Job Function: Consultant

Philip has held various management positions during his career to date, including co-founder, partner and managing director of Headspace PR; marketing director of Yahoo! Germany; and vice president of Consumer and Commercial Marketing at Universal Music International. He has also been facilitating leadership trainings on behalf of Axialent since 2009.

With his background in international business management, Philip started coaching in 2005, is certified as a professional coach with ICF and CTI, and specializes in executive coaching, leadership training and personal development.

He draws on his extensive experience when working with his clients, who range from international captains of industry to CEOs and senior executives, from small companies to billion-dollar corporations. Based in Berlin, Germany, Philip coaches or facilitates in English and German internationally.

Philip integrates his corporate background, expertise in executive coaching, leadership training, leadership and personal development, and experience gained as a yoga instructor to help his clients to explore valuable perspectives with which to address potential barriers that might be impeding their own development, or that of their organizations. Over the years, he has coached and trained more than 1,200 executives, transcending all organizational levels in multinationals, including intact senior teams.

His incisive approach enables him to help his clients maximize their leadership impact on their organizations and goals. Philip’s ability to empower his clients — individuals or groups — in both a challenging and supportive role enables them to unlock their full potential as people who think and lead with clarity and vision, in tune with their own values and those of their organizations, to meet the evolving challenges of an uncertain, ever-changing and unpredictable world.

Philip holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Hon) degree in business administration from the University of Pretoria. He is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) through the International Coach Federation (ICF), and was trained and is a Certified Professional Co-active Coach (CPCC) through the Coaches Training Institute in London and San Francisco. He is certified in group coaching with Potentials Realized and is certified in various 360° tools from Human Synergistics, Energy Leadership iPEC and The Leadership Circle (TLC). He is also a certified leadership trainer with The Leadership Circle.

Born in South Africa, Philip immigrated to Germany in 1992 and has subsequently been based in Frankfurt, London, Munich and Düsseldorf. He currently calls Berlin, Germany, his home.

Karen is an exceptionally creative learning and development professional who, with a wealth of experience and knowledge from both the commercial world and the arena of coaching and facilitation, helps people leap beyond what is known and safely navigate toward a new future.

Karen has extensive experience leading, designing and delivering programs, from global graduate and high-potential talent groups through to senior leaders. Most recently, she has been working with a global tech organization in the United States, creating and delivering a culture change and leadership development program for their top 2 percent of leaders worldwide. This included in-person workshops, individual and team coaching, and group webinars. She has also been leading a team of consultants in the design and delivery of a large global leadership development program (2,000+ participants in the last five years) for an international blue chip financial institution. More recently, she has developed and delivered Axialent’s first, purely online, transformational leadership program for another global blue chip organization.

Her 20+ years of experience at the “pointy end” of international business ensures Karen’s consulting, facilitation and coaching is always mindful of any cross-cultural aspects, incorporates the impact of the VUCA environment, and is aligned to the organization’s core values and behavioral competencies. She stays focused on delivering to the organization’s strategic needs — optimizing the link between mindsets, skills and behaviors, and the cultural shift needed for teams and leaders to be successful today and in the future.

Equally, due to her original fields being psychology and design, Karen brings great warmth, compassion and a sense of possibility to all her clients, helping teams and leaders reach strategic alignment and effectiveness while maintaining an atmosphere of well-being.

Karen has been directly involved in the world of learning and development since 2005, working with organizations to create high-potential development programs and leadership initiatives, and facilitating teams to become highly effective. She has a passion for creativity, innovation and accelerated learning. She is a firm believer that people are more able to learn and change when the learning experience is perceived as enjoyable and safe. She is accredited in Hogan Psychometrics and Life Styles Inventory™ (LSI) and is also a neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) practitioner and an accredited coach.

Over her career, Karen’s clients have included blue-chip organizations such as PWC, GE Capital, Sun Microsystems, HSBC, Barclays, UBS, RBS, Scottish Power, Viking Cruises, housing associations, Fiat/CNHI, DLP Piper HBOS, Jaguar Landrover, the Pentland Group, Cisco, Bosch Siemens and Microsoft as well as SME, public sector and individuals. She works at all levels from graduate and fast-track development through to executive level.

With 27 years of experience in management consulting and communications, Georgina (“Gina”) is a consultant, coach, communications specialist, professor and social sciences researcher.

After starting a career in journalism, Gina went on to study organizational development and to work professionally in this area with leaders in different companies and groups, including Mexican universities. In her consulting work, she draws heavily on her dual expertise in communication and organizational development.

In her career, Gina has designed and implemented communication strategies and change processes for different clients. Most recently, she served as associate and director at Integralis Consulting Group, a company dedicated to organizational development.

Gina’s passion is facilitating co-creation processes with groups of leaders and helping them make significant behavior transformations.

Gina has worked for clients including Televisa, Liverpool, Presidencia de la República, Kellogg’s, Prodigy, Industrias Mabe, Gigante, Mexicana de Aviación, Grupo Angeles, Farmacias del Ahorro, Medicall Home and Kostal Mexicana, among others.

Gina holds a Bachelor of Science in social communication sciences and a master’s degree in investigative journalism, both from the Anáhuac Universtiy. She also received a diploma in innovation in organizational communication and certification in systemic coaching from the Technical Institute of Monterrey (ITESM), and she is certified in systemic family and organizational therapy from the Sowelu Institute.

Gina teaches courses on organizational change and culture, leadership, and consulting at the Technical Institute of Monterrey, Anáhuac University, and the Universidad Autónoma of Querétaro, and she has authored a number of articles on organizational development and critiques of T.V. content. In addition, Gina was the editor of the book “Método Ser +,” which targeted small business leaders’ development in Mexico.

Gina and her husband, Luis, have a 20-year-old daughter who is studying psychology. Gina likes movies, theater, reading and traveling, and she greatly enjoys being with her family.

Elena Ortega leads cultural transformation projects for clients in Spain and Latin America. She also designs and facilitates innovative leadership programs for global organizations.

As a consultant in cultural transformation, she helps clients achieve business results by analyzing their current culture and its impact on the company’s strategy. Using this information, she guides them in designing a cultural plan to bridge the gap between their current culture and the desired one that will drive their results. Finally, she works with leaders to enhance cultural change.

In the realm of leadership, Elena helps individuals take their leadership to the next level, becoming more productive, influential, and purpose-driven. She shares with her clients the strategies and questions used by the world’s most successful and influential people to manage their emotions, plan their projects, positively influence others, and keep their purposes clear and alive. Her commitment also extends to female executives and entrepreneurs with teams, whom she accompanies in developing their own leadership style with courage and heart.

Elena has worked with clients such as P&G (Spain), BBVA (global), Facebook (Mexico), Sanofi (Argentina), Mastercard (Southern Cone), Porvenir (Colombia), TGS (Argentina), Médecins Sans Frontières (Spain), and Stellantis (Spain).

She holds a degree in Law from the University of Valencia and a Master’s in Business Legal Advice from the Instituto de Empresa (Madrid). She completed the Executive Program in Human Resources at the Centro Garrigues (Madrid). Elena is certified in Life Styles Inventory (LSI), Organizational Culture Inventory (OCI), and Organizational Effectiveness Inventory, all diagnostic and measurement tools of Human Synergistics. She is a certified Executive Coach and Team Coach by the European Coaching School, as well as a certified High Performance Coach. She is also trained in neuroscience and compassion cultivation.

In her free time, she enjoys traveling and has a passion for photography, leading her to collaborate with brands as a travel photographer on Instagram. She is recognized as one of the travel influencers of 2019 by Forbes Spain.

Ekkehard is a global citizen with deep leadership experience across a wide range of roles (CEO, investor, entrepreneur, consultant, board member), industries (services, fast-moving consumer goods, media, financial institutions), countries (Germany, Spain, France, the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Switzerland) and companies (Axialent, Adecco Human Capital, Lee Hecht Harrison, Jacobs Holdings, 20 Minutes Holding, McKinsey & Company).

In his mid-forties, he recognized that he had put a lot of professional energy on the “hard stuff” (strategies, structures, numbers), and he experienced the need and the opportunity to integrate additional key drivers for success — namely, balanced relationships and cultures as well as self-actualization and purpose.

For this purpose, Ekkehard founded Sum People. Today he is helping CEOs, top executives and their teams integrate the three dimensions: It (goals, tasks), We (relationships) and I (self).

Ekkehard is also the founder of Mountain Wisdom, a Swiss foundation that takes CEOs to the mountains to explore the fundamental questions in life.

“During my corporate career, I was focused on solving problems. This is what I had learned and what I was good at. Later in my career, I asked, ‘how did I contribute to these problems?’ I recognized that my executive task focus did limit my ability to productively relate with colleagues and partners (and actually my family), and it did not allow me to explore who I was and what I really wanted to do with my life.

“I am still very passionate about business, I love strategy and high performance. Today, I am convinced that in order to achieve sustainable success, we have to apply the same standards of excellence to the human dimension.

“The corporate world is full of task-oriented, hard-working and ambitious executives. I want to work with those who are curious and open to integrate the We — and the I — dimensions at the service of a better It (results, performance). It is my purpose to help executives take their heart to work.”

Ekkehard holds an engineering degree from the University of Karlsruhe in Germany, a postgraduate degree in international management from the Université Paris Dauphine, and a doctorate degree in economics from the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.

Ekkehard lives in Switzerland with his wife and two children.

Bernhard has more than 16 years of professional experience in one of the world’s leading fast-moving consumer goods corporations. Having worked in different countries across Europe, he has management and leadership experience in the consumer goods and chemical industries, working with multinational/multiethnic teams. Most of his current clients are in the pharmaceutical, aerospace, fast-moving consumer goods and oil industries. After 16 years of corporate life, he decided to become an independent coach in early 2005.

In 2008, he joined Axialent as a freelancer for coaching, facilitation and training. In these years, he has been serving clients in different countries across Europe, delivering leadership programs in English and German. Over the years, he was also heavily involved in designing and customizing programs for Axialent clients.

In the globalization of businesses, he recognized great opportunities to support leaders through programs that are based on blended learning and deliver key elements live through virtual platforms such as WebEx training center or Adobe Connect.

Bernhard has worked as a coach and facilitator for multinational organizations such as Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Liebherr Aerospace, Airbus, Sanofi, Merz Pharma and Fresenius Kabi, among others.

The main focus of his work is individual and group coaching either in person or through virtual platforms. He is very committed to high standards of coaching, thus he holds the Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credential of the International Coach Federation (ICF). In his passion for professionalism in coaching, he supported the ICF over many years through voluntary work. Between October 2010 and October 2014, he was the president of ICF Germany.

Outside work, Bernhard spends time supporting the local community through volunteer work as well as working for the integration of refugees in Germany.

Albert Durig is a seasoned management consulting professional specializing in executive leadership development, cultural change management and strategic planning. Over the past two decades, he has worked with numerous leadership teams and developed long-term visions and short-term execution programming with senior-level leadership teams.

In the past, Albert held positions as president of United States operations for Axialent as well as chairman of Burson-Marsteller’s technology practice for both Latin America and the United States, director of Mexican operations for Retail Planning Associates, and general manager of L.I.A. Limited’s Caribbean operations.

Albert has published numerous articles in several countries, including the United States, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. His publishing and public speaking endeavors have focused on corporate communications, leadership in times of change and business agility.

Some other companies Albert has worked with include Microsoft, Yahoo!, Google, Motorola, VISA, Glidden, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), LAN, TAM, UNFPA, Hewlett-Packard, NCR, Sun Microsystems, SAP, Qualcomm, Comercial Mexicana, Banco Mexicano, BanPais, Banco Internacional, Banco del Sureste, Playtex, the Mexican Ministry of Culture, the Mexican Ministry of Tourism, the National Museum of American Art, a Smithsonian Institution, and the National Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Property.

Albert received his Bachelor of Arts degree in communications and his Master of Arts degree in sociology with an emphasis in statistics and research methodology from the University of Louisville. He is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Today, Albert lives with his wife and two children in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Michelle is an international culture consultant, executive coach and dynamic facilitator. She is a strategist on large-scale organizational change initiatives, partnering with senior executives and their teams to accelerate business results through organizational culture and leadership transformation. 

Michelle has 15 years of experience working with Fortune 500 companies, privately held companies and non-profit organizations across North and South America, Europe, and Asia.  She is a contributing author to the anthology, Compassion@Work: Creating Workplaces that Engage the Human Spirit.  She has worked with organizations such as Procter & Gamble, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, Lexmark, Western Union, Cisco, Cigna, Cardtronics, Nationwide Insurance, Brown-Forman, The Council of State Governments, Blue Grass Community Foundation, The Weekly Juicery and others. 

Michelle is a Master Certified Coach (MCC) credentialed through the International Coaches Federation. She is a graduate of the Coaches Training Institute’s intensive Leadership program.  She holds a Masters of Education in Curriculum Development from Lesley University.  Michelle is certified in Life Styles Inventory, Life Styles Inventory with Item Level Feedback (360), Organizational Culture Inventory, Organizational Effectiveness Inventory as well as extensive training in yoga, meditation and mindfulness practices.

Michelle began her career in multicultural education before transitioning to coaching, consulting and entrepreneurship. She is an award-winning teacher, yoga enthusiast and proud mother of two.

Timothy (Tim) has developed his professional career through more than 30 years in senior leadership positions, including 10 years as CEO, in the fields of consumer packaged goods, life sciences and management consulting.

Tim is a consultant at Axialent, as well as the managing partner at Efficax, a high-level executive coaching and consulting firm in Los Angeles, California and a senior partner at KC&D, a management-consulting firm focused on strategy and strategy execution. He specializes in providing solutions and coaching to top-level executives in industry-leading companies.

Tim is certified as an executive coach by the Hudson Institute of Coaching in Santa Barbara by ICI, CCL and ICF (ACC). He is an elected director (International Relations) of ICF Brazil.

In his roles as president at Ducoco Alimentos S.A. and business unit head for Medical Nutrition (Brazil at Novartis), Tim led organizational and divisional restructuring and change management. His management experience also includes serving as president of Bacardi-Martini do Brazil Ltda. and as general manager for Budweiser Brazil Ltda./Anheuser-Busch International, for four years each. In addition, Tim held a number of positions in business development, marketing, product management and sales early in his career.

Tim is a professor of leadership development and strategy at Insper and other leading business schools. He serves on the Board of Directors for Hospital Samaritano and ESPM Consult, among others.

With a Bachelor of Science in economics from Lehigh University, Tim also holds a Master of Business Administration in finance from New York University.

Tim is married and has two lovely daughters. He is fully dedicated to and extremely proud of this loving and caring family. In his free time, Tim enjoys running, reading, traveling and rooting for his favorite soccer and football teams.