International Women’s Day 2021 #ChooseToChallenge

Sam has been at pro-manchester for 17 years and has been an integral part of its growth from a small, effective membership network to a sophisticated business development organisation. A firm part of the Manchester business community, Sam is a familiar face to most, constantly and efficiently working to bring businesses together in the city region.

As chief executive, Sam is responsible for the organisation’s corporate engagement as well managing all existing key partnerships and member relationships. Sam manages the day-to-day running and strategic direction of the business alongside Nicola McCormick – COO. They run the organisation together as equal partners with shared responsibility.

Sam also sits on the board of trustees for Forever Manchester, a charity that supports community activity across Greater Manchester. As well as this, Sam also sits on the Greater Manchester Economic Resilience Board, the Greater Manchester Organisational Representatives Group, the Manchester Business Sounding Board, the Bee Net Zero Advisory Board and the Manchester tech hub Board.

In 2019 Sam also became the Regional Deputy Chair of TheCityUK, where she helps to engage the national body on a regional level on behalf of individuals in the financial and professional services industries. In 2022 Sam was featured in the inaugural Top 50 North West tech Transformers list complied by BusinessCloud

Nichola sits on the National Executive Committee of the Forum of Insurance Lawyers (“FOIL”) and is a FOIL’s representative on the Law Society Council and on the Law Society Civil Justice Committee.

She has been involved with pro-manchester for a number of years and very much enjoys her involvement on the Committees she sits on and is also the Chair of the pro-women group which forms part of the pro-manchester EDI committee.

Lisa is a highly experienced voice, personal impact and presentation skills trainer. With a career spanning over 20 years, Lisa’s work has ranged from coaching actors, professionals to politicians and C-Suite across the public and private sectors both in the UK and internationally.

Clients include: JP Morgan, CVC Capital, EY, Barclays, Cisco, Amazon, Microsoft, AstraZeneca, Shell, Bloomberg TV, CNN, Sky, Harry Winston, BIS, NHS, Metropolitan Police, MOD and the Home Office.

Lisa achieved her PGDVS in Voice Studies at the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama. She is a Master Practitioner of NLP and is heavily influenced by Nonviolent Communication, which provides a rich, eclectic mix to her training.

Lisa has a particular passion for empowering women. She has appeared as an expert on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour to discuss effective use of voice for women in political and leadership positions.

Sheelagh is an internationally recognised voice, speech and presentation skills trainer. With 35 years experience as an executive coach in UK, Europe, Canada and the United States, Sheelagh’s clients include Oscar nominees, politicians, judges, CEOs and the presidents of international companies.

Sheelagh has an extensive background in preparing clients for political forum, television debate, radio interview, speeches and presentations. One of her key strengths is her ability to review both the written and visual elements of presentations, ensuring that the structure, content and key messages remain central.

Sheelagh co-designed and is the lead tutor for RADA Business’ Executive Presence for Women programme. Her TEDx talk for TED Global Women’s week can be viewed here.

Sheelagh has a Postgraduate Degree in Voice Studies from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She is also a qualified teacher and executive coach holding the Certificate in Professional Coaching from Henley Business School. Sheelagh is a practitioner of NLP and a trainer for Dale Carnegie, Canada.