Blue Phoenix

You can because you think you can. Virgil Distance is nothing – it is only the first step that is difficult. Mme Du Deffand We are not creatures of circumstance; we are creators of circumstance. Benjamin Disraeli
		David Liversage Founder and MD David Liversage is the founder and Managing Director . He worked for several years in the media industry for both media owners and agencies, latterly at PHD and Drum PHD as a Director, where he set up and implemented a training and development strategy. He was responsible for managing large teams, running key advertising accounts such as Sainsbury’s, Gillette and HSBC, before making the break to set up Blue Phoenix in 2003. David has a BA honours degree and is a qualified business coach (BCF), a member of the Institute of Leadership and Management and a member of the Birkbeck College University of London Business Master Class faculty. He also has training in NLP and is currently participating in certification for Emergenetics®. In his spare time he tries to keep fit at the gym, feeds his passion for the theatre and takes part in many amateur dramatic performances.
		Guido Anino Business manager and company secretary Guido’s background is in Communications, Marketing and Operations. He has managed small and medium-sized enterprises since leaving college in 2000; his key areas of expertise are managing and motivating teams, business-process transformation, market-opportunity analysis, communications-channelling and targets, and proposition and identity management. He also has several years experience facilitating groups for the Terrence Higgins Trust. Guido has run Blue Phoenix’s Operations and Communications since his joining in 2005, and also has an advisory role. Guido’s academic background is in Science and Humanities, and he holds a first-class degree in Philosophy at the University of London.
		Lu Corfield Lu is a working actor (BBC, ITV and theatre) and she coaches for corporate clients with Blue Phoenix specialising in vocal coaching, performance, confidence building, creating personal impact and self expression. She brings analogies from the acting world that are valuable in a corporate environment where personal performance is essential to individual and organisation development. Lu trained at Rada (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) in London.

	We work with a number of external consultants, including:
		Caroline Connor Caroline has over fifteen years’ experience managing teams at a senior level in a corporate environment (including recently Hachette Filipacchi) and now runs her own consultancy in training and performance development. She has designed and delivered programmes for a broad range of sectors including utilities (National Grid Transco) and transport (National Express, Network Rail). Her key areas of expertise include management and leadership, change management, communication and high performance behaviour assessment. Caroline has a degree in languages and is accredited with distinction in high performance behaviours for the Centre for High Performance Development. She is also a qualified NLP practitioner.
		Karen Swan Karen has over thirteen years experience working in magazine publishing. She has run advertising sales and sponsorship and promotions teams for IPC magazines in the UK; she also headed the marketing for Tatler magazine in Hong Kong. In addition she has run her own media consultancy representing Business Week in Asia and Europe. Karen’s key area of expertise is sales marketing, and she helps to prepare and run Negotiation and Communication, Leadership and Management training for Blue Phoenix.Karen holds a degree in Communication Studies, CAM certificate and diploma, gaining a distinction in the three areas of Communication, Advertising and Marketing. She has recently completed her Masters degree in Media and Popular Culture.
		Steve Hearsum Steve has worked in media and telecommunications for 20 years in various roles, including business development, operational management and organisational change consulting. In the past seven years he has worked increasingly in organisational change as a consultant, interim manager and coach. Clients include Bauer (formerly EMAP Plc), Guardian News & Media Ltd, BT Plc, Teachers TV, Brighton & Hove Council and Ealing Council. In the past two years he has expanded his practice to include the delivery of management development training programmes, key areas being management and leadership, facilitating change in organisations and coaching for managers and executives. Steve is completing an MSc in change agent skills and strategies at Surrey University, and is a visiting lecturer at Brighton University.
		Mike Phillips Mike originally trained as an actor-singer, went on to co-found a charity in Wales, and then worked in senior training roles and as a support worker in a range of small, medium and large organisations in local government, and the non–for-profit sector. Mike’s areas of expertise include presentation and communication skills, time/stress management, diversity and customer care. He was responsible for staff- and volunteers-training at the Terrence Higgins Trust; oversaw the department’s development schedule at for dementia; delivered a portfolio of internal and external training courses at the Directory of Social Change and worked on training projects with several charities. Mike is now a freelance trainer and consultant and joined Blue Phoenix in 2008.
		Fran Burns Fran is a professionally trained actress. She worked for many years in theatre and television in Britain and the United States before focusing on her career as a teacher. Since 1997, Fran has been the Head of Department in Drama at various independent colleges and a senior freelance workshop designer and facilitator for one of Britain's leading arts educational trusts. For Blue Phoenix, Fran’s main area of expertise is in using practical techniques and exercises to help people realise the full potential of their vocal and presentation skills. Fran holds a masters degree in drama and is also a Sound Therapist.