The reason we exist
We love our clients and strive to help them release the potential within their organisation. This is what some of them say about us, and how their situations have changed because of us.
"Mark is a gifted facilitator and, on many occasions, he has guided us through some difficult situations and negotiations with fantastic results. As a consultant, he brings a wide array of knowledge and techniques and has used many of these to great effect within our organisation. Mark is so good, we rely on him regularly and he has become an important part of our international team and his years of industry experience, both in the corporate sector and social franchises are invaluable to us."
Paula Stringer, CEO - UK and International, Christians Against Poverty.
"Mark’s trademark is his highly relational and human-centred approach to supporting strategic change. He has a great capability to see both the strategic issues and the people-shaped challenges and opportunities within management teams. Well grounded in both theory and the reality of working within a large corporate, he blends excellent facilitation, strategic insights, and gentle but direct challenge to ensure management teams improve in both their cohesion and measurable outcomes."
Roger Hattam, MD - Communication Practice, Gallagher
“Mark’s insight came at an important time for us as a business. His ability to ask the right questions provoking strategic thinking, was incredibly helpful for us and contributed to shaping our thinking to be better equipped for the season of growth we then experienced. We would highly recommend Mark to any business, of any size looking to grow their thinking, their skillset and their organisation.”
Gareth Russell, Group MD, Jersey Road PR.
"The business coaching sessions with Mark, over the last 12 months, have been challenging, transformational, encouraging and enjoyable. Being able to talk things through and draw on Mark’s considerable experience has led to a much greater sense of purpose and direction for the charity and given me personally, increased confidence and understanding as to how to lead Community Money Advice through the next phase of strategic development."
Heather Keates, CEO, Community Money Advice.
“Mark’s impact on the work of Cinnamon has been critical to our success. His knowledge of the principles of franchising and replication is second to none. His work on the Cinnamon Incubator has enabled multiple organisations to be ready to scale and work in partnership with others. He is also a person full of personal integrity and an absolute pleasure to work with”
Amanda Bindon, Chief Executive, Cinnamon Network UK.
"Mark listened to our ideas and translated them into a practical useful framework for us to grow our organisation and achieve our vision.(His) thoughtful and attentive approach made us instantly at ease. He can sift through the clutter and hones in on what is important. Most importantly, he does what he says he will do promptly and really well.
We really enjoyed working with Mark. He has not only provided us with a model but he has given us the confidence to use it too!
Alison HIll, Youth Shedz.
"Mark has worked for us on about 4 different consultancies and I love working with Mark. He comes in and listens hard, picks up the issues quickly, draws on his wealth of business and charitable experience and is able to combine the strategic with the detailed and condense large amounts of information into bite-sized relevant recommendations. I sometimes say of Mark he has both the science and art mind and that makes him quite unique. He can crunch data, analyse systems, enjoys a spreadsheet, but also is highly insightful of people, with a high emotional intelligence, oozing competence and can speak in a soft but truth manner which is informed and perceptive. He can work at any level of the organisation from staff to trustees to service user. All this makes him more than a ‘consultant’; he becomes your friend and an advisor you trust and turn to."
Ed Walker, Founder, Hope Into Action.
"Mark has worked with us at BRF over several years, particularly helping us to take forward our thinking around strategic planning and development, and measuring and evaluating impact. His ability to quickly catch the vision and potential for what we are doing in different parts of the organisation, along with his insight and skill in gently challenging and offering other perspectives, made his involvement and contribution invaluable."
Richard Fisher, CEO, Bible Reading Fellowship.
“Mark quickly built his understanding of our challenges and opportunities, then helped us explore some really creative solutions to grow our impact in a cost effective way.”
Tim Morfin, CEO, TLG.
“Mark was able to immediately build a deep understanding of the business and scope out the project requirements, allowing him to codify the operating systems and processes and develop the first ever operating manuals, and lead the internal team through the process. Two years later the brand standards have become an integral part of the operation and continues to be the backbone of the business.”
Guy Riddell, General Manager, Godiva Chocolatier.
"Mark worked closely with the MakeLunch staff team and trustees to help us establish our procedures and processes as the charity grew. He brings a depth of experience and understanding from the business world which he is able to adapt for the charity world in a way that is accessible and helpful. At MakeLunch we appreciated Mark’s humour and grace as we found our feet as a new charity. His experience and wisdom were invaluable as we grew and established our network across the UK.
The MakeLunch team are all huge fans of Mark Kitson. He has applied his expertise and knowledge across all areas of our development, shaping our growth and implementing healthy practices for the future."
Rachel Warwick, Founder, MakeLunch.
“Mark has had a major impact on the way we do strategic planning at Reach Beyond. He’s gently guided us towards an approach which has focused on the key objectives we need to tackle, and at the same time helped me to keep the whole team involved and engaged. Mark is brilliant at stripping away the complexity of management-speak and getting to the heart of the issues involved, and he does it with great positivity and humour.”
Colin Lowther, CEO, Reach Beyond.
"Mark was instrumental as we refreshed and revamped our board of trustees, he helped us to not only understand what we really needed from our trustees but also provided very practical suggestions of how to achieve it. We now have a great board and feel in a much stronger position to face the future.
In a period of much change and emotion Mark has been a steady and consistent companion to our organisation. What felt impossible and daunting was made doable with Mark’s advice and guidance. Mark is extremely knowledgeable and is generous in the way he shares his knowledge, experiences and insights. I really can’t recommend Mark highly enough."
Hannah Peck, CEO, Baby Basics
"Mark came into our charity's life at just the right time. We had been considering our future direction for sometime, but getting somewhat stuck with how to proceed. Mark's skill is his ability to listen and cut through to what is important. With his support, we have been able to develop a clear way ahead that has explored all the marketing and business aspects involved. He provided both a mentoring role and undertook significant pieces of work, to help us achieve our aims.
We have achieved more than we could have hoped for. Thank you!"
Sam Greenley, Co-Founder, Illuminate.
“Mark's research was instrumental in us obtaining a youth grant from Social Investment Business. It mapped out the current market, where we could position ourselves within it and the potential of it to further our social impact. His work was collaborative, thorough and delivered to a high standard within a relatively short time frame. We hope to use his findings to help us shape our work for years to come.”
Kate Nation, CEO, Turtle Dove.
"Mark worked with our group of companies from 2014 to 2016. During this time he enabled us to build a comprehensive, franchise model to take to market. Mark brought his vast experience in this field to us; his friendly and professional demeanor meant that the creative process was an enjoyable one with all stakeholders’ requirements being fulfilled."
Matt Whitton, Managing Director, Refuels.
“We worked with Mark in order to ensure that we had the infrastructure right for growth. My co-founder and I found Mark to be one of the rare consultants who was able to articulate both a strategy but, much more importantly, a how. This enabled us to refine some of our plans, build the structure needed and be ready for growth. We would highly recommend Mark. “
Martin Bisp, Co-Founder, Empire Fighting Chance.
