Forward Institute

Core team

Adam Grodecki

Founder & Chief Executive

Adam set up the Forward Institute with the support of Boston Consulting Group, where he was a consultant for five years. He previously co-founded Student Hubs, is a governor of Ark Academy and sits on the advisory board for The Evidence Initiative.

Andy Cox

Associate Director

Andy brings over 30 years’ experience in professional services to the Forward Institute. As a senior partner at KPMG, he led the deals business and then the energy sector team. Together with Adam and Ruth, Andy leads many of our partner relationships.

Alex Jolly

Head of Partnerships & Insights

Alex manages the relationships with our partner organisations, ensuring all our partners get the most from our programmes. She previously worked in the Fellowship programme team, running events.

Ali Zair

Deputy Advisory Practice Director

Ali leads our Advisory projects and deepens impact in our partner organisations. She previously worked at World Challenge, leading a number of departments before becoming Global Head of Marketing.

Becky Rea

Associate Director

Becky has spent her career working with leaders and their teams to deliver large scale transformation in the UK, Europe and North America.

Camilla Padovani

Community Manager

Camilla manages the relationships within our fellowship community. She previously worked at Tech Nation where she was the Visa programme manager/alumni community lead, managing a network of 1,700 diverse tech leaders.

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Carol Campayne

Facilitator

Working on executive coaching and systems change across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors globally, Carol's specialisms include diversity, inclusion (with a specific focus on race, gender/intersectionality) and leadership.

Claudia Lynam

Finance Manager

Claudia supports the Operations team across finance and people.

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Cleo Sheehan

Facilitator

Cleo was previously our Deputy Programme Director and before that worked in innovation consultancy, coaching clients and teams on innovative change programmes.

Dimple Wedgewood

Project Leader

Dimple works closely with both the Fellowship and the Partnerships teams to support our partners in accelerating deep organisational change. She previously led the Widening Participation team at LSE, delivering a range of social outreach activities.

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Ed Gillespie

Facilitator

Ed founded an award-winning communications agency and is a writer, communications specialist, entrepreneur and futurist when he's not facilitating for us.

Faith Donwa

Delivery Officer

Faith supports our delivery team with research and project-related tasks. Before joining us, she collaborated with the Nigerian government to combat human trafficking and worked in private consulting in Sub-Saharan Africa. She also volunteers in a non-profit advancing female education in Africa.

Farhan Chowdhury

Team Coordinator

Experienced in event coordination and team support, previously volunteered in youth outreach and mental health initiatives.

Fran Carver

People & Project Manager

Fran support all Forward Institute Operations. She previously worked in private wealth banking.

Harriet Smail

Exchange Programme Manager

Harriet supports Exchange participants through their journey. She previously worked for various charities and development organisations including Meningitis Research Foundation and HACE.

Izzy Raeside

Project Leader

Izzy's background is in innovation, coming from What If Innovation where she helped clients future-proof their businesses through innovative products, services and strategies, and by embedding a culture for innovation to thrive.

Jack Wellby

Director, Advisory

Before joining the Forward Institute, Jack worked at the John Lewis Partnership for 12 years in a variety of commercial and senior strategy roles, most recently leading award-winning work to redefine and embed the purpose of the Partnership.

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James Allport

Facilitator

James is an experienced leader, strategic thinker, coach, mentor and expert in retail, employee engagement and culture change.

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Jane Drabble

Facilitator

Jane previously had a 30-year career at the BBC culminating as Director of Education, and has been on our facilitation team since day one.

Jess Dennis

Director of People, Finance & Operations

Jess previously worked in banking and now leads finance, HR and governance at the Forward Institute. She’s also our company secretary.

Jo Grant

Senior Executive Assistant

Jo supports the Senior Leadership Team. Forward Institute effectively, and also leads our internal processes to manage information. She joined us from Ipsos Mori where she was Global Client Service Director.

Kate Simpson

Associate Director

Kate has worked in international development, environmental management, academia and leadership development, and also runs systems change consultancy Wasafiri.

Kieran Knowles

Senior Brand and Insights Manager

Kieran looks at brand, systems and reporting for the Forward Institute. Anything from developing media content, posting Linkedin updates, maintaining our Salesforce platform or developing an Artificial Intelligence strategy. He also writes plays and has appeared in a few too.

Kristina Teow

Partnership Manager

Kristina manages trusted relationships with our partner organisations. Prior to this, Kristina led the People function of a fast-growing healthtech start-up in Southeast Asia, and earlier on, worked in leadership advisory at a global firm, partnering with technology clients across Asia Pacific.

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Lorraine King

Associate Director

Lorraine has held a number of senior leadership and management posts over the last 20 years, and currently works as a freelance consultant specialising in leadership development, content design, group facilitation and 1:1 coaching.

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Lucy Bound

Associate Director

Lucy is an executive coach, facilitator and leadership consultant with over 20 years' experience of working with multi-sector clients all over the world.

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Matthew Cushen

Associate Director

Innovator, entrepreneur and seed investor Matthew has held strategic and operational roles in large organisations, bringing a potent mix of commercial acumen and deep knowledge of the retail industry.

Matt Hills

Deputy Programme Director

Matt has held leadership positions in the military and in education, including command of the Royal Marines’ spearhead reconnaissance group. He later taught English in a challenging London school before progressing to senior leadership roles.

Matt White

Associate Director

Matt has been working in leadership development for more than 20 years, running programmes, coaching teams and working with individuals.

Meghan Dawson

Deputy Director - Advisory Practice

Before becoming Deputy Director of Advisory, Meghan spent 7 years at ?What If! Innovation and Accenture working to reinvent culture and de-risk big change for the world’s biggest organisations across myriad industries. Meghan trained as a psychotherapist and has background in innovation, behaviour change and transformation.

Nicole Bradfield

Director

Nicole is a leadership coach and culture strategist, helping leaders build purposeful, thriving organisations. She works with senior teams to align on vision and culture, fostering confident, heart-led leadership. Previously, she was a Partner at Within People and Managing Director at Neo.

Rob Hayward

Director

Rob is a strategy consultant and advisor on ethical and responsible business, dedicated to helping leaders navigate strategic dilemmas with confidence and courage. Having started his career at Accenture Strategy, Rob previously spent a decade with ethics advisory firm Principia.

Roger Noon

Facilitator

Roger has spent the last decade in large multinational banks working out how to understand culture and strengthen behaviours to improve conduct, risk management and business performance.

Ruth Turner

Senior Director

Ruth joined Adam to launch the Forward Institute in 2015. Before this, she worked as a senior advisor to Prime Minister Tony Blair, led the Faith Foundation and served as Director of Government Relations in No 10.

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Sally Benatar

Facilitator

After a 31-year career in the Metropolitan Police, Sally is currently a board trustee at London Sport and a non-executive director advising the Ministry of Defence’s Service Justice Board.

Sarah Gillard

Associate Director

Sarah has over 25 years of experience leading in fast-paced commercial environments at some of the UK’s largest retail companies, and is the CEO for Blueprint for Better Business, helping executive teams embed purpose in the heart of business practice.

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Scott Morrison

Associate Director

Scott has over 20 years' experience at some of the world’s biggest companies and agencies. He’s the author of the book Creative Superpowers, and coaches and consults alongside his facilitation with us.

Sherine Mahmoud

Director of Programmes

Sherine leads the Exchange programme. Before joining the Forward Institute, she worked closely with senior leaders of social-purpose organisations to deliver meaning social change at scale, including a decade working across Latin America and the MENA region.

Simran Dhanjal-Field

Senior Manager

Sim works across the Advisory Practice and Partnership Teams. Her background is in charity management and development, having lead a youth social action charity focusing on fostering active citizenship within higher education. She’s held roles across people and culture, HR, impact, risk, governance, and strategy.

Sophie Rafter

Senior Partnerships Manager

Sophie manages and drives impact throughout relationships with our partner organisations. She previously worked in the charity and private sectors, most recently managing corporate partnerships at UK charity Marie Curie.

Tammy Potter

Associate Director

Tammy has held a number of senior leadership roles most recently as the Chief People Officer at award winning femtech brand Elvie, and formerly as global talent director at Dyson and client champion at Wavelength. Tammy brings operational people and leadership expertise with a solid footing in commercial acumen, the tech, disruptive and premium brand space.

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Tammy Tawadros

Facilitator

Tammy's a coach, supervisor, OD practitioner and work psychologist with a specific interest in how leaders lead through disruptive change, turbulence and uncertainty.

Tamsin Cooper

Managing Director

Tamsin is an experienced strategist, holding a number of senior strategy roles in government. She recently led the National Food Strategy, resulting in a plan to transform the food system. She has run a think tank and was a consultant for the European Commission.

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Tim Morrell

Facilitator

Tim helps organisations build braver, more empowered cultures through active experimentation. He’s an experienced facilitator, coach and experience designer with a background in learning and innovation.

Tom Jenkins

Programme & Events Manager

Before joining the Forward Institute, Tom worked in executive education for seven years, on programmes based in the UK and across Europe, Asia and the US.

Board

Sir Anthony Salz

Chairman

Anthony is a distinguished lawyer, spending 10 years as a senior partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

David Rhodes

Non-Executive Director

David is a senior advisor at Boston Consulting Group, where he had a 30-year career working with financial institutions around the world.

Emmajane Varley

Non-Executive Director

Emmajane has over 20 years' experience delivering pioneering single-market, regional and global communications strategies within national and global organisations.