Baroness Sue Campbell
former Chair of Youth Sport Trust
I recruited Colin to join the Board of YST’s wholly owned trading subsidiary as he had particular expertise and networks in Consumer Goods, eCommerce, Retail and the Healthcare/Sport sectors. He also had considerable International experience and we were considering broadening our geographical reach.
Colin worked for four years as a Board member attending regular meetings, always making a valuable contribution; his ‘mentoring’ style enabled him get close to his colleagues and also the broader working teams and this enabled him to make commercial contributions outside the Board. In particular Colin was able to provide support and coaching, facilitation, constructive challenge, independent commercial oversight, ideas and creativity.
Having made an excellent contribution I asked Colin to Chair the group which he undertook for the next 3 years; he led the Board meetings with sensitivity and insight. He was also able to bring a number of new people to the Board which brought greater eCommerce, Digital and Legal expertise. Needing to move home, he resigned after 7 years in post and we were very thankful for his valuable contribution over the previous 7 years.
Lindsay Forster
former Director at Aviva
I worked with Colin over a number of years, the combination of his extensive leadership experience, and his genuine interest, passion and curiosity for people made our coaching relationship hugely valuable.
Stewart Newton
President, Veritas Investment Management
Colin led my Sport/Healthcare Group over a 4 year period. We successfully purchased and integrated four businesses and then sold the business to a US Corp. His approach to the Management of people included extensive Mentoring of the Senior Team. This program certainly helped enable the team which in turn contributed to the growth and success of the business.
Veronika Kanska
April 21, 2023
Colin was one of my Business Tutors at University and I have to say we had an excellent learning experience. I found the wide ranging discussions really got my brain working especially as they were populated with numerous practical examples from Colin's career - he really brought the content to life for us. It was also good fun and I do believe his motivation to grow me (and the class) helped me achieve the best possible outcome. Well I did get a 1st, hey!
Sean Gogarty
former Director at Unilever
Colin and I worked together at Unilever running European Innovation centres. His insightful understanding of business, brands, consumers and marketing more generally enabled him to lead his team with great professionalism and success. He is energetic, challenging and always focussed on helping others to develop their competencies and skills. He was a supportive colleague across many European business initiatives.
Neil Butler
Owner and Finance Director, 3V Natural Foods
Colin acted as Non-Exec Chair of our business for over 6 years. He brings tremendous insight around the consumer, innovation and brand agenda together with a professional board/business process. His patience and sensitivity with people helped enable a real value added outcome for us all. He worked closely with the executive board to support a very successful business sale after 3 years during which CAGR was greater than 50%.
Stela Petkova
August 27, 2022
Colin is an exceptional tutor who knows how to motivate his students. His way of teaching is really interesting and engaging. He is giving many life examples which helps us understand different theories. I really enjoyed his classes. Thank you Colin for all the knowledge you gave me, it was always fun in your classes.
Mark Eade
former Operations Director at Stericycle
Colin and I worked together over a number of years, his passion for enabling people to develop and grow through mentoring was infectious. It led to the introduction of a company-wide Mentoring Scheme in which all the senior team were actively involved. Looking back I'm sure it played a major role in us achieving the best engagement scores ever in the US Corp with whom we worked.
Sue McIntosh
Head of Marketing, 3V
I have worked with Colin over the past 8 years in a Mentoring Capacity. As the Senior Marketing leader in my organization I often feel rather ‘alone’; my colleagues are professionally very astute, but they are not Marketing experts. Colin has extensive Marketing experience from many categories and in a sense I have used him as my ‘Marketing Mentor’; I am able to test and refine my own Marketing thinking which has been invaluable in developing my own expertise and ensuring I’m really on message when with the Board. It has also built my personal confidence.
Roger Rawlinson
Coach and Mentor, Elite Coaching
As a professional Coach and Mentor myself I enjoyed working with Colin over 3 years. He developed a Mentoring scheme across his organization and led this from the top with real passion and vision. This enabled the Board and the Leadership Team to develop their own Mentoring skills and the approach was cascaded through the organization. The outcome was a really engaged group of highly motivated individuals, and the business results followed!
Miriam Grmu
August 13, 2021
Colin was one of the most engaging tutors throughout my Degree at the University of West London. His classes were very interesting and fun that I never missed one class. He was also very helpful and gave constructive feedback for my SME report drafts. He was very keen on having our cameras on during our online classes, with the intention that it would help us prepare for future professional meetings, such as interviews. Although, I dreaded it at the beginning, with time I got used to it and became comfortable sharing my camera. On our report's result, Colin shared his feedback through a voicenote, which is one of the many things that make him stand out to me, as a tutor. That shows genuine care and interest for students. Lastly, thank you Colin for such a memorable class.
Sergiu Ghenov
January 10, 2021
An amazing lecturer! Full of charisma and positive energy! Had massive pleasure being a student of Colin!
Carole Harvey
Group Finance Director, University of Nottingham
Colin was a fellow Non Exec Director on the UoNSU Company Board. His commercial insight and marketing experience was hugely valuable to the Board. He was also generous with his time and very encouraging to our student board members.
Ross Matthews
CMO, Awaze
I’ve worked with Colin for over 12 years and …… learned a huge amount from him. He has a unique perspective, having led some of the 1st wave of digital and ecommerce marketing teams for large international brands. As a mentor, Colin helped me to develop a clear understanding of leadership values and an approach that has proved invaluable as I’ve led larger, multi-disciplinary teams across different businesses.
…he believes in the ’mentee’ finding the solutions within, essentially their own voice, it is a good angle and chimes well with the current ‘inner belief’ movement being promoted by the SAS Who Dares Wins team on C4.
Mr Kevin Fear
Headmaster, Nottingham High School
Colin is an excellent coach/mentor. He took his time to understand me and my ways of working and was superb at encouraging and supporting me to tackle issues which I had previously prevaricated over. We covered a great deal of ground in the sessions we had together and by asking me challenging questions helped me to find solutions to many issues. He was fun to work with, always so professional but engaging and empathetic too.
Georgie Whitaker
former Senior Account Director at Stericycle
Colin and I worked together for a number of years and I have always valued the Marketing, Consumer and Customer perspectives I was able to embrace. I grew as a Marketing, Communication and Business professional through both the Mentoring and direct line management I received from Colin. What I valued most from Colin, was instead of him telling me what I needed to do, he often just gave food for thought allowing me to figure things out for myself without been told directly what to do. Of course there were occasions where Colin to be a bit more direct, which he balanced very well.
William Nimbs
May 5, 2020
Colin's classes are of the kind where many of the students want to stay past the schedule. Which says a lot about the environment he manages to create. Very inspiring and dedicated to his pupils.
Russell Smart
Commercial Director, 3V Natural Foods
As our Non-Exec Chair Colin helped support and guide our business from a revenue of c£6m to over £30m in 6 years. He then worked with us through to a very successful Business sale. He approaches business challenges in a measured and strategic way, always focussing on the Customer/Consumer and ensured we were asking the most important questions of ourselves and the business. It is at times a tough balance to strike as a non-executive; Colin was able to guide and be non-directive whilst always making sure the senior team achieved progress and positive outcomes. In addition he mentored several members of the exec which helped them develop professionally.
Paul Fenton
Partner, Cunningtons Lawyers
As the managing partner of a large National form of Solicitors, I served on the board of the Youth Sport Direct Ltd. as a Non-Exec. Director, which is where I met Colin Webb.
Seldom does one encounter, in business, such a dynamic, forward thinking, committed and strategically-aware personality. His “can do/must do” style was inspirational to the Board where his focus on sales, realistic but aspirational targets and the “bottom line”, soon led to his elevation to the “Chair”, where he continued to steer the Company through a very successful period; in particular, providing phenomenal resources not only to schools but to the 2012 British Olympians, whose success was equally reflected in the contribution made by Colin. As one seasoned Board member recounted: “Every Board of Directors should have a Colin Webb.”