Praesta Executive Coaching

Peninah Thomson

Three threads run through my work: a belief in real communication, which I think is the engine-room of understanding and co-operation between individuals, groups and nations; a commitment to helping people identify more options than they thought they had; and the buzz I get from helping good people work their way through to decisions and to action.

Experience

Peninah’s career began in the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Based in Paris, she worked direct to the Board of National Delegates of NATO in Rome, Paris, The Hague, Munich and Washington. After Doctoral Studies at Oxford she joined PricewaterhouseCoopers, where in 8 years in Government Services and Economics Division she worked at Cabinet Office level in the UK and in 14 countries. She spent two years seconded to the UK Cabinet Office and subsequently became a Director in the
Corporate Transformation Practice, working for 4 years at Board level in FTSE 100 companies.

For the last ten years Peninah has worked exclusively as a Board level executive coach. Peninah has published four books and several refereed articles on leadership, corporate governance, business ethics and organisational change. She is an experienced conference speaker.

She co-founded and now directs the FTSE 100 Cross-Company Mentoring Programme, in which Chairmen mentor senior women to assist their development as credible candidates for Board roles. Through its sponsorship of the Programme, Praesta has built a reputation as the UK market leader in coaching women who want to become directors – executive and non-executive - using our specialist knowledge and understanding of the issues they face in what are still the predominantly male upper reaches of organisations.

Peninah’s book A Woman’s Place is in the Boardroom was published in 2005 and A Woman’s Place is in the Boardroom: The Roadmap will be published by Palgrave Macmillan in June 2008.

Energetic and enthusiastic, Peninah enjoys theatre, music, art, reading, eating out, swimming and travel. She is the Aunt of James, who is 11, and the Godmother of Eleanor, who is 15.

Professional Expertise

Peninah has worked extensively with Chief Executives and Boards on strategy, organisational change and culture, and leadership. She specialises in 1:1 and group work, applying her technical skills in coaching, process consultancy, facilitation, counselling and psychotherapy. Her approach is grounded in a broad experience base, approachable style, maturity and common sense. She combines an interest in the process of managing change with an analytical approach to the substantive issues that cause change. Her combination oftechnical and process skills enables her to carry conviction, and she has been engaged by the IBRD and by a number of Boards, in the private sector and in Government, specifically to help in the conversion of conflict to a negotiated settlement.

Selected Client Companies

Arts Council of England
Barclays Global Investors
BBC
The Cabinet Office
Channel 4
Crown Prosecution Service
D S Smith plc
Emap plc
Ernst & Young LLP
European Investment Bank
European Bank for Reconstruction
& Development
Granada Television Ltd
H J Heinz
The Home Office
International Water Ltd
J P Morgan
Lloyds TSB plc
Marks & Spencer plc
Orange SA
Philips International b.v.
The Post Office
Shell
N M Rothschild & Sons

Education, Qualifications, Professional Positions

BA (Hons) English and French Literature (Class 1), Oxford Brookes University
Doctoral Studies (DPhil) (not completed); Beatrix Warr
Goodman Scholarship, University of Oxford
Certificat de Langue française (Degré Supérieure), Université de Paris la Sorbonne
Certificate in Counselling, The American Hospital, Paris
Trained as Gestalt Psychotherapist, Metanoia Institute, London
Trained to level VIII Masterclass: Management of Change (Strategy & Architecture), Dr Daryl Connor
Peninah serves on the Principal’s Strategy Group, Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford

Contact details