Team values
- We are passionate about developing leadership capability to deliver high performance
- Excellence is a mindset – Curiosity and Humility ensure that we are constantly improving our service
- We don’t make promises we can’t keep
- We believe in giving first
Roderic Yapp
Leadership Forces was founded in 2015 by Roderic Yapp.
A former Royal Marines Officer, he was fortunate enough to lead Marines on operations around the world including Afghanistan in 2007 and the evacuation of civilians from Libya during the Arab Spring. Roderic also led the recapture of the 55,000-ton MV Montecristo from pirate control in 2011, as part of a NATO counter-piracy task force off the Somali coast.
He left the Royal Marines to embark on a new career with the aim of using his leadership and management experience to help leaders create high performing cultures.
An accredited coach with over 2000hrs of experience, Roderic has supported managers to create high performing teams across a multitude of sectors including Professional Services, Asset Management, Banking, Retail, Nuclear, Rating Agencies, large complex UK plc and the NHS.
He works collaboratively with the client to co-design the development approach so that it fits with their view of ‘what a great leader looks like’ rather than taking a ‘sheep-dip’ approach.
Married to Hannah, he lives in Stroud with their two young children. He uses his spare time to keep fit and is writing a book called ‘Second Place is a Box’.
Tim McEwan
Tim is a leadership mentor, guide, consultant and public speaker.
Tim’s enthusiasm for leadership started during his time as a Commissioned Officer in the Scots Guards. His varied career saw him serve on active duty, as an Equerry to the Royal Family and as an instructor at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
On leaving the Army he knew that he wanted to bring leadership insights to a broader audience, and since then has worked across the world with a variety of businesses and institutions, helping them bring the best out of their teams and individuals. His clients include Janus Henderson, eBay, Pfizer and a range of private equity back businesses.
Tim has maintained his connection to Sandhurst and is now a Trustee of the Sandhurst Trust. In addition he has become a Fellow in Management Practice at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School, actively teaching within its Executive Education programmes alongside faculty and academic experts.
Tim leads the Culture Change team within Leadership Forces. He has specialist experience in helping organisations define and change their culture by changing the way leaders think and behave.
Matthew Whitfield
Matt Whitfield is a former Royal Navy fighter pilot. He has spent 26 years leading high performance teams in some of the most challenging and dangerous environments. Towards the end of his career, he was selected to work with UK Special Forces and the Security Services on counter-terrorism and counter-espionage operations.
Matt believes that his greatest accomplishments in the Royal Navy were spent developing the people in his teams. When he left the Service, he retrained as a coach choosing to spend his ‘second career’ leveraging his experience to help leaders and managers build high performing teams.
In 2018, he was invited to deliver a TEDx talk on Trust which allowed him to share his unique perspective following his interesting and varied experiences in the Royal Navy.
Warm, empathetic and engaging, Matt is exceptional at building relationships based on trust and mutual respect. His approachable nature coupled with a razor sharp focus on performance help him get the very best out of people through a combination of challenge and support.
Alison Hughes
Ali’s career has spanned HR consulting, executive search and leadership coaching. For several years, she ran her own executive search practice in the City of London with a blue chip client base spanning financial services, media and professional services. She has long been interested in what motivates and fulfils people in the workplace.
Ali is an ACC level coach accredited by the International Coach Federation with a PGCert in Business & Personal Coaching. Her coaching work incorporates business and individual clients, who are looking to improve performance, overcome barriers and achieve personal success. Her work spans new and future leaders, women in leadership and building meaningful careers.
Ali is driven by making a positive impact at the corporate and individual level and particularly enjoys developing coaching skills in managers to enable inspirational leadership.
Ali lives in West Sussex with her husband, dog, two cats and five hens. She enjoys long distance hiking, singing, piano playing and lifelong learning – having recently learned how to draw as well as completed a post-graduate certificate in coaching.
Kate Philp
Kate Philp is an executive coach, consultant and motivational speaker.
Joining the Army after graduating in Classics from Oxford University, Kate was deployed on operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, where her leadership, decision-making, technical skill and adaptability were brutally tested in the fast-paced environment of front-line operations.
Kate’s tour of Afghanistan came to an abrupt end when injuries caused by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) resulted in her electing to have her leg amputated below the knee, marking her out as the first British female to lose a limb in combat.
Leaving the Army after thirteen years of service, Kate now works as a Consultant, Coach and Speaker. She uses her experience in leadership, relationship management and overcoming adversity to support her clients with a range of challenging issues. Able to balance an eye for detail with the strategic picture, Kate is credible working at multiple levels of the organisation and has experience in a variety of sectors including legal, manufacturing, banking, finance, insurance, healthcare, education and scientific research and development.
Kate holds a CMI Level 7 Extended Diploma in Strategic Management & Leadership, a Diploma in Life & Business Coaching accredited by the Association for Coaching, and is an NLP Practitioner.
Jim Brown
Jim specialises in performance coaching and EQ development for founders and directors.
With a background in talent search he has ran businesses in London and Sydney, and built teams for global media brands and technology firms.
He combines his business and organisational experiences with formal qualifications in sports performance, coaching and psychology.
He particularly loves helping people understand their true drivers and capabilities, and to have fair and successful conversations with themselves and others.
Jim has a Bsc Honours degree in Sports Science from Loughborough University. He is a Cognitive Emotive Behaviour Coach, an NLP Master Practitioner and a certified assessor in Emotional Intelligence (ECR, ECR 360,) HTPI and PPA (DISC.)
