Meet the team / faculty

Charles Brook

Charles is the founder and Managing Director of The Performance Coach. He is also one of Europe’s leading executive coaches working with Chief Executives and Senior Managers to deliver their performance goals and personal targets. He was a founding board member of The European Mentoring and Coaching Council and Chair of the Membership and Marketing Committee.

Andrea Cardillo

Andrea is managing partner of The Performance Coach in Italy. He has experience in training and coaching particularly in the field of HR development, leadership and corporate social responsibility.

As a consultant and coach, Andrea has collaborated with public, private and third sector organisations, primarily in working with middle/senior managers and organizational leaders from diverse backgrounds.

Andrea has a Masters in Personal and Business Coaching and is a member of International Coach Federation Italia. He was originally trained in philosophy and has a Ph.D in the area of ethics and psychology. He has expertise in academic teaching and research, and his books are published by some of the main Italian publishing houses.

Christian Dinesen

Christian Dinesen is managing partner of The Performance Coach in Denmark. He has a 10 year track record with a strong international expat management background. Working as a coach and trainer, Christian delivers executive and business coaching focusing on performance development. He works with several blue chip top 100 and public companies. Christian is also an invited speaker at international conferences, writes articles for leading magazines and is a founding and serving member of the Danish EMCC.

John Frost

John is Managing Director of Values Based Leadership. He works with clients to design and deliver tailor made leadership development solutions that underpin and deliver their strategic intent. John has worked with Senior Executives in global organisations for the last 16 years to enable them to develop their leadership style, impact and lead significant cultural change in their organisations. He is an experienced coach and mentor to Senior Executives and has worked in numerous sectors. John is currently delivering leadership development programmes for FTSE 100, 250 and Global clients in the UK, Europe, North America and China. He has extensive experience of working with groups of cross cultural leaders.

Baz Hartnell

Baz is a consultant coach who is an experienced director himself, coaching CEO’s, chairs and board of directors of large public and private sector organisations. Baz is a coach on the national NHS coaching register, is an EMCC member and holds an MSc in Coaching and Development and an MBA. He is also a Fellow of the Instititue of Sales and Marketing Management.

Kate Hesk

A Director at the Performance Coach, Kate Hesk has coached and trained many and varied clients including directors, Managing Directors and leaders at all levels in small and large organisations by utilising a combination of hard, sophisticated business skills and a personable and approachable style.

She combines her academic background with the skills gained through twenty years of sales, marketing and general management in blue chip organisations, including Johnson and Johnson and Merck and Co, and the softer skills of coaching. In addition to her first degree, Kate holds an MBA from Henley Management College, a Diploma in Coaching and Development, a Masters in Coaching and is a member of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council.

Annelieke Jense

Annelieke is managing partner of the Performance Coach in the Netherlands. She has 15 years of experience within the training and coaching field. As a social psychologist, with a background in recruitment, she thrives on the reward of seeing professionals grow and achieve.

Seven years ago she founded Jense & Jacobs, Partners in Performance. Her clients are directors, partners, managers and professionals or anyone willing to critically review their own performance and its effect on others. Prior to running her own business she worked as a senior trainer for the leading HR consultancy in the Netherlands. Annelieke has both an MSc in Social Psychology, specialising in group-dynamics and an MSc in coaching & Development. She is a member if the EMCC (European Mentoring and Coaching Council).

Andrew McDowell

Originally trained as a psychologist in Australia, Andrew's PhD was in the area of conflict resolution. He has worked in the areas of clinical psychology and supervision, coaching, behaviour change, leadership and potential oriented psychology; and for 12 years as a Senior Lecturer in the areas of psychology and health. Andrew moved to the UK in 2002, where he is currently involved in training, coaching and consultancy work with a range of leading organisations
He is a faculty member in a number of University level Coach training and Conflict Resolution programmes (at Certificate, Diploma and Masters of Science levels) in the UK and in Europe.

Andrew is also Director of the youth leadership NGO WYSE International, which identifies promising young leaders around the world and supports them to create change in their communities.

Vanessa Rogers

Vanessa joined The Performance Coach in 2011, having previously worked in Learning and Development roles at Thomas Cook, News International Newspapers and Help the Aged. She also set up and ran her own training consultancy. She is a Programme Manager for the Open Programmes, responsible for logistics, production of materials, communication with participants and Faculty, collation of reports and financial summaries and database management.

Chris Sheepshanks

Chris began working in the arena of management development, leadership and coaching as an infantry officer in the British Army from 1989-96. After studying for an MBA at London Business School, Chris worked in a number of executive and senior management positions with Associated Newspapers and then Associated New Media, working initially in new venture development, before becoming the General Manager of a series of the newspapers websites. He has also worked with EDF Energy, Shell and National Grid. With a strong belief in youth development, Chris has taken on director level positions in the charitable sector as well as building and delivering coaching programmes to individuals and student groups in ‘Challenge Status’ schools throughout Greater London.

Diana Whitmore

Diana Whitmore is President of the Psychosynthesis & Education Trust. For twenty years she was Chairperson of the Trust, Director of Professional Programmes and a Senior Trainer in psychosynthesis. For 30 years, she has trained professionals throughout Europe. She is on the UKCP National Register of Psychotherapists and a BACP Accredited Supervisor, has published two books, ‘Psychosynthesis in Education: A Guide to the Joy of Learning’ and ‘Psychosynthesis Counselling in Action’.

She is a trustee of the Findhorn Foundation, Vice- president of Children: Our Ultimate Investment (USA) and a founding Director of Children: Our
Ultimate Investment (UK). She currently runs programmes for young people at risk of exclusion.

She had didactic training with Roberto Assagioli, founder of psychosynthesis and studied Humanistic Psychology at Esalen Institute, California. She is currently a PhD student at the University of Surrey.

Damion Wonfor

Programme Director for our Open Programmes, and a Director of the Performance Coach, Damion is an experienced trainer, facilitator and executive coach utilising a breadth of experience from the last 15 years where he has held various learning and development roles within large blue chip organisations in the financial and professional service sectors.

Damion previously worked as Global Learning and Development Manager for a professional services firm supporting 10,000 staff across 40 countries. He has expertise in emotional intelligence, coach development, mentoring, talent management, executive and leadership development and helping organisations utilise coaching effectively.