Who make up the team at Firm Beliefs?
Firm Beliefs Ltd is made up of a small core of key people with access to a large pool of tried and tested specialist expertise.
Sara Dixon
Sara qualified as a solicitor in 1991 and, after six years in practice as a commercial litigator, with a specific interest in environmental law, she left to study for an MBA.
Since gaining her MBA, she has been involved in helping law firms and charities enhance their profitability and effectiveness by concentrating on their clients, their people, their finances and their information systems. She also specialises in developing the business and management skills of all those who work in organisations - whether in technical and professional roles or in administrative and managerial roles.
Sara and Branko designed, developed and delivered the Lexis Nexis 'Management Skills for Lawyers' programme. Sara has also designed and delivered an International Human Resource Management and Employment Law module at the Ministry of Defence Training Academy.
She is also part of the ACEVO Consulting pool of experts.
In her spare time (!), Sara chairs the Stop the Traffik 'Engagement with the Financial Sector' group.
Contact: Sara Dixon or 01296 620006
Sally Roche
Sally works closely with clients to ensure that all aspects of the working relationship with Firm Beliefs are managed as effectively as possible.
She has a background in accounting.
She has worked for various services organisations for over 11 years and there are very few situations which she cannot handle with cool aplomb!
Contact: Sally Roche or 01296 620006
Branko Sain
Branko has over 15 years experience within the marketing business worldwide and has worked with Hewlett Packard, IBM, NSPCC, British Gas and Novartis - to name a few. He brings his external focus to our clients' strategic development and adds an important element to our clients' need to operate in today's global arena. Branko's ability to converse in Slovenian, Italian, Spanish, French and English puts the rest of us to shame...
Contact: Branko Sain or 01296 620006
Matthew Arrowsmith-Brown
A former partner of Mills & Reeve, Matthew brings to the table his law firm experience and his coaching skills for the benefit of our clients. Calm, cool and immensely collected, his ability to help clients cut through the barriers to progress and confidence in their business life is second to none in our view. Even his website exudes experience, knowledge and empathy with those at the top of their game who seek to remain so.
Contact: Matthew Arrowsmith-Brown
Gareth Mason
Gareth has held the Chief Executive role in three legal service businesses and has a wealth of experience in the sector gained over the past seventeen years. His MBA is from Cranfield, one of the UK’s leading business schools.
He works mainly with partners at board level to steer strategy and resolve partnership and business issues. He is more interested in finding practical and workable answers than in fat detailed reports. Frequently projects involve a combination of finance, business development and HR. Coaching partners and senior support managers is a significant aspect of his approach so that they are better placed to be successful alone in the future.
Prior to specialising in the legal sector he gained extensive senior management experience in a number of industry sectors including construction, IT, utilities, technical design consultancy and professional management training.
He works with Firm Beliefs because 'we see the world the same way and believe that helping clients is a blend of advice and coaching (oh, and enjoyment) not merely cold advice and reports .'
Contact: Gareth Mason
Simon Card OBE
Simon has a 'portfolio' career! He is: a director of Card Associates Ltd, Chairman of SEEDA (South East England Development Agency) Corporate Cabinet, member of South East Business Development Advisory Group, Senior Associate of Smarter Networking, Advisor to Social Investment Group/Social Investment Index, Chairman of Steering Group for Reaching for Gold, Board Member Henley Business School Alumni Association, Chairman of the European Network for Bucks, Berks and Oxon, and has recently been involved with the Briefing Circle (a high-level briefing programme for directors of FTSE 250 companies and their peers in the public and not for profit sectors).
Until he formed Card Associates Simon was Head of Strategic Relations - Pan Government at BT, responsible for developing high-level relationships between the company and the UK Government. He has held a series of senior marketing and relationship management roles during his 14 years at BT both in the Global Finance and Government sectors and at Concert (the BT / AT&T Global venture). Not content with that, Simon's career has included experience of the retail sector at J Sainsbury, commodity trading and senior sales and marketing roles in the financial services sector as well as, earlier in his career, a life-enhancing year selling photocopiers!
Simon was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for Political Services in the 1995 New Years Honours List.
Simon brings a no-nonsense approach to business as well as a broad range of connections and influence which he uses to help our clients develop their thinking, their networks and their successes.
There are few people who know more than Simon about many things - but he brings particularly impressive knowledge about the best places to eat and drink whilst discussing business!
Simon is chair of Ambassadors for the charity Merlin.
Contact: Simon Card
Stefanie Shedd
After 15 years in investment banking and Big-4 consulting, Stefanie set up the Solution Shedd in 2006, focusing on organisations who want to make a positive impact through entrepreneurial, cultural or charitable endeavours.
She balances the knowledge and methods of the business world with the bespoke and innovative solutions that each client needs - regardless of sector.
She adds value to the Firm Beliefs offering by introducing her particular passion - income generation and for performance measurement (such as SROI) for our charity and social enterprise clients. Her experience in international development projects adds tangible experience to the Firm Beliefs offering. She enhances the existing Firm Beliefs offering for the sector - specifically strategy and performance; and reflects the values of Firm Beliefs that cross-sector thinking and development of relationships with key contacts is important to a sustainable future for all our clients.
She is also part of the Acevo Consulting pool of experts.
In her spare time, Stefanie is learning to sing - much to the chagrin of her neighbours... She also contributes to our multi national group of colleagues as she is originally from the US. We hope she stays!
Contact: Stefanie Shedd
Our advisory board for Firm Elite:
Simon Card OBE: Plenty said about Simon above! Simon is one of our regular hosts for 2010.
Contact: Simon Card
Kehrela Hodkinson: a US lawyer based in the UK, Kehrela heads up Hodkinson Law Group, a US immigration law firm based in Mayfair. Kehrela also chairs an international network of law firms specialising in immigration law. With her core clients comprising international corporates and business individuals, Kehrela has to be at the forefront of latest business thinking and Firm Eliters see her as a key thinker when it comes to international trends. Kerhela is one of our regular hosts for 2010.
Contact: Kehrela Hodkinson
Deborah Jeff: a matrimonial lawyer specialising in high net worth divorces, Deborah has built a team of lawyers around her at Seddons in a very short space of time and has used her business acumen to make major inroads into the legal services market place. Keen to explore the latest technological techniques to drive her business forward, Deborah is known to Firm Eliters as having a key interest in the latest technological developments in both professional services delivery and meeting client needs. Deborah is one of our regular hosts for 2010.
Contact: Deborah Jeff
John Kennedy: one of the founders of Firm Elite, John has a background in marketing and is a keen advocate of market sensing. A passionate explorer of latest ideas and thinking, Firm Eliters know John as a key questioner at our dinners, instigating some of our best discussions leading to innovative ideas around the table.
Contact: John Kennedy
Jer O'Mahony: with a background in financial services, Jer is an avid networker who is know to Firm Eliters as somebody who supports his contacts throughout the year when it comes to discussing new business ideas and putting them in contact with other key thinkers who can help implement those new ideas. With his awareness of financial markets and investor behaviour, Jer is a key contributor to discussions about new markets and opportunities.
Contact: Jer O'Mahony
Richard McKelvey: Richard has worked in both private and third sectors, and brings his passion for building relationships and cross-sector partnerships to our discussions. At ACEVO, he is currently working on a platform for creating sustainable business partnerships between charities and businesses - demonstrating how much value each can add to the other
Contact: Richard Mckelvey
