Post maternity leave career guide

Occupational Psychologist, 15 years’ experience managing assessment and competency programmes in the Talent Management process of multinational companies (selection, promotion, development, redundancy). The management of career transition and outpacement projects.

Cath Allen has 25 years’ deep experience working at the BBC in leadership, strategic transformation, resilience building and talent development at Board of Management level. She has led teams of 50, with budgets of £150m. A previous mentee described her as “having the patience of an Olympiad”.

Following an early career in executive search, Caroline has rich experience as international leadership mentor and coach, with a broad business perspective arising from senior level experience in multiple industry sectors. Supporting women to enhance their leadership skills, become more confident and enjoy their influencing abilities, whilst further developing their own personal leadership style.

Multi-cultural experience gained in UK, France, Ireland, Australia, Eastern Europe, Europe, S Africa & the USA.

Whitney Johnson is a leading thinker on driving innovation and professional dreams via personal disruption, and has put pedal to the metal as co-founder of Clayton Christensen’s investment firm.

Johnson is a regular contributor for Harvard Business Review and LinkedIn. She also speaks and coaches at Fortune 100 Companies, top-tier educational institutions, and industry conferences.

Her work has recognized by Thinkers50, which named her as a finalist for the 2013 Future Thinker Award, while the Wall Street Journal dubbed her one of 20 Money Thinkers to Follow.

Whitney is author of Dream, Dare, Do  a book and guidebook for women (and men) interested in applying Whitney’s breakthrough ideas to achieve their career-life dreams. More about Whitney the Disrupter, here.

Dr. Marcia Reynolds is a world-renowned coach and leadership trainer who guides people to “outsmart their brains.” She is well-known among coaches for professional women in business and her two award-winning books, Wander Woman: How High-Achieving Women Find Contentment and Direction and Outsmart Your Brain. Marcia is frequently quoted online and in print and she has appeared on ABC World News.

You can find useful Brain Tips, articles and information on all of Marcia’s programs at www.OutsmartYourBrain.com. Marcia is a pioneer in the coaching profession and was the 5th president of the International Coach Federation. She was one of the first 25 people in the world to earn the Master Certified Coach designation. Marcia’s clients come from technical, pharmaceutical, financial, shipping and banking corporations and both governmental and quasi-governmental organizations including a major company turnarounds in the semi-conductor sector.

Mary Lynn has more than 25 years of experience as a successful senior executive with two Fortune 100 companies in the Telecommunication sector, including 5 years in Brussels, Belgium with Belgacom (owned by Belgium, AT&T, Singapore Telecom and TeleDenmark at the time) and Qwest Communications. She has led large multicultural organizations of up to 5,000 employees.

Mary Lynn now uses her unique skill set as a trendsetting entrepreneur, Certified Master Life Coach, and Business Consultant. Her career spanning Europe and the United States, has given her strong cross- cultural understanding. Whether the goal is to create improved personal or business relationships and results, enjoy a better career/home balance, have more joy, feel more passion and purpose in life, increase financial wealth, or dramatically reduce stress and improve health, Mary Lynn is internationally known for her tools and techniques that help both individuals and business organizations. Her dynamic and authentic coaching style creates trust, motivates, and moves people toward positive change with tangible results. Readabout herarticles, tips and tools, and information onher programs at www.livingajoyfullifenow.com.

Mary Lynn is also an expert in “Emotional Intelligence,” teaching people how to integrate feelings and thoughts (engaging in both the head and the heart) to create sustained performance and wellbeing, both professionally and personally. She inspires hearts and opens minds to leading edge new discoveries about how the brain works, using techniques that teach people to become positive, success-based thinkers. The tools that Mary Lynn teaches have been proven by Harvard University research to be more important than IQ and technical skills combined.

As a renowned motivational speaker, Mary Lynn inspires audiences, sparks discussion, and motivates change.  She is also a regular columnist on Wellness for the Gannett Media Company, with her works reaching audiences worldwide.

Dorothy, CEO of 3Plus International, is a global talent management strategist and Co-Founder 3Plus International. She works on both sides of the executive search spectrum from “hire to retire”, specializing in sourcing and developing hard-to-find candidates for executive search firms and international organizations.

A Brussels based career coach, she uses her active and deep knowledge of the job search market to support individuals in designing their career strategies, including the creation of a Personal Brand. Digitally savvy, with an internationally-recognized blog on career transition and a strong niche-market social media presence, she successfully embraced new technology to combine the best of old-style methodologies with the new.

An Economist, Dorothy qualified into the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (U.K.) and is also a certified coach and trainer. Her early career spanned corporate HR and European sales and marketing. She has lived and worked in a number of countries as well as a variety of industry sectors, including the steel industry, television, and business services. She is an entrepreneur with experience in SMEs and start-ups, as well as large corporations.

She is a regular speaker and panelist at international conferences, runs coaching programs at a top-tier business schools and designs and delivers workshops related to job search and career transition.

Kimberli is an international virtual presentation skills trainer, coach and webinar strategist. She has worked in the virtual collaboration industry for almost 12 years and has been an entrepreneur for nearly a decade.

Kimberli has either managed, produced or hosted over 15,000 virtual events and is well versed in instructing others on how to effectively engage the virtual audience. Kimberli has designed customized training programs such as Webinar Basics, Webinar Production Basics, Universal Symbols, Make An Impact With Color, How To Create A Professional Virtual Office, Virtual Cognitive Load and many others.

Since founding her own company in 2004 Kimberli has worked with such clients as Nike, Cisco, GlaxoSmithKline, and TAB Products to name a few. She has personally coached thousands of clients in more than 29 countries.

Gilly is an executive coach supporting international executives and multicultural teams on both sides of the Atlantic. Known for her fierce yet heart-filled coaching style, Gilly helps individuals tap into their strengths, become more emotionally intelligent leaders, and make decisions that empower them—and ultimately their organisations.

A recognised super-connector and entrepreneur, Gilly founded and ran a Brussels-based communications consultancy, before certifying as a coach. Today her international coaching practice caters to a range of clients in both private and public sectorssuch as:Air France-KLM, Amnesty International, APCO, AuFeminin.com, Bain & Company, Baxter Healthcare, Caritas, Disney Corporation, ELLE, The European Commission, Council, and Parliament, Fis-Global, HEC Paris, ICF International (Mostra), INSEAD, Novartis, New York Public Radio, Pictet, SalesForce.Com, Swift, Tetra-Pak, and Unilever.Gilly facilitates board and leadership teammeetings andretreats, designs and runs leadership development workshops in several countries and mentors less seasoned coaches in both French and English. A regular contributor to the Forum ELLE-Active in Paris and other private, industry events, Gilly is a committed member of the International Coaching Federation.

Sofie-Ann has developed expertise in assisting her clients achieve success in presentations, resolve issues through mediation, and to achieve more effective results at work through clearer understanding of themselves and interpersonal communications.

Sofie-Ann’s diverse training and work experience empowers her to coach her clients on several levels, including physical health, concentration, perception, communication, and effective self-presentation. She has a degree in law from the University Ghent (1987) and a degree in European Law from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (1988). She studied Chinese Medicine and Energy exercises with Dr. Shen Hongxun at the International Buqi Institute (from 1990 onwards) and has a diploma from the London College of Traditional Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine and clinical training at The Ho Chi Minh City Acupuncture College in Vietnam (1997). She trained in Non-Violent Communication with Pat Patfoort at De Vuurbloem (from 2005 onwards), and completed the Medation Training at the University of Antwerp (2011). In the same year she also studied Body Language at the Center of Body Language in Antwerp.

From 1992 to the present she has organised and taught training programs of Taijiwuxigong for groups of up to 200 people in the UK, Belgium and Holland. Taijiwuxigong, the Qigong system developed by dr Shen Hongxun emphasises the importance of good posture, using the body efficiently to feel more resilience and flexibility on the physical, mental and emotional levels. Sofie-Ann is a practicing mediator, empowering her clients to avoid confrontations in court by negociating resolutions to legal disputes. She is a certified trainer and coach in Body Language at the Center for Body Language in Antwerp, where she has developed a specialised course in Power Moves for individuals and organisations.

Evelyn and Louise believe that the success of an organisations global mobility policy depends on the effective management of employee potential from a talent development perspective. Their coaching and mentoring programmes support expat assignees and their partners to maximise the potential of their international experience both personally and professionally. Since founding Thriving Abroad in 2013, they have delivered their coaching programmes to expatriates around the world.

Having spent a large portion of their adult lives working and living outside of their home countries, Evelyn and Louise have a deep understanding of the challenges faced by globally mobile, dual-career couples as they relocate internationally. Their work is driven by the belief that when global mobility works for both assignee and partner the return on investment will be greater for all concerned.

Louise has a background in personal training and development and a Masters in Occupational Psychology. She is a performance coach and a certified Realise2 Strengths practitioner. Evelyn’s background is in investment banking and corporate finance. As well as being a qualified coach, she is a certified group coach and has a Masters in Business Administration. Evelyn & Louise are authors of the upcoming book Thriving Abroad; Create an Expat Life and Career you Love. They are regular speakers at global mobility conferences and events and their 2012 survey report “Career Choice and the Accompanying Partner” was EMMA nominated by the Forum for Expatriate Management.

Natalie Reynolds is the Founder and CEO of advantageSPRING and is a recognised thought leader on effective negotiation and the benefits it can deliver for individuals and organisations. Natalie has trained clients all over the world how to negotiate and influence more effectively. Natalie is the author of ‘We Have a Deal: How to negotiate with intelligence, flexibility and power’ (Icon Books). Natalie and the advantageSPRING team work with a range of global companies to develop internal negotiation and influencing capability through coaching and training, often generating huge savings, increased revenue or efficiencies for their clients. Natalie also coaches senior women on the topic of salary negotiation, writes regularly in the national press on the role that negotiation can play in tackling the gender pay gap and delivers keynote speeches at conferences worldwide on effective negotiation.

Natalie has a passionate interest in the role that gender can play at the negotiation table and has spent a number of years researching the issue, providing coaching for women to boost confidence and challenge stereotypes and delivering challenging, provocative and practical master classes for women’s networks (including the BBC, DLA Piper and Mayer Brown LLP) and at conferences across Europe and the US.

Prior to founding advantageSPRING, Natalie qualified as Barrister, worked in a number of strategic management and legal advisory roles in both central and local government (including as an advisor to the Mayor of London on tackling domestic violence and sexual assault) and worked as a Commercial Director for both a large national charity and a FTSE 100 company. Natalie and the advantageSPRING team volunteer their time to support various charities with developing their commercial awareness and negotiation capability and are currently working with the NSPCC, Human Rights Watch, the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women and UN Women.

Devon is an accomplished and dynamic negotiation expert whose training and an accomplished and dynamic negotiation expert whose training and consulting work is informed by over a decade working in specialised procurement, including leading negotiations on behalf of one of North America’s largest corporations. A proponent of collaboration and creative problem solving, Devon partners with her clients to help them improve both capability and confidence during the negotiation process.

Delivers engaging, high energy training programmes for executives in the Americas and Asia

Contract negotiation specialist including securing non-disclosure agreements and program specific contract attachments

Guided execution and strategy from behind the scenes while a management negotiation team was on-site in Japan, securing a time sensitive partnership agreement

Spearheaded multi-vendor competitive sourcing initiative for a Forbes 50 organization, valued at greater than $75M in annual spending, resulting in annual cost savings of $10M

Delivers coaching support to senior executives and entrepreneurs across Europe, North America and Asia

Partnered with a high profile law firm to design and deliver training across multiple continents and provided follow up coaching to senior partners in the lead up to a merger.

Monique Valcour, PhD is an executive coach, keynote speaker, and researcher. Monique provides coaching and customized professional development for people who are transitioning into bigger leadership roles, navigating career changes, or who want to increase their capacity to learn, engage and perform at work while thriving in all domains of life. Her clients build highly effective leadership, learning, and career self-management repertoires. She helps individuals and organizations develop sustainable, high-performance careers that align with organizational and personal mission.

Monique provides thought leadership and advises on leadership development, career and talent management, work-life integration, mindfulness, and well-being. She is a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review.

Monique’s coaching expertise is built on 12+ years of work as a management professor, combined with rigorous coach training, certification, and high-level coaching experience in multiple countries and industries. Monique holds PhD and MSc degrees from Cornell University (in Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Studies), an MEd from Harvard University (in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy), and a BA from Brown University. She has served as a professor of management on the faculties of EDHEC Business School (France) and Boston College (US). She coaches and teaches leadership development and career self-management for the United Nations, London Business School and several other top business schools. She is a frequent external speaker and workshop leader renowned for her evidence-based, engaging, and energizing style.