CEO
The founder and CEO of Working Voices, Nick Smallman has been at the top of his profession for 25 years. Advising global blue-chip clients on engagement, productivity, and retention, he counsels leaders on increasing revenue via simple cultural adjustments.
Overseeing the successful expansion of Working Voices across the UK, the US, Asia, and the Middle East, Nick supports the leadership and communication capabilities of clients in a wide range of sectors. In particular, he has advised companies such as JP Morgan, Barclays, Sony, Nomura, M&S, and Blackrock for more than 15 years.
Developing his reputation for thought leadership, in recent years Nick has been leading work on The Sustainable Human, the subject of his forthcoming book. A concept unique to Working Voices, The Sustainable Human offers a package of solutions focusing on leadership enablement, future skills, and cultural harmony.
Working closely with HR specialist Mercer, Nick has developed solutions to four key modern workplace challenges:
- Engagement and retention
- Intergenerational communication
- Anxiety around adopting AI
- Wellbeing strategies that fail to reach their target audience
Nick regularly delivers his highly-regarded presentation on The Sustainable Human to clients around the world, offering compelling insights that will radically alter the way any organisation leverages its talent.
“I’m excited to share the conclusions of three years of research that, if implemented, can make an immediate practical difference to leaders and their organisations.” – Nick Smallman
The Board
Lara
Hedman
A career that started in the city, working with companies in the investment banking and insurance fields (Goldman Sachs, Prudential, etc), gave Lara early insights into what drives modern global businesses.
Lara then established and developed an events’ management operation serving major global clients such as Avon Cosmetics, Bear Stearns and Nike before joining Working Voices in 2010 to use her marketing and business development skills in a growing and exciting business.
Steve
Furner
Stephen is a qualified accountant with over 25 years experience as a Finance Director and Non-Executive Director within UK listed groups, venture capital backed MBOs and private companies. During that period he has raised more than £60 million of equity and debt finance including funding for an MBO and various acquisitions. In addition to acting as a corporate finance adviser, Stephen also serves as a board director of growth companies.
Heads of Departments
Jo
Herrington
Our Client Services team is the hub of Working Voices – they oversee everything from New Product Development to Logistics, liaising with clients and ensuring everything runs smoothly.
Jo came to us in 2012 from an operations background managing teams in healthcare, education, airline charter and the Royal Air Force. She brings to the table both a mature understanding of the business and exceptional organisational skills.
Dan
Parry
With 24 years’ experience in the media, Dan Parry is a professional content producer with a strong track record in film and television. He began as a broadcast journalist, spending eight years with the BBC where he was a duty editor on BBC News Online.
He later switched to television and spent eight years as Head of Research at indie Dangerous Films where he found stories and interviewees for international factual dramas. In this role he secured interviews with President George H. W. Bush, Rudy Giuliani, Ted Kennedy, Mohamed al Fayed, 9/11 survivors, D-Day veterans, and the bodyguards who were with Diana the night she died in Paris. For much of his time at Dangerous, Dan focused on space history, and was the only person in the world to secure a TV interview with Neil Armstrong in the last 10 years of his life.
Dan later freelanced as a story producer, working with – among others – David Yates and David Heyman (Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts) and Peter Kosminski (Wolf Hall, The State). With Yates and Heyman, he worked on a cinema film about refugees, spending a week in the Jungle refugee camp in Calais. With Kosminsky, he worked on war-crimes in the former Yugoslavia, tracking down special forces soldiers, CIA agents and Serb spies.
He has published three best-selling books and joined us from BBC Factual.
Robert
Pilkington
Logistics Team
Kate
McCulloch
Kate joined Working Voices in January 2015 from a background of administration in Higher Education. She manages our EMEA courses taking care of the whole process from initial enquiry, liaising on dates, confirming contracts and ensuring the session runs smoothly on the day.
Nicola
Dwyer
Nicola brings 30+ years’ knowledge from the commercial world, working for a number of years as an International Sales Co-ordinator for a US IT company with a client base in the UK, South Africa and the Middle East. Nicola’s strong administrative background is complemented with product sales, conferences, events and trade shows alongside setting up new departments within established businesses in IT, education and PR.
