Melanie Franks is the Owner and Principal Consultant of Sparkhouse Consultants with over 15 years HR experience in the UK and mainland Europe. Prior to forming Sparkhouse Consultants Melanie worked in Financial Services in the UK and South Africa after a brief career in fashion.

Melanie's expertise is in HR Strategy, Change Management, Employee Relations, Regulatory Compliance and Policy and Process. This varied experience has provided Melanie with expert communication and negotiation skills, employment law knowledge and a commercial approach when advising companies.

Melanie's approach enables individuals to develop skills and behaviours that drive successful business practices, enhance employee satisfaction and improve company performance. She is passionate about good leadership and believes that encouraging leaders to think practically and engage employees at all levels is the winning formula for a satisfied and productive workforce which will support business growth and profitability.

Cathryn is a Reward Specialist with over ten years experience in this area previously having worked as an HR Generalist. Her early career was largely in the Financial Services Sector but more recently has worked with a range of different sectors including not for profit, local government and utilities.

Cathryn believes in using Reward as part of the overall people strategy to strengthen a company's ability to attract, retain and motivate employees through appropriate and affordable pay and reward plans. An experienced and expert professional, she is used to working with Managers at all levels in achieving results and developing solutions through a true partnership approach.

Mark Collier is a successful business leader and CEO with over 25 years of international experience in the financial services, asset management, new technology, new media and healthcare industries. His career with leading global and Fortune 500 companies has provided him with a rare mix of business management, strategic management, people management and financial management skills.

Today Mark has a diverse portfolio career as a company director, corporate strategy consultant, corporate finance adviser, executive coach, business mentor and entrepreneur:-

• Advises and consults on business, marketing and communication strategy, capital raising, acquisitions, diversification and joint ventures.
• Works with high growth companies as a strategic adviser
• Mentor / Business Coach to senior executives in both the third and private sectors

He has worked extensively in both the USA and Europe where he has sat on the boards of regulated US, UK, Hong Kong and EU investment and healthcare companies.

As an entrepreneur he founded, financed and sold two new technology companies (Investia and FundsHub) and works today with a range of companies and their founders to secure their goals.

Mark has a proven ability to operate in complex organisations that require diplomacy, influence and cross-cultural team building. He has significant expertise in building, developing and leading winning teams and enterprises, undertaking successful turnarounds, negotiating mergers and acquisitions and securing successful venture capital and joint venture partnerships.

Lynda Goncalves, a senior consultant at Sparkhouse Consultants with over 14 years HR experience mainly within the Public Sector. She has during this time provided expert HR support to a range of organisations; SMEs, not for profit and blue chip.

Lynda's expertise lies mainly within Employee Relations and Change Management. Her experience of advising Managers and Business Owners dealing with complex employee relations issues ensures compliance with employment legislation and good practice and is provided in a practical and business focussed manner.

Lynda's approach ensures that businesses are equipped with the knowledge and ability to drive a business forward, by managing complex issues fairly and consistently ensures that the performance of the business and its individuals are maximised. Lynda is passionate about people as they are the most valuable resource in a business, and believes that people are the key to gaining sustained growth and profit.

Annette Boyne is a Senior Consultant at Sparkhouse Consultants with over 20 years HR systems experience in the UK and mainland Europe. Prior to joining Sparkhouse Consultants, Annette worked in the Travel and Financial Services sector with both UK and EMEA remits.

Annette's chief areas of expertise are HR Systems, Data Management and Data Validation. She also has wide experience of Compensation Policy design and administration, Performance Management systems and Data Privacy / Compliance for UK and Europe.

Her approach can be summed up as "Ensuring the systems, processes and data flows are operating to the highest possible standards frees leaders and employees to engage in key business priorities".

After a period as a training consultant for Rank Xerox, Christopher Boyne spent more than 20 years as a teacher and researcher in Information Science at the University of Brighton, and is one of the founders of the Human Centred Systems movement in the UK. Dr Boyne offers consultancy insights into training and communications solutions to a range of contemporary HR and management problems.