Kate is Director of Dispute Resolution. Kate joined Acas in 1993 as an individual conciliator and was Acas's area director for the East Midlands for more than 10 years. Kate recently led Acas's strategic planning, performance and change directorate, working with external and internal stakeholders, leading the development of the Acas strategy.

Alexandra has nearly 20 years of experience in the field of organisational conflict resolution and mediation. She holds two Master’s degrees, including an M.A. in Organisational Psychology. She has worked internationally in New York and at the United Nations in Geneva. Alexandra is the co-founder and Director of Consensio, one of the UK’s leading conflict management and workplace mediation services providers.

Consensio empowers clients to informally manage workplace conflict and build resilient workplaces, enhancing the well-being of organisations and their people. Consensio offers support in all areas of conflict management, providing consultancy, leadership development, training, e-learning, coaching and mediation services. Clients include: the BBC, British Gas, Bupa, Nespresso, Sony, University of Cambridge, Westminster City Council, NHS Trusts, WWF and Unicef.

David specialises in resolving people and relationship issues in business, with over 30 years experience in employee relations, HR leadership and business management. David started his career in industrial relations at Ford Motor Company and has been a mediator since 2003. He focuses on Executive and Workplace mediation, where the parties need to maintain a continuing relationship after the mediation, and Board effectiveness, where Boards need to encourage positive conflict between Directors. David believes that Workplace Mediation can be a more powerful tool to resolve workplace conflict than formal processes, for example in reducing the length and cost of mental health sickness cases.

Mia is an award-winning mediator and coach to visionary leaders, teams and families. Unafraid to broach the issues that many shy away from, she helps people have transformative conversations. Since leaving her career as a City of London solicitor in 2007 Mia has worked on a wide range of topics such as business, sustainability, race, gay marriage, and the refugee crisis with clients ranging from the G7 countries and the Government of Mongolia to the Church of England. She is working on a book and video series on how to disagree well. Clients at Microsoft have referred to her as “the Einstein of EQ.”

Kheron Gilpin is an engagement specialist with over a decade of experience in community development and educational interventions. His work encompasses motivational speaking, engagement training for educators, and facilitation of events and dialogues. He began his career in community development by eagerly taking, and making, opportunities for himself and others in his home area of South London. As a young community leader, Kheron worked as a peer outreach worker for the Greater London Authority while also founding initiatives, including a youth group within South London Tenants Associations called Alwayz Kreative that provided creative opportunities for young people. Kheron’s skills in public speaking and facilitation have led him to be enlisted by the Tutu Foundation to facilitate difficult dialogues, including between police and young offenders. Kheron had also been commissioned by brands such as Nike, JD and Sports Direct to run community engagement events and deliver youth engagement consultancy. Kheron now specialises in educational engagement and works with schools and colleges around the UK to maximise their student engagement strategies and deliver impactful talks, workshops and assemblies. 

Kheron has a strong commitment to making a positive impact, not only by sharing practical tools and strategies but also by embodying the values of unity and action, inspired by Ubuntu, an African philosophy that emphasises our interconnectedness and shared humanity.

David established The TCM Group in 2001. He has built a world class team with a reputation to match. TCM specialises in the three areas of culture, climate and conflict resolution. In 2024, David was recognised as a top HR most influential thinker and he is a member of the prestigious Thinkers 50 Radar. He is author of two books Managing Conflict and Transformational Culture published by Kogan Page. The latter was shortlisted for business book of the year 2022 and the 2nd edition of Managing Conflict is being published in October 2023. David is also president of the People and Culture Association (www.peopleprofessionals.org).

Penny Newton-Hurley brings a strategy of compassion to her work with CEOs, leaders, teams and individuals. She believes Psychological Safety not only transforms culture and engages employees, but boosts innovation, financial performance, growth and wellbeing. In the wider context she believes compassionate communication has the power to change how the world speaks and listens. Penny is founder of Commpassion Ltd, working with large multinationals in the private sector and organisations across government, military, health, and education. She is a Fearless Organisation Psychological Safety facilitator and trainer, workplace mediator, interpersonal communication and emotional intelligence specialist, coach and trainer, and listening volunteer.

Joanna is the Assistant Chief Conciliator leading the collective conciliation team covering the South of England and Wales.  

As an accomplished Conciliator, Facilitator and Mediator she works with and supports organisations and trade unions through their dispute resolution processes as well assisting parties to improve their industrial relations pre and post dispute.  

Joanna has been an Acas mediator for 16 years and also has extensive experience training mediators both internally, and for external organisations.

Nicky spent 31 years as a Metropolitan police officer and the last 10 of those years as an international hostage and crisis negotiator.

Nicky worked on the elite New Scotland Yard Hostage and Crisis Negotiation Unit. She has travelled the world teaching negotiation and working with Her Majesties Government on international operations and had the privilege of talking to hundreds of people in crisis.

In the 2022 Queen’s New Year’s Honours List, she was awarded the British Empire Medal for “meritorious service to the community during the pandemic”, this led to an invitation to the Kings Coronation in 2023.

She is the author of the best selling book “Crisis – true stories from my life as a hostage negotiator” published by HQ Harper Collins.

Nicky lives with her partner, step daughter, 8 goats, 4 dogs and 2 pigs. In her on words “life is never boring”.

Liz Rivers is a workplace mediation expert, women's leadership coach and member of the IPOS panel. The first woman to become a CEDR accredited mediator in the UK, she has been mediating for over 30 years. She's formerly a commercial litigation solicitor with Eversheds Sutherland and is a member of the CEDR training faculty. Liz has given evidence to the Women and Equalities Select Committee on the use of mediation to address sexual harassment disputes in the workplace.

CEDR accredited in 2006, Caroline Sheridan, CEO is a member of the CEDR Chambers and sits on the Civil Mediation Council's Mediation Standards Board. Caroline chaired the CMC's Workplace & Employment group for a number of years and is also a former CMC Board Director.  She like many of her colleagues across the mediation landscape has been successful in driving increased awareness of the benefits of mediation in those roles.

David's 40 year experience as a specialist employment law practitioner covers a wide variety of employment-related issues, including recruitment, disciplinary and grievance procedures, the defence of employee discrimination and dismissal claims, employee health, data protection and intellectual property and confidentiality matters among others. David's clients span from senior individuals to household-name corporates and across all sectors, with particular expertise in the financial services sector. David is a well-known speaker on employment matters, both in-house to clients and for commercial training providers, and is a regular contributor to employment publications. He is an accredited CEDR Mediator and a keen exponent of the role of mediation in the modern workplace, scoring significant successes for corporate and individual clients through that route. He is a member of the workplace and employment sub-group of the Civil Mediation Council. David was recently named in the Best Lawyers in the United Kingdom and Who's Who Legal publications and has been a fixture in both the Chambers and The Legal 500 directories for many years.