Our team.
Rich Adams
Rich is a seasoned leadership development expert with a distinguished career spanning diverse sectors, including energy, management consultancy and the Armed Forces.
His leadership journey began at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where he received world-class officer training. As a commissioned officer in the British Army, he led soldiers during active operations, honing his leadership abilities in high-pressure environments.
A self-confessed culture nerd, Rich has studied all sorts of organisations from sports teams to Michelin-starred kitchens to find out what makes the best cultures stand out and how these help the best to perform. As a leadership development expert, Rich is passionate about coaching, teaching and empowering others.
Rachel Clark
Rachel is a strategic leader, coach, and facilitator with deep experience in guiding organisations through change.
Having held executive and non-executive board roles across health, education, and the third sector, Rachel brings extensive expertise in strategy, innovation, and organisational development.
Passionate about people, Rachel thrives on building trust as the foundation for meaningful transformation. She is dedicated to unlocking the potential of individuals, teams, and organisations, empowering them to navigate complexity and drive lasting impact.
Fiona Mack
Fiona began her career in financial services, becoming Head of Research & Insight at Fidelity International before transitioning into customer insight and experience consulting. There, she saw firsthand how great leadership transforms teams and organisations.
Passionate about helping leaders reach their potential, Fiona combines deep expertise with a results-driven approach. As our resident measurement expert, she ensures our programs deliver tangible outcomes.
With experience as both a leader and consultant, Fiona brings a unique perspective on what it takes to develop exceptional leadership.
Jes Smith
Jes has over 30 year’s experience in leadership, culture and organisational development consulting. After establishing a leadership career in financial services in the UK, Jes moved into the world of learning and development with the global consulting firm Tack TMI in the early 2000’s. During this time, Jes played a leading role in designing and delivering global change and transformation projects with clients including Royal Mail, BT Global Services and Microsoft.
In 2007 Jes moved to New Zealand where he has continued to design and deliver innovative leadership learning and development projects across Australasia, including major client projects with HSBC, Vodafone and IAG.
Jes established Journey-Smiths and Leadership Boost in 2018, who specialise in bite-sized, micro-learning solutions for leaders. Today Journey-Smiths delivers to clients in New Zealand, the UK and the US.
Jes is a passionate and engaging facilitator and speaker, who brings energy and fun to every interaction, and at the same time delivers powerful results.
Bex Grace
Bex has spent twenty years honing her craft of organisational development & culture, talent management, executive coaching and designing leadership development programmes.
Bex has lived in the UK, Middle East and New Zealand and worked with industries ranging from entertainment to oil and gas, retail to growing kiwifruit (and everything in-between!). Bex believes leadership is a universal language and draws from all her experiences to shape her leadership conversations today.
Bex works closely with Jes offering the popular Leadership Boost programmes to organisations across NZ.
Bex has a husband and three boys who keep her grounded, laughing and fulfilled. When she’s not with them she’s usually outside swimming, cycling or running – living her mantra “Healthy Body, Healthy Mind”. She says that, next to good coffee, “swimming in the sea is one of the best things our world has to offer”.