A systems convenor with lived experience, practical frameworks and more than 25 years on the high street.
Why this work matters
I help towns, councils, BIDs and place partnerships move from concern to coordinated action — creating stronger local economies and high streets that thrive.
Places don’t fail because of a lack of ideas. They fail because the system isn’t aligned.
My work helps places create:
Shared Clarity
Aligned priorities
A repeatable way of working
The framework behind the work
Chasing Permanence — the 5 Determinants
01
Tangibility
02
Affordability
03
Human Capital
04
Risk & Resilience
05
Strategy
These determinants are used live — in conversations, decisions and delivery — to cut through complexity and focus on what matters.
Grounded in the high street
I spent over 15 years running a frontline high-street pharmacy, and I still practise today.
This keeps everything I do grounded in what is realistic, affordable and deliverable.
The price of expertise
Over more than two decades, I have worked on high streets across the UK – from Oxford Circus to small villages in Cornwall – running and managing community pharmacies and experiencing first-hand the pressures local businesses face every day.
My work combines that operational experience with a systems perspective on how places function. My second book, Chasing Permanence (Routledge), explores how local economies adapt and endure and is now used in universities to teach place-based economic thinking.
I convened the UK’s first Inclusive High Street Forum, bringing together councils, BIDs, anchor institutions and businesses to move from fragmented discussion to coordinated action.
Earlier in my career, after 269 rejections and the collapse of my first venture, I wrote Pay The Price – an international #1 bestseller on leadership and decision-making under pressure.
The scars are not the brand. They are the source of judgement.
Today, I work with councils, BIDs and place partnerships to help leaders move from concern to coordinated action so progress holds under pressure.
Credibility
Author of Chasing Permanence (Routledge)
Author of Pay The Price (international bestseller)
Convenor of the UK’s first Inclusive High Street Forum
Senior advisor to councils, BIDs and place partnerships
25+ years on the high street
Judge, Signature Awards
Governor, Plymouth Marjon University
MBA, Warwrick Business School
Meet the Team
