Our People

As a leader and coach, Alan has extensive expertise in leadership coaching both experienced and first- time people leaders and working cross culturally. Alan coaches leaders across all industries and has coached education leaders with BTS Spark since 2019. Prior to his coaching career, Alan held numerous positions in the trading industry ranging from trading assistant to full-time trader. In addition to his role as a trader, Alan also served as a risk manager for up to thirty traders. As a risk manager, it was Alan’s responsibility to coach these traders daily, helping them sustain the high level of performance that the trading industry requires.

Alyssa Gallagher is an education author, leader and speaker. She has extensive experience leading schools and districts to revolutionize learning for students. Under Alyssa’s guidance Los Altos School District became a nationally recognized leader in education innovation with her work featured in Forbes, Wired, The Economist magazine and on CNN and CBS’ 60 Minutes. After two decades working within k12 education, Alyssa led the global leadership practice for The Wiseman Group, co-designing executive development strategies to enable leaders to become better ‘multipliers’ of their people’s talent. Alyssa has worked with a wide spectrum of leaders, ranging from early career professionals in her local school district to seasoned executives in Fortune 500 Companies. Alyssa enjoys working with leaders to design strategies that leverage the capability, creativity and intelligence of everyone on their team.

She is an award-winning leader with over 30 successful years in broadcast media sales. During her corporate career, she worked her way up from sales assistant to general sales manager positions including Direct of Market Development. She has held board positions with non-profit organizations, including Vice President of the Alliance for Women in Media-Chicago, the Black Women’s Expo Advisor Panel and Mentoring programs with the Morgan Park Boys and Girls Club and SBCOC’s Women of Influence/Sister 2 Sister Ministry.

For Anne, coaching is about discovery, awareness and choices. She has over ten years’ experience coaching across a range of industries, including education. She was a member of our team that coached some of the first National Leaders in Education (NLEs) for the National College of School Leadership and has since worked with many more senior school leaders.

Anne’s passion is for helping people to discover their purpose and value and to be the best they can be. She quickly establishes connection and rapport with individuals and prides herself on a high level of integrity and trust. Anne particularly enjoys supporting people to explore and develop personal resilience techniques and helping them to manage their own emotional state and choices that emerge from this. She operates with authenticity and brings a balance of warmth, purpose and lightness in her approach. Previously Anne worked in people development with a large organisation. Anne is also an experienced facilitator and has delivered workshops in the education sector for both young people and adults.

Camilla Cesari is an ICF Master Certified Coach (MCC), with Advanced Certification in Team Coaching (ACTC), Mentor Coaching Specialization (MCS), and EMCC ESIA supervision accreditation. With 9,000+ coaching hours, she works in English, Italian, Spanish and French across more than 40 countries. She is the founder and Director of Training of her own ICF-accredited Level 3 program, Mastery in Coaching, and faculty and mentor coach for Coach U and Menslab. Camilla coaches and facilitates leaders, teams and coaches across corporate, education and non-profit settings, including UNHCR, Oxfam, Médecins Sans Frontières, ActionAid and Amnesty International. She also coordinates supervisors for the Humanitarian Coaching Network. A mother of three who loves travelling and the outdoors, Camilla brings warmth, curiosity and thoughtful challenge to a relational, systemic and deeply human approach.

With degrees in psychology and social sciences, Cathy offers over twenty years’ experience working in the fields of leadership development, psychometric assessment, organisation development, facilitation and counselling. Her professional background and well developed organisational skills enable her to program manage complex projects with ease.

Cathy is highly committed to ensuring that our many programs are delivered efficiently and effectively, and all participants receive a personalised service. Her professional approach makes her highly sought after by our clients. Cathy also brings a deep understanding of psychometric tools, with her own accreditations in Hogan, MBTI, Genos Ei and Ravens. She can advise schools on relevant programs and match them with suitable coaches.

Chantal is a leadership coach passionate about helping education leaders and teams unlock their potential. She brings extensive experience in leadership development, change management, and strategic planning, with a focus on guiding leaders through complexity with clarity and confidence.

She has designed and facilitated leadership programs that build skills, foster resilience, and strengthen impact. Known as a catalyst for growth, Chantal supports leaders in turning ideas into action and creating positive change in their schools and organizations.

At BTS Spark, she partners with education leaders to envision and implement meaningful transformation—always keeping people and relationships at the heart of the work.

Cindy Rogan resides in Bellevue Washington where she develops and facilitates cutting- edge workshops and effective coaching for teams, leaders, and individuals. Cindy has been a leader in education, team training and coaching for over 30 years. During her extensive career in public service, Cindy has brought her unique combination of insight, humor, and reflection to a variety of teams and leaders including executives and senior leaders, public and private school leaders, school leadership teams, central office leaders, police officers and labor union leaders. In her private practice with clients, Cindy focuses her efforts on the client’s identified needs as they pursue their personal goals and desired outcomes.

In her previous roles as Executive Director of Schools in the Bellevue School District, and as a school principal, Cindy worked closely with leaders, boards, teachers, parents, and teams to meet the shared goals and initiatives of the organization. Utilizing a deep understanding of change management, resource utilization and performance benchmarks, Cindy brings her understanding of strategic management to her work with clients. With her expertise as a leader in multiple settings, Cindy understands the unique challenges leaders face, daily. From unique and dynamic human resource issues to challenging contexts related to contract negotiations, she is positioned to bring her empathy, compassion and understanding to best meet the leader’s needs.

Daisy is an experienced Leadership coach. She helps leaders to create a high performing team culture by supporting leaders to bring their best self to work and lead their teams with greater effectiveness. She is also an Intercultural coach helping organizations to advance their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives. Daisy started her career in the Retail Banking Services, where she learned the importance of customer-centricity that drives a positive customer experience. Since becoming a coach, Daisy has coached across all industries and especially enjoys coaching education leaders with BTS Spark.

David brings over 30 years of experience as a teacher, leader trainer and coach to his coaching and facilitation style. The professional experience he has gained enables him to bring an understanding of the drives, needs and concerns of school leaders and teachers. David has a natural ability to build trust and rapport with participants that encourages self-reflection, accountability, and the courage to change. He creates a deep and trusting relationship where participants can safely address core focus areas and identify resolutions to enable better outcomes.

Denise has 25 years’ experience of designing and delivering a range of services and programmes for schools at local, regional and national levels. Before her current role for BTS Spark, Denise worked for ten years as Head of Education for two national grant-making foundations, leading a number of innovative education initiatives and grants programmes, and supporting a network of sponsored academies and associated schools and colleges. Previously Denise held leadership roles for a national youth development charity and an Education Action Zone, and founded Inspire, an education-business partnership working with schools and colleges in the London borough of Hackney. Denise has an MSc in Change Agent Skills and Strategies.

Diana is an experienced professional leadership coach and facilitator with over 20 years dedicated to the principles of contemporary neuroscience and human potential with a focus on effective and sustainable leadership. A Master Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation, Diana has over 2,500 coaching hours and is a highly energised specialist in leadership development and coaching. With the ability to build rapport and gain trust quickly Diana is able to adapt to the needs of the client bringing a ‘challenger’ and ‘supporter’ face to her coaching sessions.

Elsbeth Ophoff is an ICF Master Certified Coach (MCC) and facilitator with over 20 years of experience supporting leaders, teams and individuals in their personal and professional development. She has extensive experience working in and with the education and non-profit sectors, including three years as a university teacher. Her approach is warm, practical and holistic, integrating mind and body and working with the whole person. As a facilitator, Elsbeth brings energy, warmth and a strong sense of connection to groups, creating an engaging environment where people feel comfortable exploring new perspectives, challenging themselves and turning insights into meaningful action.

Gail has forged a lifelong career supporting Northern Territory schools. She pioneered Department of Education programs for schools to integrate technology and to improve literacy. Her most recent principalship saw her leading a school that was architecturally designed for co-teaching where she also introduced a hub for inclusive practices which became a model of best practice; the school’s enrolments doubled during her principalship. Gail’s leadership practice has been strongly influenced by her training in cognitive coaching.

Heather believes leadership that is human-centered and values-driven fuels both exceptional experiences and sustainable success. Her purpose is helping people lead in deeper alignment with who they are, grounded in four values: care, wonder, courage, and creativity.

For over 20 years, Heather has partnered with leaders in Fortune 50–500 and mission-driven organizations across biotech, healthcare technology, sustainability, and travel. Having lived in five countries and coached executives across six continents, she brings a global, systems lens. In 2020, she earned her Master Certified Coach credential, held by fewer than 5% of coaches worldwide.

Her approach blends deep inner work with bold action in outer systems.

Helen is highly sought after for her deep expertise in how to apply coaching to the school context, as she can draw on her experience as both a school principal and as a professional leadership coach. Helen’s passion for making a difference to children’s lives was the driving force behind her successful career in education. As principal, she led the merger of two neighbouring schools before moving to work for several years in regional office.Determined to build the capability of adults more effectively, Helen qualified as a Professional Certified Coach with the International Coach Federation (ICF). She has since amassed over 1000 hours of coaching experience and has facilitated workshops regularly for over 20 years. In 2017 Helen was voted by fellow coaches to serve as President of her local ICF state chapter.

Throughout her 20 years Ingrid has coached executives and senior leaders from almost every industry across Australia, the UK and Europe, including education, corporate, government and not-for-profit (or for-purpose) organisations. Ingrid’s ability to connect with people while offering sound strategies for coaching is invaluable to continuous self-improvement through learning and she always brings new thinking to her work. She uses approaches and techniques from systemic coaching, NLP, neuroscience and uses creative tools to support transformative learning and change.

Isabelle is an experienced leadership coach and facilitator who began her career as a classroom educator. With over a decade of expertise, she now supports principals, vice-principals, and education leaders in building authentic, impactful leadership. Isabelle is known for her empowering, insight-driven coaching style and her ability to navigate complex interpersonal dynamics. She holds multiple coaching certifications, including PCC (ICF), and brings a strong foundation in emotional intelligence and resilience. Isabelle is passionate about helping leaders grow with purpose, clarity, and confidence.

James has several years of experience working within global talent development & coaching organizations in various roles ranging from marketing through to account management & customer success.

Having managed global programs that involve multiple cohorts across various geographies, James has an acute understanding of what it takes to ensure successful onboarding, adoption, and delivery of multilayered & complex coaching engagements.

In this capacity, he works with key stakeholders to better understand their talent and L&D objectives and provide guidance on what initiatives will be key to their success.

Jean is a highly experienced Executive Coach who has coached well over a thousand people over the past twenty years, including leaders within the education sector. She frequently leads our transformational development programmes with clients, including facilitating coaching masterclasses and our coaching capability workshops.Jean’s passion is to support others to optimise personal effectiveness and fulfilment. Working at individual, small or large group levels, she harnesses an ability to see innate potential, to understand what blocks its manifestation, and what can enable and accelerate it. Always with the organisational context in mind, Jean has a wide and eclectic toolkit, builds mutual trust quickly and deeply, and promotes rich learning and ownership in her clients. Jean has worked abroad frequently, as well as in the UK with multi-national groups, and has thus developed a commensurate sensitivity to cultural nuances. Clients tell her that she asks ‘killer questions’, really ‘gets’ them, has a great balance between supporter and challenger, stays one step ahead and brings an acute insight and perception to her work. Jean holds the Institute of Leadership & Management Level 7 Diploma in Leadership Mentoring & Executive Coaching, and a range of other qualifications, including in NLP, Firo B and the Leadership Circle profile for individuals and team culture.

Joanne is a seasoned leadership coach with over 20 years of experience supporting personal and professional growth. She specializes in coaching principals, vice-principals, and superintendents, helping them develop self-awareness, resilience, and impact. Joanne brings warmth, creativity, and a growth mindset to her work, fostering leadership through curiosity and encouragement. She is certified by the International Coaching Federation and holds qualifications in career counselling, adult education, and positive psychology. Joanne believes deeply in unlocking potential—at every stage of leadership and life.

Jo has many years’ experience of working in learning and development and consultancy roles, and has coached over 600 leaders, including many within the education sector, from middle leaders to executive heads. Jo is also an experienced facilitator, with strongly grounded insight into what it takes for individuals to transform, and lots of experience in partnering people to make those changes. She has also delivered multiple webinars for large groups of school leaders.Jo knows what it takes to transform our leadership and make the changes that will have the most impact for us, those we lead and the organisation. She is passionate about helping people and organisations do just that, using a holistic approach to her coaching which considers the whole person and system, to create both personal and professional growth.Jo is known for her ability to build and grow trusting relationships by partnering with a genuine curiosity and empathy, balanced with gentle yet robust challenge when needed, to help shift perspectives and create a new understanding. She specialises in supporting individuals to find their true leadership identity and purpose, understand how to live and lead like that in practice, and to enable those around them to thrive and drive higher and sustainable performance.Jo is an accredited Associate Certified Coach (ACC) with the International Coaching Federation and also holds a NLP diploma and accreditation to deliver the Human Synergistic Life Styles Inventory. As well as a coach, facilitator and working mum, Jo is also an entrepreneur and school governor.

Josh specialises in building leadership and learning capability at scale, ensuring organisations can navigate complexity and change with confidence. With a career spanning teaching, leadership development, learning design and digital learning, Josh has driven learning strategies that transform workforce capability, leadership pipelines, and digital education ecosystems. Josh holds two master’s degrees (Education Policy & Applied Linguistics) and has led projects across school systems, government, universities, and industry to develop evidence-based, high-impact learning programs. Josh’s expertise includes:

Leadership development – Equipping leaders to thrive in complex environments

Learning design & digital transformation – Creating scalable, accessible, and effective learning solutions

Organisational learning strategy – Embedding workforce development and lifelong learning into organisational objectives.

Judy works with leaders and their teams in Executive Coaching, Organization Development, Team Development, Change Management, and Group Facilitation. Her clients range from education leaders to Fortune 500 High Tech and Biotech companies. Prior to founding her consultancy in 2003, Judy worked in Organization Effectiveness and Management Development at Cisco, Octel/Lucent, Accenture, and American Airlines. Much of her work focused on enterprise-wide change management initiatives (e.g., culture change, M&A), performance management and leadership development.

Juliette has been coaching in education for 11 years and has worked with leaders in the classroom, school leadership teams, heads of school and academies and leaders of Multi-Academy Trusts. Juliette's coaching approach balances compassion and rigour. She works with the client as a whole person encouraging them to take into account their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual states and the bearing these have on their professional performance. She works towards the client operating with integrity, believing this to be key to the sustainability of their success. Juliette has a MSc in Change Agent Skills & Strategies and a post graduate Diploma in Leadership Mentoring & Executive Coaching from the Institute of Leadership & Management.

Karen has worked in education for over 20 years and has been a teacher, senior leader and specialist leader in education. Prior to becoming a coach Karen was Director for the primary phase of the Rutland Teaching School Alliance. Her professional coaching experience includes work as an internal coach and facilitator for a multi academy trust, as well as experience coaching multiple school leadership teams and individual leaders.She has coached executives and senior leaders and those with high leadership potential. However, increasingly she has been able to encourage leaders to give access to this process to the whole team, believing that the benefits of coaching should be for everyone. She is an accomplished facilitator and develops a strong rapport with participants.Karen regularly uses strengths-based development to work with individuals to unlock their potential, and employee engagement initiatives to help teams align in the pursuit of high performance. She brings clarity, purpose and compassion to her coaching and facilitation work. Karen is a certified Gallup Strengths Coach.

Kevin is a highly experienced Facilitator and Executive Coach. His work draws upon insights gained first hand through his 35 years’ business experience, 12 years specifically as a coach, consultant and facilitator within leadership development. He focuses upon coaching senior leaders in education and business that have a passion for creating positive change in their organisations. Kevin is well known for his work in the education sphere and has coached and facilitated many Head Teachers and School Leaders. Kevin has Post Graduate qualifications in Psychotherapy and ICF Coaching qualifications in Executive Coaching which he finds helpful in all aspects of facilitation and coaching but particularly in relation to self -awareness and his approaches to individual accountability and challenge.

Laurenne enjoys coaching leaders at all levels, from self-leaders to the executive level. She works with people to determine what’s important for them, both in terms of results and in how they show up along the journey. She believes coaching not only contributes to an individual’s personal and professional development, but also has a positive flow on impact on their teams, direct reports, organisations, friends, family, and society at large. Laurenne’s approach is warm, collaborative, and willing to challenge. Through her career she also has worked as a university tutor, taught students in a Professional Year program, taught English to adults in Italy, and coached and trained teachers, academic and non-academic staff at schools and universities to develop the skills, capabilities, and confidence required to navigate the relationships and educational environments they engage in.

Linz started her career in the newspaper industry moving on through roles in magazine design, advertising and varied design work before joining BTS. At BTS, Linz creates self-paced digital learning content on many platforms including Canvas, Momenta, Changr, BTS Coach and Sounding Board. She has been involved in the design of several hundred leadership programs for education clients and school systems, ensuring that online learning, coaching and workshop sessions are integrated into a seamless blended learning experience for participants. Adaptable, highly organised and capable of working under pressure to tight deadlines, Linz has a practical approach to problem solving. She enjoys the challenge of maximizing the user experience and seeing projects from concept right through to completion.

Louise has twenty years’ experience in the education sector with over a decade in senior leadership roles, including two successful headships. Her professional coaching experience includes 10 years developing coaching for performance improvement in the education sector, including introducing and implementing programmes of coaching across teams, conducting research into the use of coaching to improve professional learning and performance, and transforming organisational leadership and performance management structures. Her work is informed by an understanding of the complexities of developing teams, of optimising personal resourcefulness and of achieving sustainable organisational improvement.As a lifelong learner and personal growth enthusiast, the core principles underpinning Louise’s coaching are the belief in each individual’s capacity for growth and transformation, a deep respect for the individual experience of pressure and challenge, and an empathetic compassion for each individual. Her coaching accreditations include certificates in problem focused counselling, coaching and training, in positive psychology coaching and in stress management. Her education qualifications include a PGCE, NPQH and MSc in Learning and Teaching.

Max Cooke is K-12 systems change advocate who empowers education professionals to excel in their school and school district leadership roles. As the Head of BTS Spark in Canada, Max is working to ensure that more Canadian school and district leaders are aware of the benefits and impact that world-class professional leadership coaching can provide to them and their teams. Prior to his role at BTS Spark, Max served as the President and CEO of the EdCan Network, where he led strategic initiatives aimed at enhancing the capacity of education professionals to cultivate healthier workplace environments.

Nelly is a highly experienced coach, facilitator and mindfulness trainer, who has worked with BTS for over a decade, coaching in both English and Indonesian. She has worked with leaders from diverse cultural backgrounds, in Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, China, South Africa and Vietnam. Nelly has partnered with Singapore’s National Institute of Education at Nanyang Technological University to train aspiring principals and special education leaders in coaching and leadership skills. She has pioneered a coaching capability program through Global School Leaders that is now being rolled out across Indonesia by the Inspirasi Foundation. A strong advocate of mindful education, Nelly co-founded a social enterprise that focuses on cultivating self- awareness, creativity and resilience in youth in Singapore. Nelly holds Professional Certified Coach credentials with the International Coaching Federation, an MBA, and a Master of Counselling.

Rosie brings 25 years’ experience in educational leadership, supporting school systems, universities and professional associations across four continents. As Chief Executive of one of Tony Blair’s Education Action Zone’s in the UK, her leadership in turning around 19 failing schools was described by independent inspectors as ‘outstanding’– the Zone was nominated as a national flagship. She consulted with the UK’s National College for School Leadership and the Innovation Unit, supporting schools to form successful professional learning communities. She then worked with the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership to lead the launch of the Professional Standard for school principals. Rosie founded BTS Spark and has designed and launched hundreds of leadership development programs for school leaders in the UK, Australia, US, Canada and Singapore. She collaborates with the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) on future-ready school leadership, authored a concept paper on educational leadership for OECD2030 and co-published a book on Messy Leadership. She was recently named by The Educator (Australia) as a Most Influential Educator.

Sarah brings 15 years of marketing experience across the training, arts, e-commerce, and hospitality sectors, specialising in digital marketing, brand strategy, and content marketing. Born in Germany and raised in Indonesia, Sarah later trained as a dancer in Singapore before settling in Australia. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Media and Communications from the University of Sydney. With a background as a performing arts teacher, she brings a lifelong passion for learning and development. Drawing on her global experience and creative roots, Sarah brings a thoughtful, purpose-driven lens to her work.

Sonia is an Executive Coach and Facilitator with over a decade of experience supporting educators, school leaders, and corporate executives to lead with greater impact and confidence. Her work with BTS Spark Canada reflects her passion for helping leaders thrive, particularly in the K–12 education space where strong, values-driven leadership is essential.

Sonia’s career spans a wide range of sectors, including Technology, Media & Entertainment, Banking, Consumer Goods, Healthcare, Retail, Energy, and Mining. She has coached leaders through challenges such as influencing across stakeholders, navigating conflict, and executing strategy across regions.

Known for her cross-cultural fluency and her deep commitment to advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), Sonia brings a thoughtful, inclusive approach to all her work, bridging cultural gaps and empowering leaders in both corporate and educational settings.

Sunita has worked within human resource management and people development for over 20 years and has coached in English and Hindi for BTS for over a decade. She enjoys empowering leaders and has coached executives, senior and middle leaders in a range of organisations including the public sector, healthcare and UNICEF. She is extensively involved in coaching women leaders, women entrepreneurs and not-for- profit leaders through The Coach Initiative, Search for Common Ground and Vital Voices. A highly respected figure in the Indian coaching community, Sunita is a faculty member of an Accredited Coach Training Program, Mentor Coach, Coach Supervisor, Coach Trainer and Credentialing Assessor of an international coaching body. She holds the distinguished credential of Master Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation and is a founder member of the Association of Mumbai Coaches India.

Tara O’Brien is a founding partner and facilitator for BTS Spark. She joined BTS Spark in 2019 when it expanded its presence into North America after spending 17 years in education as a teacher and principal. Having worked in a variety of schools across the United States, she understands both the complexity of individual organizations as well as the universal demands of educators. She’s also a mom of two teenage kids, so she’s passionate about supporting the adults who are impacting and influencing our children. Tara has presented at numerous conferences and webinars as well as co-written articles on wellbeing and educational leadership. While Tara lives in the US, she has deep ties to Canada as her extended family has lived there for generations.

Tariq is an executive coach, team coach and facilitator with extensive leadership experience including executive positions at Google and Expedia Group and starting up a mobile phone operator in Afghanistan. He is passionate about helping organisations and individuals transform to realise their maximum business and social impact. Tariq has coached senior leaders in both private and public sectors including several CEOs of Multi Academy Trusts and Healthcare organisations.

Tariq has a M.Sc. in Coaching and Behavioural Change from Henley Business School, an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a B.Sc. in Economics from the University of Bristol. He also holds the Professional Certified Coach (PCC) accreditation from the International Coach Federation (ICF) and the Senior Practitioner credential from the European Coaching and Mentoring Council (EMCC).

Teng Teng brings over 17 years of experience in culture development, learning development and human resource management to her coaching and facilitation work. She has facilitated numerous workshops and coaching programs for education leaders and teachers – most recently for aspiring principals, special education leaders and early childhood leaders through Singapore’s National Institute of Education. Coaching in both Mandarin and English, she has worked with BTS for over a decade. Her coaching expertise includes personal resourcefulness, trust and connection, visioning and leadership impact. Teng Teng is a Professional Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation, and holds numerous accreditations including MBTI, LSI and LPI. She has a Master of Human Development and Education degree.