Ivan Schofield

Before qualifying as a coach I held board-level leadership roles for 20 years in a wide variety of stakeholder environments and geographies, mostly as MD / CEO. My today aim is to help leaders along their version of that journey; to become more effective and impactful in their roles; to derive greater enjoyment from their jobs and to lead richer, purposeful lives with reduced stress.

In parallel to my executive coaching practice, I am an active board member with public and privately owned companies. This keeps the work “real” and relevant both for me and my clients, facilitating an exploration of perspectives from “all sides of the boardroom table”.

My experience and research shows that consistent performance (and happiness) comes not only from taking care of ourselves and developing our leadership skills but also from attending to the System or context around us. My approach therefore involves looking at each of these areas (System, Skills and Self) and how they may be interacting.

Because every individual and situation is different, I tend to work 1-1 with clients over 6 to 12 months in a tailored manner rather than following a fixed programme or method. However the nature of the work invariably means that psychometrics and in depth stakeholder interviews are an integral part of the process.

The work involves helping people at an individual whilst also attending the effective management of the context or system around them. We look at anything that comes up but common themes include:

  • Exploring the impact of communication style

  • Coping with the pressure and potential loneliness of senior leadership

  • Overcoming self-doubt; building authority

  • Challenges related to workload / letting go and delegating effectively

  • Driving accountability in appropriate ways

  • Developing leadership style and approach as the business scales

  • Building board confidence: maintaining alignment and managing expectations

  • Exploring systemic issues and how they relate to organisational effectiveness

  • Working with senior teams on their effectiveness

An important part of the work is to provide a confidential and safe sounding board for clients to discuss the issues at hand or test positions or approaches that they are formulating.

Coaching Qualifications and Accreditations

  • Meyler Campbell Mastered (2016)

  • Human Synergistics Life Styles Inventory (2017)

  • Transformational Presence For Leaders and Coaches (2017-2018)

  • BPS Level 1 Accredited CBT Practitioner Foundation Stage (2019)

  • Red2Blue Performance under pressure (2019)

  • Diploma in Supervision (2021)

  • Hogan Assessments Certified Practitioner (2021)

  • Cert. Relational Organisational Gestalt (2021)

  • Dip Advanced Gestalt (2022)

  • APECs master accredited coach (2025)

    Executive Career Summary

  • Unilever Plc (1989-1994)

  • LEK Consulting (1996-1999)

  • Yum Brands Inc. (1999- 2015). CFO UK / Europe, CEO France, CEO Western Europe

  • itsu (2016 - 2017) CEO

    Non Executive Board Roles

  • Hollywood Bowl Group Plc NED

  • Thunderbird Fried Chicken Chairman, NED

  • Buffalo Grill (France) Chairman

  • Energie Fitness NED