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The Ivy House
Story

Elke Edwards, Founder and Creative Director of Ivy House, spent 20 years running one of the leading executive development businesses in Europe. Whilst delivering programmes to over 40% of the FTSE 100, and winning 43 awards for their work in leadership and performance change, she learnt three things that changed her life and the lives of the people she worked with:

Elke Edwards
Founder of Ivy House,
speaker, writer, performance coach

  1. There is a certain set of skills and knowledge that, once mastered, has a profound impact on the kind of leader you become, and the kind of life you create.
  2. These skills and knowledge can be learnt.
  3. The sooner you learn them, the more powerful the effect.

But one thing really bothered her.

Why was this learning given only to senior execs? Why weren’t we giving it to people earlier on, at a time when it really could make all the difference not only to the leaders they become, but to all aspects of their lives?

So, she decided to do something about it.

Welcome to Ivy House.

Meet the team

A Team on a Mission

Our team comprises a select group of top leadership coaches, mentors and speakers with a breadth of experience across different organisations and industries. We all bring different specialisms, but we are united in our belief that, given the right kind of development at the right time, people can create huge positive change in their lives, careers and the world.

Meet the advisors

Advisory Panel

Ways to work with us

Want to get
involved?

If our mission and values resonate with you (brilliant!), here are some key ways you can get involved:

Fair Chance Funding

We are looking for corporate partners to help us bring this game-changing learning to young people, from less-advantaged backgrounds – at a time when it is has never been more needed and can make a significant difference, now and in the future.

Whatever your budget, we’ll work with you to bring a programme that creates lasting change for young people and their teachers. Whether you are able to support 1 school or 30, this is about doing what you can to equip young people no matter what their background, a fair chance. Equipping them with the skills they need to take control of their lives, build confidence and positive futures.

Become a Fair Chance Partner

The Future Leaders Project

Brought to you by a coalition of changemakers in business and education, The Future Leaders Project is focused on resourcing students to thrive in work and life – and empowering them to become the next generation of leaders.

Led by industry experts and free for schools and students to enter, it comprises a competition and resource portal, allowing young people to be informed, developed and inspired – building a bridge of connectivity between education and the world of work and equipping students with the knowledge and inspiration to step up and become the leaders of their lives.

Register your school

Want to
find out more?

Contact Us
Download brochure

Elke Edwards

Founder of Ivy House, speaker, writer, performance coach

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Kate Lander

Chief Executive Officer

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Clare Mitchell

Product Director

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Vicky Gerrish

Head of Schools Partnerships

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Laura Jelly

Marketing Director

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Lindsay Terris

Client Director

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Deandra Murphy

Head of Client Experience

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Elke Edwards

Founder of Ivy House, speaker, writer, performance coach

Elke is the founder and Creative Director of Ivy House and is responsible for our thought leadership, creative and learning direction. She is also the author of bestselling book ‘Extraordinary: How to Lead a Bigger, Braver, More Meaningful Life’. Prior to Ivy House she founded and ran the multi-award-winning executive development company, Blue Sky. She has worked with leaders of industry at the highest levels, for clients including Virgin, Centrica, BBC, Barclays, WaterAid, BskyB, Linklaters and RBS. Her skills as a coach, educator, speaker and writer are highly sought after in the corporate and educational world.

Kate Lander

Chief Executive Officer

As Chief Executive Officer, Kate is responsible for the strategic direction of Ivy House and the development of our digital offering, as well as our strategic partnerships. Kate has more than 25 years’ experience in the finance and education sectors, including overseeing the development of digital solutions for many global banks. Kate is a qualified accountant and Chartered Financial Analyst and is also a Non-Executive Director of OfS (the government regulator for universities).

Clare Mitchell

Product Director

Clare heads up programme design for Ivy House, having spent the last 11 years developing a series of award-winning development programmes for Blue Sky. She has worked as a performance coach, facilitator and consultant to some of Europe’s leading organisations, such as Royal Mail, TUI, British Gas, Virgin Media, npower, KPMG, EE and BT, and now drives the development of all Ivy House programmes.

Vicky Gerrish

Head of Schools Partnerships

Vicky is responsible for the implementation, engagement and successful delivery of The Award in our sixth form schools. She has 25 years of experience in learning and development and her passion for coaching, personal and professional development and nurturing relationships saw her work with organisations like BMW group, Virgin Group, Centrica, Barclays Bank and many other FTSE 100 businesses.

Laura Jelly

Marketing Director

Laura heads up the marketing for Ivy House. She has over 15 years’ experience working in education as a TA, teacher and coach. She has worked in hundreds of schools across the UK, supporting students in finding their confidence and achieving their potential.

Lindsay Terris

Client Director

Our Client Director Lindsay works directly with each Ivy House client, from on-boarding and contracting through to year-end review. Over the past 15 years, she has worked with senior leaders of organisations such as Barclays, Direct Line Group, Virgin Active, More Than and Virgin Atlantic, to drive award-winning behavioural change programmes. Lindsay is obsessed with client experience and is a passionate coach and presenter, who combines experience and storytelling with an unmistakeable Scottish accent to make a real impact.

Deandra Murphy

Head of Client Experience

Deandra is responsible for providing an extraordinary end-to-end experience for our corporate clients and Ivy House Programme delegates. Upon completing her BSc in Psychology, Deandra applied her passion for people and performance first in sport and later in business; helping individuals, teams and organisations achieve a sustainable competitive advantage through coaching, facilitation and development.

Jo Naish

Teacher, Canford

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Andrea Winfield

General Manager - Human Resources, Microsoft

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Durrell Barnes

Head of Governance & Compliance, RSAcademics

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Rachel Johnson

CEO, PiXL

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Helen Cook

Chief HR Officer, NatWest

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Jessica Taylor

Managing Director, Preloaded

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Natalie Dormer

Assistant Principal, Harris Academy

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Janet Tidmarsh

Head of Diversity & Inclusion, Whitbread

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Jonnie Noakes

Director of Teaching & Learning, Eton

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Jo Naish

Teacher, Canford

Jo teaches Chemistry at Canford School in Dorset and is involved in CCF and sport as well as being a personal tutor to several students. She was part of the first Cohort of the Ivy House Master Programme and has coordinated the introduction of the Ivy House Award at Canford in its pilot year. She has worked in schools for over ten years, focusing on giving students opportunities to get outside their comfort zones and discover their true limits. She is a true advocate of the Award and its life changing potential.

Andrea Winfield

General Manager - Human Resources, Microsoft

Andrea’s role is to drive forward the people strategy for Microsoft across the Western Europe region, to attract, develop and retain talent that helps change the world, whilst creating a culture that empowers employees to innovate, do their best work, and grow the business. Andrea has enjoyed a variety of leadership roles for Microsoft Internationally, within HR, Talent Acquisition & Talent Management. She holds a BA Hons degree in Business and Financial Services, and post-graduate certificates in Human Capital Management & Advanced Organisation Design from the University of Southern California.

Durrell Barnes

Head of Governance & Compliance, RSAcademics

Durrell Barnes spent 11 years as Deputy Director/Head of Communications at the Independent Schools Inspectorate and has spent over 20 years in schools, mostly as deputy head. He now leads a small team of specialists as Head of Governance and Compliance at RSAcademics. He is also a Specialist Partner at Alder, who offer schools advice about PR, litigation and crisis handling. Since 2018 he has been Chair of the Independent Schools Examinations Board. Durrell is a regular speaker and writer about educational leadership, inspection, safeguarding and mental health issues and has been a governor of 7 schools in maintained, independent and international sectors.

Rachel Johnson

CEO, PiXL

Rachel Johnson is CEO of PiXL – a school leadership organisation of 3000 schools who want to bring about a ‘better hope and brighter future’ for young people. PiXL believes in equipping and enabling leaders to bring about better life chances and outcomes for young people and also enabling young people to develop their character and behaviours. PiXL works across primary, secondary, post 16 and alternative provision schools.

Helen Cook

Chief HR Officer, NatWest

With over 25 years’ experience in Financial Services, Helen’s career spans specialist HR roles in reward, resourcing & shared services as well as business facing roles in Retail, Corporate & Investment Banking (Corporate Finance, Trading, Asset Management). As Chief HR Officer at NatWest Group, Helen has responsibility for the entirety of the HR agenda and strategy, supporting 62,000 employees across the business.

Jessica Taylor

Managing Director, Preloaded

Jessica is Managing Director of PRELOADED, a Bafta-winning games studio delivering purposeful experiences for Google, BBC, Tate and V&A, designed to enhance the world rather than distract from it. Prior to PRELOADED, Jessica was VP, Experience Design for Antenna International, working to reimagine the visitor experience with some of the world’s greatest cultural organisations, including the National Gallery, Tate, the Vatican and the Louvre. Jessica also enjoyed a successful career as a Television Producer/Director, making films about the arts, history and science for international broadcasters such as the BBC, History Channel, Channel 4 and PBS.

Natalie Dormer

Assistant Principal, Harris Academy

Natalie is the Assistant Principal at Harris Academy, Greenwich. She has several years of experience developing a sixth form where academic study, enrichment experiences, and skills development are balanced to prepare students for life after school. She now oversees careers education throughout the entire academy.

Janet Tidmarsh

Head of Diversity & Inclusion, Whitbread

Janet is an experienced talent, learning & inclusion professional, having worked for some of the countries best known B2C brands including Virgin, Sainsbury’s and Whitbread.

An ILM accredited Executive Coach, she is passionate about developing people to their fullest potential, through access to the best learning solutions. Currently working in the field of Diversity & Inclusion means she cares about ensuring great development is equitable, regardless of how you identify.

Janet is naturally curious, always reading something new and enjoys developing herself as well as others.

Jonnie Noakes

Director of Teaching & Learning, Eton

Jonnie Noakes is Director of Teaching and Learning at Eton and the Director of The Tony Little Centre for Innovation and Research in Learning. He is an expert in character education, with two decades of experience in teaching emotional intelligence. As an English teacher, he has led two departments concurrently at Eton and at the London Academy of Excellence. He is a governor at a number of state and independent schools and a director of the education charity BrainCanDo.

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