Alison Crosland

I studied English Part 1 and History of Art and Architecture Part 2, graduating in 1989.

After a 30-plus year corporate career, in April 2020 I moved into coaching. I am now coaching both private individuals and corporate clients to deliver change, manage career transitions and achieve their objectives and goals, whether professional or personal.

My career background is in management and leadership in professional services and knowledge-based organisations. I have worked across SMEs in organisations ranging from 5 people to 2,000, in risk consultancy, law, tech start ups and regulators.

My last full time role was Group Director for Corporate Services at the communications regulator Ofcom. Part of the senior management team, I led a 140-strong Corporate Services division with a budget of c£40m comprising Finance, Risk, HR, Change, IT, Governance and Facilities, ensuring Ofcom has in place the systems, processes, people and culture to deliver its remit and achieve its vision. During my four years at Ofcom, I drove a wide range of operational transformation programmes to prepare the regulator for changing responsibilities including BBC regulation, 5G rollout and the potential responsibility for online regulation. It involved leading a significant internal transformation programme of Ofcom’s IT estate, premises and people strategy. The project confirmed my interest in supporting and enabling people through change, and the decision to move into coaching and consultancy.

Prior to Ofcom, I was at city law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner (now Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner), where I was Chief Operating Officer for real estate, responsible for the day-to-day management of the firm’s real estate law practice, driving strategy to grow the business and enhance margin.

I started my corporate career at specialist risk consultancy Control Risks Group, where I spent 20 years, including eight years on the Control Risks board. In the last three years at the firm I led the HR, IT and marketing functions through significant transformation as Group Director, Operations. Prior to that I headed up Control Risks political and security risk analysis division. Other roles include Operations Director at LGBT Finance, a start-up company linking the LGBT community to financial and legal advice, where I remain a non-executive director, and Chief Operating Officer at Asperity Employee Benefits.

I completed a coaching qualification in 2017 (aligned with the International Coaching Federation) as well as a certification in Applied Neuroscience (2020), and am a qualified NLP Master Practitioner. I bring to my coaching work, operational and management experience as a senior leader across a range of roles in professional services, regulation and start-ups, facilitating and leading organisations through significant change. I have experience heading teams as varied as HR, Finance, IT, Facilities, Governance and Marketing, as well as sales and research teams.

It is not the career I anticipated when I was studying Art History, but I am delighted to have fallen into this accidental career path. I particularly value the mentoring work I have done in my career and want to expand that work. I am passionate about inclusive leadership and the transformational impact that coaching and mentoring can provide for individuals. I want to take the opportunity to help share the skills and experience I have had to support other women, especially those in the early stages of their professional journey.