In this inspiring conversation, William Pringle, Partner and Head of Charity, Arts, Culture and Heritage at Berwick Partners, speaks with Suzi Digby OBE, renowned conductor, educator, and cultural innovator, about the extraordinary journey of ORA Singers. As the ensemble approaches its 10th anniversary, Suzi reflects on her bold artistic vision, the renaissance of choral music, and the challenges and opportunities facing the arts today.

In this Berwick Partners podcast, host Elizabeth James, Head of Government, Local Government, and Education Practices, sits down with Beth Chaudhary and Rachel Cooper, Directors of Strategy and Regulatory Compliance at the Food Standards Agency.

Together, they share their decade-long experience as a successful job share duo, offering insights into how this model works at senior levels, why it matters, and the practicalities that make it thrive.

From Engineer to First Time CEO: Alan Brooke’s Journey

On this episode of the Manufacturing Matters podcast, I’m delighted to welcome Alan Brooke, CEO of Gill Group.

Alan’s career spans a diverse range of organisations—from privately owned businesses to global blue-chips like Wärtsilä and Danaher. His journey from engineering and operational leadership to the CEO seat is a testament to curiosity, adaptability, and a relentless drive for growth.

Today, Alan leads Gill Group, a proudly family-owned business celebrating its 40th anniversary and recently honoured with the prestigious King’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade. Under his stewardship, Gill has expanded its global footprint, launched new ventures such as Gill Corporate Inc in the U.S., and continued to innovate across its four core businesses.

In this conversation, Alan shares what it takes to transition from functional leadership to the top job, the lessons learned as a first time CEO, and how Gill Group is continuing to shape its market.

In this episode of Built to Lead, the podcast where we talk to senior senior leaders in the Housing sector about their careers, thoughts on current events and issues, and hopefully give you some things to take away that will add to your own leadership journey, we are joined by Neil Yeomans, ex-Head of Property Safety and Technology at Orbit Group.

Neil talks to us about stepping into the world of consultancy since leaving Orbit earlier this year, with his main being to offer his expert advise on a number of knotty issues currently facing Housing. Neil’s reputation proceeds him; he acted as Expert Advisor to the Building Advisory Committee’s higher risk buildings working group and has also worked alongside Central Government and housing industry bodies to review wider building safety reform.  Neil’s passion for resident safety really comes through in this episode, and he leaves us with 3 key actions points to take away from the conversation.

For any enquiries about how we can help your compliance team, please get in touch at [email protected]

In this podcast, Elizabeth James sits down with Professor Jane Green, a leading figure in British political science. Jane is a professor at Nuffield College, University of Oxford, and serves as the director of the Nuffield Politics Research Centre. She also co-directs the British Election Study and is the president of the British Politics Group of the American Political Science Association.

You may recognise her from her frequent appearances on television, where she provides expert commentary on elections and political trends. Today, she shares insights into her career journey, her roles in shaping political research, and her experiences in the public eye.

Join me in conversation with David Ripley, COO at Stonewater as we discuss his career in Housing, along with his customer service philosophy, the future of AI in Housing, and his vision in his role at Stonewater.

From his customer experience focused role at Thirteen, to his Operations remit at Stonewater, we discuss the importance of a customer centric culture, and how Housing Associations can work to get the balance just right.

David is very erudite, and I hope you enjoy this session as much I enjoyed recording with him!

Lisa Wallace has a really interesting background, starting her career within HR in the commercial sector before gradually winding her way through more socially focussed organisations and ending up at whg, where she has spent the last 3 years.

Our conversation covers Lisa’s career, her interest in the housing sector and how closely entwined culture is with the service that customers receive. We also talked about building resilience in teams to get better outcomes for residents, and the future themes she feels housing associations should be getting ahead of. 

On our first episode of this Manufacturing Matters podcast , we are thrilled to welcome a friend to our firm, and powerhouse in business transformation and strategic leadership, Kate Davies.

Kate is a seasoned change agent with a remarkable track record of driving operational excellence and strategic change across the manufacturing and engineering sectors. With board-level experience in both UK and European companies, including Private Equity-backed and FTSE 100 firms.

Kate has led major turnarounds, restructured business models, and implemented governance frameworks that have delivered real, measurable impact. She’s held senior leadership roles with world class manufacturers such as Rolls Royce, General Electric, and Alstom, and most recently served as COO and Managing Director at BRUSH, where she led a cultural and operational transformation that turned a loss-making business unit into a 20%+ EBITDA success story in under a year.

Kate is also the founder of Rufus Wren Ltd, where she continues to advise top-tier clients on governance, risk, and business transformation. Beyond the boardroom, she’s a passionate advocate for STEM education, actively supporting initiatives like National Interviewing Week and National Apprentice Week, and serves as a trustee for Stratford Upon Avon Municipal Charities.

In this episode Bonnie Amos-English, Consultant in our Regeneration and Housing Practice sits down with Nicki Jenkins, Corporate Director for Growth and City Development at Nottingham City Council.

They discuss Nicki's experience of working for the Council for over 20 years along with the objectives for the future around housing strategy and inclusive growth. They also talk about the plan for the Housing Directate going forward and Strategic Director of Housing position that they are partnering on.

In this episode, host Bonnie Amos-English speaks with Matthew Norwell, Director of Place at London Borough of Bexley about the journey he and his team have been on during his 4 years with the Council. Matthew talks about the hard work done to get the directorate into a strong and stable state that they can now “springboard” from to achieve the exciting plans the Council has around Growth and Regeneration.

Bonnie and Matthew also discuss the recruitment of a new Deputy Director, who will be heavily involved in bringing these plans to fruition - join us to hear more!