- Conference Speakers
Topics:
- Business
- Leadership
- Women In The World
Peninah Thomson
Three threads run through PENINAH THOMSON’S work: a belief in real communication - the engine-room of understanding and co-operation between individuals, groups and nations; a commitment to helping people identify more options than they thought they had; and helping good people work their way through to decisions and to action.
Experience
Peninah’s career began in the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Based in Paris, she worked direct to the Board of National Delegates of NATO in Rome, Paris, The Hague, Munich and Washington. After Doctoral Studies at Oxford she joined PricewaterhouseCoopers, where in 8 years in Government Services Division she worked at Cabinet Office level in the UK and in 14 countries. She spent 2 years seconded to the UK Cabinet Office and subsequently became a Director in the Corporate Transformation Practice, working for 4 years at Board level in FTSE 100 companies. For the last 8 years Peninah has worked exclusively as a Board level executive coach.
Peninah has published four books and several refereed articles on leadership, corporate governance, business ethics and organisational change and is an experienced conference speaker. With a particular interest in women’s leadership she co-founded in 2003 Women Directors on Boards, a consortium in partnership with government, academia and business to address the lack of women directors in FTSE 100 companies. She also co-founded the FTSE 100 Cross-Company Mentoring Programme, in which Chairmen mentor senior women to assist their development as credible candidates for Board roles. Peninah Thomson is co-author of 'A Woman’s Place is in the Boardroom', which has given rise to a particular interest in work life balance issues.
Professional Expertise
Peninah has worked extensively with Chief Executives and Boards on strategy, organisational change and culture, and leadership. She specialises in one-to-one and group work, applying her technical skills in coaching, process consultancy, facilitation, counselling and psychotherapy; grounded in a broad experience base, an approachable style, maturity and common sense. She combines an interest in the process of managing change with an analytical approach to the substantive issues that cause change. Her combination of technical and process skills enables her to carry conviction, and she has been engaged by the World Bank (IBRO) and by a number of Boards, in the private sector and in Government, specifically to help in the conversion of conflict to a negotiated settlement.
