Catherine May

As a coach, I bring my experience as a business leader and non-executive to my coaching work, helping executives create highly effective strategies that make them more effective in their roles. I work with leaders and teams in large organisations, using a goals driven approach with my clients that focuses on their priorities. Goals are driven by the needs of my clients, and often include creating strategies to increase performance, effectiveness and impact. I work with individuals to recognise and value their key strengths and values and build on these to deliver the best results.

I have been working as a coach for more than eight years, and have worked with executives in senior roles in a wide variety of sectors including financial services, aerospace and defence, entertainment, publishing, media, FMCG, energy, utilities and professional advisory businesses. As well as working with individuals, I work with teams that want to build more collaborative and productive connections and working practices, set strategic direction a new project or find new and more effective ways of working together.

In the last few years I’ve worked extensively with newly promoted leaders who are growing into their wider responsibilities as part of an executive committee or senior leadership team. Ultimately, my aim is to help the leaders I work with to be as true to their own personal beliefs as possible, while making a positive impact in their professional environment.

I have a professional certificate in executive coaching and leadership behaviours from Henley Business School, am a qualified Neuroleader and Neurolinguistics Practitioner (NLP) and have studied under Nancy Kline, founder of the Time to Think movement. I’m an affiliated member of the International Coaching Federation and a member of the Henley Centre for Coaching.

Do contact me if you’d like to know more about my work. You can reach me via email at catherine@cjmay.co.uk

I’m an experienced non-executive director, having held board seats with a range of commercial, charitable and not-for-profit organisations since 2011. Having served on the executive committees of three FTSE 30 PLCs, each of which was outperforming in its sector, I have a deep experience to draw on to support and advise the businesses I work with as a NED.

I bring my board work a robust working knowledge of corporate governance and strategy and have insights and experience in diversity and inclusion, investor relations, reputation and stakeholder management, crisis management, business transformation, transnational businesses and operating in highly regulated sectors. I’m particularly experienced in ESG and sustainability, a discipline I led as an executive and am an active member of Chapter Zero.

Currently I serve as Chair of the ENO Trust, Senior Independent Director of South Staffs Water /Cambridge Water plc, where I am also a member of our ARC, ReNCo and ESG committees, Senior Independent Director of the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Assocation (PLSA), where I chair our ReNCo, and as an Independent Non-Executive Director and member of the AFC on the board of Shoreham Port.