordability with fair and transparent systems.

Tina’s experience includes assessing role scope and responsibility, supporting clear role definitions, and contributing to processes that link performance, competence and development to progression and recognition. She has worked with organisations to ensure that performance reviews are objective, proportionate and aligned with organisational values and equality principles. Tina has recruited, trained and performance-managed staff and volunteers, and has overseen assessment and review processes that support development, retention and engagement. She brings a strong focus on good practice, including benchmarking.

Through her work on Codes of Conduct, complaints handling and professional standards, Tina has extensive experience designing and operating transparent, evidence-based assessment processes. These skills translate directly to reviewing PDR frameworks, ensuring consistency of application, clarity of criteria, and fairness in outcomes. She is experienced in identifying systemic issues within existing frameworks and making practical, actionable recommendations for improvement.

Tina is particularly experienced in working with small professional bodies and charities, and understands the operational realities of limited resources, hybrid roles and evolving organisational needs. Her approach emphasises transparency, engagement and clear communication throughout review processes, for example in running public consultations. Tina has developed Codes of Conduct and Ethics, reviewing complaints of alleged breaches of the Code and managing investigations, disciplinary hearings and volunteers including recruitment, designing and running assessment centres, onboarding, training and performance management. Identifying insights from complaints and cases, Tina contributes to the development of standards balancing a range of stakeholder and public interest. Tina has also managed membership upgrading and CPD. Developing content on ethics and running investigations for organisations, Tina has been an advocate for speaking up in the workplace and produced content, delivered training and spoken at several events on whistleblowing and speak up.

Ibironke Tolu-Ogunpolu
Strategic Human Capital, Change & Organizational Development Consultant

Ibironke is a strategic business leader and executive coach with 25+ years of global, multi-disciplinary and cross-sector exposure. She has led several successful change programmes and coached executives worldwide. Known for her collaborative style and strategic insight, Ibironke helps organisations to navigate change successfully, with a focus on impact, inclusion, and innovation.

For over 25 years, Ibironke has led and delivered projects focused on helping clients to address the organisation design, change management, capability, culture, HR, learning, leadership, workforce planning, reward and people risk aspects of strategic initiatives including transformation, restructuring, M&A, carve-outs, separations and value creation programmes. Her experience covers various-sized client organizations and several industries including consumer products, energy, financial services, health and life sciences, non-profits, professional services, professional development, public sector, transport, technology and telecoms and utilities.

Ibironke combines a high strategic focus, with her deep cross-industry and multi-disciplinary experience to deliver change, efficiency and growth across diverse organisational contexts. Known for her strategic insight and collaborative style, she helps organisations and leaders to thrive through complexity and change, with a focus on impact, inclusion, and innovation. She has deep expertise in leading HR strategy, driving HR function effectiveness projects, designing and driving the delivery of engagement and communications strategies, building and implementing performance management and succession frameworks, strategic reward and incentive schemes, and establishing HR Metrics and People Analytics models.

Ibironke set up, built and coached multi-location teams to deliver ‘award-winning’ human capital functional support, in her prior roles as Head of Human Capital for PwC in two countries and the Chief Operating Officer for the People In M&A business at EY.

She is passionate about professional development and the membership organizations that support professionals in various disciplines. Her work for professional bodies has included designing new membership routes and frameworks for progression, as well as a framework for evaluating internal academic qualifications from non-UK jurisdictions. She was also previously a volunteer mentor for the HR Certification Institute (USA) and a volunteer Code of Conduct Disciplinary Panel member with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

Ibironke is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, UK and a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt enabling her to bring a strong focus on quality to her people, strategy and organisational development practice. She holds two Masters’ degrees in Strategy, Change and Leadership and in Human Resources Management. She is a certified Executive and Leadership Coach from the Institute of Leadership and Management, with a postgraduate qualification in Executive Coaching from the University of the West of England.