Our company

Our history

Bird & Co Board and Executive Mentoring (BEM) was developed as part of the Bird & Co group in 2008 to provide top class mentoring services. Since then, we have developed into a broader, independent, leadership consultancy offering a wide range of masterclasses along with our mentoring services.

We have always been ahead of the curve, whether it be on gender diversity on boards or on-boarding for new Chief Executives. We are still evolving, driven by the needs of our clients in a rapidly changing market. We are constantly thinking of ways to improve what we do. We shape leaders.

Our Team

Our in-house team

We have decades of experience and knowledge of executive coaching and mentoring. But our individual back stories are as diverse as those of the clients and candidates we work with. Everyone is different which is why our approach is highly personalised.

Kathleen O’DonoVan
Founding Partner

Kathleen draws on extensive experience of executive and non-executive responsibility on a global scale in multiple sectors. She has a deep understanding of boardrooms and their dynamic, with broad experience of financial strategy, M&A and restructuring. Trained as a chartered accountant, Kathleen was the youngest-ever CFO of a FTSE 100 company at the age of 34. Previous key roles: DS Smith (RemCo Chair); Trinity Mirror (Audit Chair), Deputy Chairman of Great Portland Estates, Non-executive Director of the Bank of England, co-Chair of International Rescue Committee UK, a charity supporting conflict zone refugees., Prudential plc, EMI plc and O2 plc; CFO of BTR plc/ Invensys plc; Partner at Ernst & Young. Current board roles: ; Invensys Pension Scheme (Audit Chair). and NED at KPMG.

Sarah Hurst
Managing Partner

Sarah is responsible for business development, managing client relationships and delivering and expanding all mentoring programmes. She previously spent five years at Korn/Ferry International, in the Madrid office, as a consultant and senior coaching manager. She has developed skills for talent identification and leadership development across multiple sectors from operational levels to board effectiveness. She spent her early career in London as a relocation specialist for John D Wood, the property company. She has a modern languages (French & Spanish) from the University of St Andrews. She is certified in key Lominger assessment tools for competency modelling, high potential identification, feedback facilitation and coaching.

Laura Kozasvili
Team Administrator

Laura works for Bird & Co. as Team Assistant. She joined in 2021 with a background in Events and Administration and over 12 years’ experience. At Bird & Co., Laura is responsible for project planning involving scheduling, client liaison and diary management. She is responsible for ensuring our mentoring programmes run smoothly and any day-to-day aspects of our project delivery. Laura has worked on small as well as large-scale global conferences and events, including for the wealth management and property sectors. Previously as Events Manager, Laura organised large scale international wealth management conferences in Zurich, Geneva, Mumbai, Singapore, Moscow and London. Laura was accountable for managing the entire scope of a project, from prioritisation to delivery; responsible for getting to the essence of clients’ needs, creating water-tight project plans and ensuring exemplary delivery on time and within budget; and was involved in conference content planning, business development, building relationships with clients, and maintaining liaisons with them throughout the whole project. Laura became Head of Events for the British Property Federation where she strategically planned, managed and delivered a busy calendar of events.

Our mentors

Current directors of FTSE and large private organisations, our mentors have substantial experience of both executive and non-executive life. Collectively, they have been on the boards of 60 FTSE companies as well as regulators, private equity organisations, asset management companies, pension schemes and charities.

**David GrEgson**

David is chair of The Gregson Family Foundation; an Executive Committee Member of The Institute for Fiscal Studies; a Trustee of Pro Bono Economics and The Windsor Leadership Trust; a Director of the FA Womens Super League; and an advisor to the Sutton Trust, which seeks to improve social mobility through education; chair of the #BeeWell Advisory and Delivery Group boards; and a member of the Advisory Board of Alliance Manchester Business School.
Previously, David was a co-founder and Chairman of Phoenix Equity Partners, a leading UK mid-market private equity firm. Over his career, he has been a director or Chairman of some thirty companies or charities. Most recently, David has been Chairman of the LTA, which is responsible for tennis in Britain; Chairman of CGL, the UK's largest social and health care charity; and a Director of LLDC, which is transforming East London following the 2012 Games. David has an MBA from Alliance Manchester Business School and an MA in Maths and Physics from Cambridge University.
**Current Non Executive roles:**
Advisory Board - Phoenix Equity Partners, Apeldoorn
Trustee - The Institute of Fiscal Studies, Pro Bono Economics, Sutton Trust
**Previous Roles:**
Chairman - CGL, Phoenix Equity Partners, The Jane Goodall Institute, HPI, Abel & Cole, The Mayor of London’s Legacy Board, Precise Media Group, Letts Filofax Group, Karma Group, Lawn Tennis Association, LLDC Investment Committee
Director / Trustee - Chelsea Harbour, Raleigh Bicycles, Globe Investment Trust, Onion Publishing Group, Wentworth Research, Pinnacle Leisure Group, Lombard Insurance Group, Silver Platter, WWF-UK

board and executive mentoring David-Grigson.png — **David Grigson**

David is a highly experienced Non-Executive and Executive Director who has spent over 30 years on public company boards. He spent much of his Executive career in senior financial positions, firstly with EMAP where he served as Group Finance Director and then with Reuters Group plc, where he was Chief Financial Officer.
David is currently Chair of the private equity owned digital communications company InvestisDigital. He has also held Chair positions with Reach plc (formerly Trinity Mirror), Creston plc and Radianz, a subsidiary of Reuters Group PLC. He has been a Non-Executive Director of Standard Life plc, where he was the Chairman of the Audit Committee and a member of the Risk & Capital and Nomination Committees; Ocado plc where he was the Senior Independent Director; Carphone Warehouse, where he Chaired the Audit Committee and New York based Instinet Group.
As well as his public company board positions, David sits on the Board of the Himalayan Climate Fund based in Nepal and acts as an advisor to a number of start-ups and charitable organisations.
David lives in London and spends time in Sri Lanka where he owns a small tea and cinnamon plantation.
**Current Non Executive roles:**
Chair - Investis (PE owned start-up)
Director - Himalayan Climate Fund
**Previous Roles:**
Non-Executive Chair – Creston, Reach (formerly Trinity Mirror), Radianz Inc
Senior Independent Director – Ocado (Chair of Nomination)
NED – Standard Life (Chairman of Audit and member of Risk & Capital and Nomination), Carphone Warehouse (Chair of Audit), Instinet Group
CFO – Reuters Group
CFD - Emap

**Gillian Sheldon**

Gillian Sheldon is a Senior Banker at Credit Suisse in the UK Investment Banking division. She provides corporate finance advice to the Boards of a wide range of clients, focused on the consumer, leisure, media, retail, telecom and technology sectors.
At Credit Suisse, Gillian was a member of the European Investment Banking Committee 2000 - 2006 and became Head of the Media and Telecoms Group in Investment Banking in 2004.
Prior to Credit Suisse, she spent seven years at N M Rothschild & Sons in London within the corporate finance division.
**Current Non Executive roles:**
SID - Capita
Trustee - BBC Children in Need (Chair of Investment Committee)
Corporate Advisory Committee - The Royal Academy of Arts
Fundraising Committee - Breast Cancer Now
**Current Executive Role:**
Managing Director, Investment Banking Division - Credit Suisse
**Previous Roles:**
NED - Capita
Head of Telecoms, Media & Technology - Credit Suisse
Corporate Finance - N M Rothschild & Sons

**Helen Owers**

Helen is a Non Executive Director at PZ Cussons plc and Informa plc and Co-Chair of The Eden Project International.
Prior to becoming a Non Executive Director, Helen les the Emerging Markets Division In Thomson Reuters and was tasked with accelerating growth of this strategically critical area. Prior to taking on this challenge, Helen was the President/CEO for the Global Businesses Division with revenues of $600m and 4,000 staff. Prior to that Helen was COO of the International Legal/Regulatory Publishing division ($500m turnover and 3,000 people).
Helen has a track record of success gained over 30 years in the media sector and 5 years with a top strategy consultancy. She has strong experience of building positions in emerging markets through organic development and M&A; changing business models (from print to online); building scale from geographically disperse business units; restructuring organizations; and developing talent.
Helen is energetic, strategic and able to synthesize complex issues. She is an effective communicator with an open approach. Helen’s career has spanned a range of global locations, including China, India, Brazil, Argentina, Japan, Australia, Canada, US and UK. Helen has strong leadership and consulting skills that have enabled her to successfully work across boundaries and through complexity to deliver results.
Prior to joining Thomson Reuters in 2001, Helen was a principal consultant for Gemini Consulting. Before joining Gemini,she spent nine years at Prentice Hall, where she was responsible for the European English language publishing program.
Helen holds an MBA from the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland.
**Current Non Executive roles:**
NED - PZ Cussons plc, Informa plc, The Eden Project
**Previous Roles:**
Chief Development Officer, Strategic Markets - Thomson Reuters
President and COO, Global Legal Business - Thomson Reuters Professional

board and executive mentoring Jane-Lighting.png — **Jane Lighting**

Jane is a highly experienced Non-Executive and Executive Director with over 20 years’ experience mainly within the television industry. In 2003 she was appointed Chief Executive of Channel Five where she launched the channel’s digital channel strategy and developed its programme strategy with the acquisition of key series such as CSI, NCIS and Neighbours.
She had previously been Chief Executive at Flextech (later renamed Virgin Media) where she was responsible for all of Flextech’s channels, which included LivingTV, Bravo, Virgin One and Trouble. She was also responsible for the UK-TV joint venture channels with the BBC, including UK Gold and UK Style.
Prior to her Broadcasting career, Jane was a leading independent programme entrepreneur founding Minotaur International in 1991, which became one of the UK’s most successful independent programme sales and marketing businesses. She sold this business to Flextech where it became the core of their international programme strategy. Jane is also a member of the British Screen Advisory Council.
**Current Non Executive roles:**
NED - Countrywide
**Previous Roles::**
Chair - Royal Television Society, British Television Distributors Association, Reach
Senior NED - Reach (Chair of Remuneration, Member of Nomination and Audit & Risk)
NED - Paddy Power (Member of Audit and Remuneration)
Trustee - Royal Television Society (Chair of Audit)
Chief Executive - Channel 5, Flextech Television, Minotaur International, Video Arts Television
Governor - National Film and Television School
Fellow - Royal Society of Arts

**Jennifer Duvalier**

Ms. Jennifer Duvalier, also known as Jenny, served as Executive Vice President of People at ARM Holdings plc for four years and left in 2017 following the £24bn acquisition of ARM by Softbank. Since then she has been reconnecting with life outside the technology industry, and now holds Non-Executive Director positions in two different plc’s. Jennifer has sustained a track record of defining and delivering high impact agile people and culture strategies, and has broad experience in managing stakeholders across Main Board, Executive Committee and Divisional Executives.
Prior to joining ARM, Jennifer was Group People & Culture Director at UBM plc for 6 years, and was previously Group Human Resources Director for the international media and marketing services group Emap plc. The majority of her career spent in management consultancy and financial services, she has been a Non-Executive Director of Mitie Group plc since July 2017 and of Guardian Media Group plc since May 2014. Also a Member of Council of the Royal College of Art where she chairs the People Committee, Jennifer has an MA from the University of Oxford in English and French.
**Current Non Executive roles:**
Independent Director - Guardian Media Group
NED - Mitie Group, NCC Group
Council Member - Royal College of Art
**Previous Roles:**
Executive VP People - ARM Holdings
Group People and Culture Director - UBM
Group HR Director - Emap
Director - Haygroup, Boyden International
Manager - Lloyds IInternational Private Banking

**Julia Wilson**

Julia has been a Board Member and Group Finance Director at 3i Group since October 2008. She is the Co-Chairman of the Investment committee.
Julia began her career at Arthur Andersen. After senior tax roles with Hanson plc and Tomkins plc, she became Group Tax Director at Cable & Wireless plc in 2000 and subsequently Group Director of Corporate Finance.She is also a Senior Independent Director of Legal & General Group plc, and a member of the ICAEW (ACA) and the Chartered Institute of Taxation.
**Current Non Executive roles:**
Co Chairman - 3i Investments
Chair - 100 Group Investor Relations and Market Committee
SID - Legal & General Group
**Current Executive Role:**
Group Finance Director - 3i Group
**Previous Roles:**
Group Director - Cable and Wireless
Finance Director Designate - 3i Group
Group Head - Tomkins

**Kathleen O’Donovan**

Kathleen draws on extensive experience of executive and non-executive responsibility on a global scale, serving on major UK and overseas boards including multi-sector businesses. She has a deep understanding of boardrooms and their dynamics, with broad-based experience of the City, financial strategy, M&A and restructuring.
Her career earned her places in *The Times* ‘40 under 40’ list of young high fliers, the World Economic Forum’s Global Leaders of Tomorrow and *The Times* Power 100.
Kathleen chalked up this remarkable breadth and depth of boardroom experience by starting early. Trained as a chartered accountant, she was a partner in Ernst & Young by 31 – leading major international audits and M&A deals for the Big Four firm and already mentoring younger colleagues. At 34 she joined the board of global conglomerate BTR (subsequently Invensys): the FTSE 100’s first female executive director and its youngest-ever CFO.
**Current Non Executive Roles:**
Chairman - Invensy Pension Scheme (Chair of Investment Committee)
NED - KPMG LLP
**Previous Roles:**
Senior Independent NED - ARM Limited
SID - ARM Holdings (Chair of Audit)
Non Executive Deputy Chairman - Great Portland Estates (Chair of Audit and Chair of Nomination)
Co Chairman - International Rescue Committee UK
NED - Prudential ( Chair of Audit & Risk), Bank of England (Chair of Audit & Risk), EMI ( Chair of Audit), O2, Reach (Chair of the Audit & Risk), DS Smith (Chair of Remuneration)
Chief Financial Officer - BTR/ Invensys

**tim score**

Tim has extensive experience of the technology sector in both developed and emerging markets, having served as chief financial officer of ARM Holdings plc, the world’s leading semiconductor IP company, for 13 years. He is an experienced non-executive director and currently sits on the boards of Pearson Group Plc, British Land plc and HM Treasury. In addition he is on the board of trustees of the Royal National Theatre and chairman of the group audit committee of the Football Association. He served on the board of National Express Group plc from 2005 to 2014, including time as interim chairman and six years as the senior independent director. Earlier in his career Tim held senior finance roles with Rebus Group, William Baird, LucasVarity plc and BTR plc.
**Current Non Executive Roles:**
Chair - British Land
NED - Pearson plc (Chair of Audit), HM Treasury, Football Association (Chair of Audit), Great Ormond Street Hospital (Chair of Corporate Partnerships Board)
Board of Trustees - National Theatre
**Previous Roles:**
NED - National Express Group
Interim Chairman - National Express Group
Chief Financial Officer - ARM
Finance Director - Rebus Group

board and executive mentoring Tracey-Graham.png — **Tracey Graham**

Tracey Graham is an experienced Non-Executive Director, and former Chief Executive, with proven commercial success in her Executive career both in Plc and Private Equity. Tracey’s Non-Executive portfolio includes Financial Services (Royal London Group and Link Ltd) and publically listed companies (Ibstock plc (FTSE 250) and DiscoverIE plc (FTSE Small Cap). Tracey is an experienced Remuneration Committee Chairman, and has significant experience across all Board Committees.
Tracey was Chief Executive of Talaris Limited, an international cash management business, from 2005 to 2010 and led the management buyout of that business from De La Rue plc, backed by the Carlyle Group. Prior to that, she was President of Sequoia Voting Systems, customer services director at AXA Insurance plc and held a number of senior positions at HSBC.
**Current Non Executive Roles:**
NED - Royal London Mutual Insurance Society Ltd (Chairman Remuneration and sits on Risk and Nomination, in addition Chairman of IFDL a subsidiary company of the Group) , DiscoverIE Plc (Member of Audit, Remuneration and Nomination), LINK Scheme Limited (Chairman of LINK Consumer Council, and member Remuneration and Risk)
SID - Ibstock (Member of Audit, and Nomination, Chair of Remuneration)
**Previous Roles:**
NED - Dialight (Chair of Remuneration), RPS Group (Chair of Remuneration), Albemarle & Bond Holdings (Chair of Remuneration)
CEO - Talaris
President - Sequoia Voting Systems
Divisional Managing Director - De La Rue
Managing Director - De La Rue Identity Systems

Our history

Our in-house team

Our mentors

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