Lis joined us as interim COO for a few months, and quickly became one of those rare people you’re genuinely glad to have in the room. She’s straight-talking (never rude), pragmatic (never passive), and always brings a point of view that pushes things forward.

On a personal level, I really valued her coaching style – asking the right questions at the right moment, helping me reflect and see my own value more clearly. That stuff matters, and Lis does it naturally.

She’s also a strong, people-first leader who has a canny knack for building trust and working effectively at every level of an organisation. Whether with founders or frontline staff, she meets people where they are.

The only drawback? She supports Wolves. But nobody’s perfect!

Thank you for such a great day, I personally got so much from the day and I even felt my confidence growing as the day progressed, thanks Lis you really did a great job and I hope we get to work with you again

Really productive and felt a safe space to share and create some really positive solutions. Lis was good at reading the room and nudging us forward as well as challenging us.

Honesty, warmth, the ability to use a range of coaching and mentoring models and a focus on outcomes, underpinned Lis’s work with me. From the countless colleagues who I have referred to Lis, I know these characteristics of practice were not only limited to my experience

Because of Lis’s passion and commitment for developing people, she is the go-to person within Teach First for coaching and mentoring (of which I have been one and I should add that we are not short of qualified coaches within the organisation). She has also designed and implemented coaching and mentoring programmes across the organisation, to increase effectiveness in role and to support career progression. The feedback from these programmes has always been excellent

I have worked with Lis for many years: she is part of the bedrock on which Teach First is built. I have never met anyone who cares so much about the art and craft of management, nor who can communicate this with such empathy, good humour and pragmatism to aspiring and experienced managers. She creates deep trust, safety and optimism in all her interactions and interventions. If you are looking for support on leadership and management development, I would wholeheartedly recommend Lis.