​In this episode of Leaders with Ambition, Nicky sits down with Leor Franks, Business Development & Marketing Director at Kingsley Napley.

Leor takes us on the journey of his illustrious 20-year career that combines his love for journalism and building high-performing teams.

Despite building a distinguished career, Leor openly shares his wins and struggles with imposter syndrome. 

Leor is a sought-after speaker and thought leader within professional services Business Development and Marketing.

In this episode of Leaders with Ambition, Nicky sits down with Lorraine Gibson, the current Business Development Director, UK, US & EMEA at Herbert Smith Freehills.

They discuss the importance of bringing your authentic self to the office and working hard to achieve your career goals. Lorraine shares her experiences within the various roles she has had and talks about the importance of knowing what it is you’re striving towards.

From working for large corporate organisations to spending a few years working for herself, Lorraine gives an insight into her involvement within the Professional Services Industry. This episode is about having the opportunity to find your voice, the impact of visionary leadership and ultimately the significance of personal development.

In this episode of Leaders with Ambition, Nicky speaks with Karen Snell, Head Of Marketing and Business Development, Clients & Industries at Hogan Lovells. Karen shares her career journey within legal marketing and BD as well as the challenges and highlights along the way.

Karen notes how she was able to thrive by seizing the opportunities that came her way, demonstrating passion for her work and career, all the while balancing a senior role with her family commitments.

​In this episode of Leaders with Ambition, Nicky talks with Brian Johnson, Partner at UHY Hacker Young. Brian shares his career journey within insolvency as well as the practical lessons that can be adopted to foster career growth and success.

Brian also talks about his passion for the job, while noting the challenges faced by insolvency professionals, with particular emphasis on the importance of creating long-term relationships.

In this episode of Leaders with Ambition, Nicky sits down with Paul Davies, Business Restructuring and Insolvency Partner from James Cowper Kreston, who talks us through his unorthodox career path to becoming a Partner and some of his highlights.

Paul shares the challenges he has faced along the way and offers actionable advice to new and potential Insolvency Practitioners. He also talks about the importance of mentorship and how this has helped him to progress his career.

In this episode of Leaders with Ambition, Nicky sits down with Marie Wadeson, Managing Director at Quantuma, to discuss her career path from BD & Marketing to Partner to Managing Director.

With an emphasis on her determination and drive, Marie explains the mindset she adopted that ultimately resulted in her success, sharing key points from her challenges and career lessons that she learnt along the way.

​In this episode of Leaders with Ambition, Nicky talks to Sarah Draper, Partner and Head of People and Culture at Rider Levett Bucknall. They discuss Sarah’s journey within Human Resources (HR), the challenges she’s faced and what she has learned from her numerous HR experiences.

Sarah explains how her hard work and determination has led to her success – she realised that making a difference in others’ lives was especially important for her and HR was a perfect sector for her to flex this attribute. Finally, the two discuss how Sarah’s role has shifted as people are still working remotely during these times in the workplace and the various systems Sarah has implemented to maintain a high sense of inclusivity within her firm.

​In this episode of Leaders with Ambition, Nicky talks with Paul Davis, a Partner at the corporate recovery and restructuring firm, Buchler Phillips. 

Paul describes his experience so far as a specialist Insolvency Practitioner and highlights pivotal points in his career that defined his success as well as the challenges he has overcome.

Also discussed is the impact of the ongoing pandemic on UK businesses and the economy and Paul's take on what this means for the insolvency market.

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​In this episode of Leaders with Ambition, Nicky sits down with Katie Cramond, the current Director of Business Development Europe at McDermott Will & Emery.

Together they talk women in the workplace, being authentic in your leadership style, the importance of coaching and how Katie got to where she is today. 

Throughout their conversation, Katie shares how a chance encounter at a festival - and some gumption on her part - initially launched her career in professional services Business Development and Marketing. 

Ultimately, this episode is about the importance of making the most of opportunities and how working hard can take you places you didn’t even think possible -in Katie’s case, all the way to Singapore.

Leaders with Ambition is the podcast that delves deep into the careers of some of the UK’s most successful leaders working in professional services firms to discover the secrets behind their success, the challenges they’ve overcome and to find out what are the traits that make a successful leader.

In this episode, Nicky talks to Nick O’Reilly, Chief Operating Officer at Manolete Partners Plc, a respected veteran in the business insolvency space with more than 40 years of experience to share.  

Nick answers a broad range of questions about how he carved out a successful career in the insolvency industry and created a hybrid work model many years before Covid-19. Why? He noticed early on that most business failures occurred Monday-Thursday so he proposed a condensed four-day work week that was a win for him personally and for his employer.

Nick also talks about his career highlights, the challenges and advances he has witnessed over the course of his career and gives his view on the insolvency market and the uptick likely to occur among business insolvency cases as pandemic-related government protections ease.