Celebrating Dr Meredith Belbin

Aidan Matthews | Learning Programme Manager | Socitm

Aidan boasts a rich tapestry of over 30 years in learning and development. His extensive professional journey spans diverse sectors, including private enterprise, public service, and charitable organisations, both domestically and internationally. Aidan is expert in designing, developing, and delivering transformative learning events tailored for managers, leaders, and teams. His expertise includes communication skills, coaching, resilience, and emotional intelligence. Aidan has facilitated courses for Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) and the Chartered Management Institute (CMI). Aidan joined Socim with a mission: to contribute to the organisation's ascent as the go-to destination for members seeking to nurture and grow their organisations' talent.

Rhona Gibson FHEA | Senior Careers Adviser | University of Aberdeen

Rhona has extensive experience using Belbin’s student-facing GetSet reports to support student development, initially through the University’s co-curricular Leadership Academy, and more recently embedded within the curriculum to prepare students for work-based learning projects. Her work focuses on helping students better understand their strengths, work effectively in teams, and articulate their skills to employers. She will be sharing insights from this practice at the Graduate Futures Institute conference in July 2026 in Nottingham.

Rob Garner | UK Managing Partner | ClarusBlue Consulting Ltd

Rob is an expert business transformation leader dedicated to helping people and organisations thrive. He began his career in the global automotive industry, adopting "The Toyota Way" philosophy of continuous improvement and people-first leadership. Rob later scaled these principles across diverse environments – first by founding a successful tech consulting firm, and then by guiding global banking institutions through major cultural and operational shifts. Throughout his career, his core focus has remained building high-performing teams, streamlining systems and developing outstanding leaders.

John Athanasiou | Chief People Officer | Hearst

As Chief People Officer, John is responsible for designing and implementing the People strategy across Hearst UK’s business. With over 30 years of HR leadership experience, John has worked across both large corporations, including HarperCollins and Time Warner, as well as start-up scale-ups. He specialises in developing inclusive people strategies and fostering positive cultures that drive growth. John has been recognised with a number of industry awards in areas of Company Culture, DE&l and Learning & Development.

Robert Houghton | Learning and Development Director | STRABAG UK

Ahmed Aref | Learning and Development Manager | Jotun A/S

Ahmed manages learning and development initiatives globally with a strong focus on leadership and team effectiveness by designing and delivering in-person and digital learning experiences. These include blended programs, workshops, and interactive courses to support employees’ personal and professional growth.

Karen Hull | Associate Director, Office of Professional Education, Purdue Master of Engineering Management program | Purdue University

Karen is an academic and professional development advisor to rising engineering leaders in product, operations, analytics, manufacturing, consulting, and supply chain in all engineering disciplines. She has 12 years' experience in economic consulting and data analytics and brings her unique perspective to guiding engineers who are making a career pivot through graduate education in her role as Associate Director in Purdue University’s Master of Engineering Management program.

Lee Hall | Head of Learning & Development | Butcombe Group

Lee Hall is Head of Learning & Development at Butcombe Group, where he leads leadership and team development across the business. With a strong background in hospitality and people development, Lee has brought Belbin to life through practical, hands-on workshops and team sessions, embedding it into the culture to help teams better understand each other, strengthen collaboration, and improve performance.

Nilesh Tailor | Founder | Tailored Business Solutions (TBS)

Nilesh facilitates teams to improve their organisational effectiveness. He has international experience leading groups through Strategic Business Analysis, Continuous Improvement and Change, Team Development and Training. Additionally, he is certified as a Lean Sigma Practitioner and accredited to facilitate the Belbin Team Roles process, working with international, cross-functional teams.