edge people

Claudie Plen – Leadership, Change and People Development

Claudie Plen started her career in academic publishing, gaining senior management experience across production, marketing and editorial before setting up her first coaching and training business in 2003. She has seven years experience as a facilitator, trainer, and executive coach to CEO and board/senior management level. Her clients include a wide range of creative agencies, and organisations including Creative and Cultural Skills, English Heritage, The Film Council, The British Library, Momentum Worldwide, Kensington and Chelsea Council, Telegraph Media Group, Create KX, Westminster Arts, The Hospital Club, The British Library Business and IP Centre, University of the Arts London, Cockpit Arts and Design Nation.

In 2007 Claudie designed and delivered the Music Leader’s Network, a nine-month leadership development programme for the music industry in association with the Music Publisher’s Association, Warner Publishing, the Cultural Leadership Programme, and the Arts Council. The programme was exceedingly successful, and the model is being replicated as an example of low cost, high impact leadership development for the creative sector.

Claudie also has specific expertise in network development, having founded two successful Creative Industries networks: Creative Alchemy in 2006, which led to joint ventures with The Hospital Club, the LDA, Paddington Development Trust, London Westside, Westbourne Studios, British Library Business and IP Centre, and the Make Your Mark Campaign; and Digital Futures, tailored for senior leaders dealing with cutting edge media technology, in 2010.
She is regularly asked to speak on the subject of building networks to enable partnership, collaboration and knowledge sharing, and to teach networking strategy in a variety of environments.

Claudie now specialises in leadership development, vision and strategy facilitation, coaching and training.

Daniel Kirk – Brand Strategy, Change and Innovation

Daniel Kirk began his career in SME’s, co-founding a non-profit meditation centre, and creating a marketing model that was soon adopted by other centres all over the country.

Wanting to move to a for-profit business, he joined Planet Organic at a time when the company was entering a period of dramatic growth. He streamlined processes, developed marketing strategies and helped to open an award-winning new store.

In 2004 Daniel joined innovation and marketing consultancy What If where his clients included a wide range of multi-national organisations from AstraZeneca to Vodafone. He worked with marketing teams on brand strategy and new product development, and with corporate leaders on innovation strategy and cultural change.

Most recently, as a Strategist at WPP-owned branding agency Lambie-Nairn, he advised on brand strategy for organisations including Sainsbury's and The Carbon Trust and most recently repositioned Hotels.com for Expedia Inc.

In the course of his career Daniel has helped create courses for dozens of other organisations including Unilever, Telefónica and Reed Elsevier.

Timo Veikkola – Brand and Design Strategy

Timo Veikkola is a brand and design strategy consultant specialising in trends and innovation.

An MA in Social Anthropology and nine years experience as a Senior Futures Specialist for Nokia Design provided him with a rare opportunity to develop his expertise in future concepting and strategy.

Through his involvement with design innovation projects Timo created an ethnographic design process based on understanding and articulating societal shifts and their impact. Most recently as a Strategy and Insights Director for The Future Laboratory, a London-based trend forecasting and brand consultancy he has worked across various sectors developing strategic approaches in product and brand development.

Timo believes that innovation begins with exploring socio-cultural trends and immersing yourself in the everyday lives of people to create real sustainable solutions. He uses socio-cultural trend analysis and ethnographic methodologies to translate the behaviors, attitudes and values of people and articulate these insights into innovations and product concepts.

His projects include desk research, trend analysis, ethnographic fieldwork, theory and model creation, corporate strategy, segmentation, and innovation workshop facilitation.