The Talent Pool team
Meet our directors…
Lisa Smale, Director of Client Sevices
Lisa Smale is a management, development, and training specialist who has experience of delivering high-quality personal development interventions.
She has over 14 years experience working with individuals and teams at all levels of management. She has held many corporate roles including that of Training and Development Director for a large retailer. She worked as a trainer and a coach at all levels from the sales floor through to the board.
Lisa uses her highly flexible approach to design and deliver innovative development solutions which are tailored to the learners needs. Her background ensures that the development activities she provides are both practical, realistic and deliver results. She has several years of line management experience and has managed multi-million pound budgets.
Lisa has a BA Hons in Hospitality Management and is a member of Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. She is a certified Master Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and a licensed user of a range of psychometric profiling products including Myers Briggs (MBTI), the Emotional intelligence Competency Inventory, The Good Boss Questionnaire and FIRO-B.
In addition to her responsibilities at The Talent Pool, Lisa is also a Director of The Good Boss Company and Head First Associates.
Sally Rixon, Business Development Director
Sally Rixon is an organisational and people development specialist who has experience of directly formulating and managing high profile and complex change management and development projects.
She has spent 17-years in large FMCGs holding many corporate roles including that of Head of Organisational Development for a multi-million pound business. She has been responsible for delivering people strategies, developing leadership capability, implementing performance management systems, graduate development, and the development of all line managers from the sales-floor through to the board. She has several years of line management experience and has managed multi-million pound budgets.
Sally has a post graduate diploma in Human Resource Management and is a member of Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. She is also a Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) Practitioner and is qualified to use a number of psychometric tests including The Good Boss Questionnaire, the Firo-B and Myers Briggs Type Indicator, step I and step II.
Sally always offers practical support in a professional but relaxed way to help her clients deliver the best possible results.
In addition to her responsibilities at The Talent Pool, Sally is also a Director of Ducks in a Row Ltd.
Craig Buckler, Director of Technology
Craig Buckler is an IT specialist with 20 years in the industry and over a decade’s experience in web development and deployment technologies.
He has led development teams for large projects on behalf of companies such as Microsoft, MSN, Yahoo, Moneyextra, UK Parliament, the European Parliament, ITN, Orange, Tiscali, NatWest, Norwich Union, FT.com, The Times, The Guardian, The Sun, and several London boroughs. He has helped to deliver award-winning innovative solutions that stretch the boundaries of web technology and expectations.
Craig has a BEng Hons in Computer Systems Engineering from Warwick University and is a participating member of the W3C HTML Working Group, an organisation that determines the future direction of the web.
In addition to his responsibilities at The Talent Pool, Craig is also a Director of Optimalworks Ltd.
Bernard Morris, Creative Director
Bernard Morris is a producer/director of many years experience in broadcast television and corporate communications.
After graduating from Warwick University (where he was taught Shakespeare and European Theatre by Dr Germaine Greer) Bernard joined the newly formed London Weekend Television as a trainee. This gave him a solid grounding in the practicalities and disciplines of translating creative ideas into effective communications.
After two years out, teaching in the West Indies, Bernard returned to television in the UK, this time on the freelance circuit, working for most of the then independent TV companies as well as bringing his skills to the nascent ‘corporate television’ sector.
Following an extended contract as part of a team setting up, running and training local staff for a Middle East state television service Bernard joined a UK corporate communications company where he directed award winning programmes for many FTSE 100 companies. He went on to become head of production before setting up norton@lodge.tv, a media production partnership outputting training and communications materials for companies like Barclays, Norwich Union, B&Q, Royal and Sun Alliance, Gallaher as well as for organisations like the Fire Protection Association, owned by the Association of British Insurers.