Core application areas of expertise: employee communication, change and leadership communication in multinational organisations; leading, working and communicating across cultural boundaries.
- Consultant, trainer and facilitator specialising in culture change and global leadership development
- Extensive experience working internationally with leaders and diverse teams in private and public sector organisations
- Background in retail and communication management and consultancy, including running own business and managing diverse stakeholders and teams
- Combines practitioner experience and perspective with the rigour and understanding of doctoral research into culture and communication
I am a Greek national, based in the UK with extensive working experience across Europe. I combine a 25+ year track record as a consultant to global organisations with the teaching of culture and communication at postgraduate level.
I began my career in retail management and marketing and then moved to a communications role in a UK-based international company. From this I made the move to consultancy, working with a range of blue chip clients – from BA SYSTEMS, to Airbus, to Asda and Alcatel, from RBS to the British government. Through working with these companies I became increasingly concerned that so little was understood about the role of culture in communication practice in complex organisations. Unable to find good answers to inform my practice as a consultant, I embarked on a PhD at Cranfield School of Management. At the same time, I took on a secondment as Head of Internal Communication for Compaq EMEA at a time when the company was navigating significant global change, working out of Germany and Switzerland. That experience, as well as my PhD research informed my understanding of the complex interplay of national, professional and other cultures in the global workplace and the importance of understanding and dealing with the impact of that complexity in the specific work context.
I have gone on to use those insights as a consultant with organisations like Microsoft, Pfizer, Astra Zeneca, Stryker EMEA, Bridon Bekaert, RWE npower, RBS AsiaPacific and others, where I work with leaders and practitioners to help them understand the impact of culture on their (culture) change programmes, facilitate their strategic change planning, and coach them on communicating more effectively across boundaries.
A few years ago I was fortunate to begin working with Helen Spencer-Oatey and her team at the University of Warwick, where I was able to contribute to the pioneering Global Fitness work of that team, including the development of training resources and programmes for developing leaders, teams and individuals working in cross-cultural environments. I took a leading role in delivering training for executives as part of that programme, including a three year online engagement with Japanese company Chugai, and Denso, a Chinese automotive parts manufacturer, in partnership with Warwick Business School.
I currently deliver training as part of global leadership programmes across the world including in the United States and in Europe both for corporate clients and as a partner to Business Schools.
