Our Team
Jack Russell
Jack Russell is one of Great Britain's leading Personal Development Coaches in both an indoor and outdoor environment and has worked in the field of Human Potential and motivation since 1986. Jack has a degree in Outdoor Recreation with Psychology, is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society a Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming and an Insights Discovery Practitioner.
He is a Level 5 Kayak Coach and has obtained many outdoor qualifications. Jack has coached Royalty, Olympic Athletes, Military, Police, Polar Explorers, Blue Chip Companies and Individual top achievers. Jack's passion is to help make Britain a more positive nation.
Liz Gartside
Liz Gartside has worked with Jack for over 5 years and is the backbone of PDC Inspiration Ltd ensuring that everything runs smoothly. Highly organised and efficient many of you will have spoken to her on the phone as she holds the office together in terms of bookings, finances and programme logistics. Having run a number of businesses and with a broad background in HR, account management and finance she effortlessly handles all that is thrown at her, allowing Jack to focus on the bigger picture.
Steve Garrett
Steve's first career was as a Royal Navy Sea King helicopter pilot after which he worked as an IT consultant involved with projects in the NHS and the private sector. He now runs his own marine business in Devon and works as a commercial skipper during the summer months. Steve uses his considerable experience working with teams to develop their communication and dynamics. He is also the PDC task consultant.
Anna Thompson
An NLP Practitioner and a Coaches Training Institute trained coach, Anna is an experienced and talented coach. She is passionate about unlocking individual and team potential. Anna puts together many of the PDC programmes as well as facilitating and coaching on the courses. She is passionate about helping others to implement a way forward, to increase personal and business effectiveness. Her approach is collaborative, questioning and action orientated, and is tailored to each individual or group.
Philippa Arding
Philippa has worked with Jack for over 20 years and is an inspiration to everyone she works with. Having been involved in the design and delivery of personal development, management training and leadership courses since 1985, working with an impressive portfolio of international business clients, Philippa is an extraordinarily talented and experienced coach with an amazing ability to bring out the best in people. Her expedition experience includes leading young people and professional clients trekking in Kenya (Mt. Kenya), Pakistan, Poland, Peru, Tibet (Everest base camp), Ecuador and Morrocco. She is a keen climber, enjoying British rock, Alpine mixed, and Scottish winter climbing, and is a qualified Climbing Instructor and European Mountain Leader. She is a keen environmentalist, cycling from Alaska to Brazil in 1988/89, studying projects for the WWF and was also a very successful amateur jump jockey for 17 years.
Jane Gilpin
Jane's background is in personnel, development and marketing. She has worked for some of the West Country's top businesses, implementing systems and developing marketing strategies. Jane is passionate about people and the realisation of their goals. She has travelled extensively in South East Asia, South America, and Africa and has recently returned from Namibia where she was working for an expedition company, training and developing their staff and supporting their clients.
Phil Way
With a background rooted in a rich variety of personal and professional experience, Phil has been involved with education, training and development in a variety of contexts throughout his career. He possesses a potent mix of relevant academic qualifications and 'down to earth', practical skills. A growing interest in the business environment led to involvement in developing tailored learning experiences. Initially working in a supportive role on leadership and team programmes, Phil underpinned his theoretical training and increased his knowledge of corporate training and development issues. Now he has a wide range of practical experience, gained with consultancies working in a variety of multinational companies. Phil runs his own management training company 'Way Ahead Training and Consultancy'.
Nick Arding OBE
An extremely competent leadership consultant, Nick uses his experience of leading teams in extreme situations and transfers it into relevant learning for the international businesses he now works with. Following a career in the marines he led the 2003 Royal Navy & Royal Marines expedition to Mount Everest, during which two members of the team reached the summit and the remainder carried out a remarkable high altitude rescue, saving the lives of two injured climbers. Nick holds the Mountain Instructor Certificate and International Mountain Leader Award. He enjoys climbing and sea kayaking in his spare time.
Justin Featherstone
MC
Justin specialises in developing values-based leadership and organisational culture. A former infantry officer, he served on operations in Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Congo and commanded a Company in Southern Iraq in 2004. His last posting was as the principal leadership staff officer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He was awarded the Military Cross for his gallantry and leadership in Iraq and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He is a member of the Alpine Club, an Accredited Practitioner of the Institute for Outdoor Learning and has achieved the City & Guilds Membership Award in Leadership and Management (MCGI). He is currently studying for an MA in Leadership Studies at Exeter University.
Tracey Penna
A Senior Instructor for one of the largest Outdoor Adventure Centres in Britain, Tracey takes time out to work with us on our leadership training programmes. With her wealth of knowledge on training and people management, in addition to her bubbly enthusiasm, she is a real asset to any course. Tracey is a very experienced and qualified trainer and team development coach.
