People

Our core team

Mike Vessey

Mike has 30 years’ experience in in-house and consultancy roles. His knowledge and enthusiasm mean he often finds himself at the heart of his clients’ organisations, becoming a trusted sounding board for CEOs and executive teams. His clients value his skills in designing great programmes and processes, then bringing them to life. He creates real momentum and buzz around technically robust solutions, and is as passionate about his clients’ businesses as they are.

His career began at London Underground, where he gained a broad foundation of HR and leadership skills. He then joined SHL as a consultant, eventually heading up the consultancy division. This sharpened his commercial instincts, without ever letting him forget that it’s people who drive an organisation’s success.

Carol Jefkins

Carol is a chartered psychologist with 20 years’ experience in assessment and development. Her areas of expertise include competency design, assessment and development centres, simulation exercises, executive assessment, 360° feedback and development planning. Carol is also an experienced and successful designer and facilitator of leadership, management and personal development programmes and team events.

Carol balances best practice with pragmatism, developing creative solutions that fit with an organisation’s culture. She is in her element drawing out insightful themes from in-depth analysis – whether that be designing competencies, creating bespoke simulations or helping individuals and teams identify strengths and develop their potential. She has worked as an in-house and external consultant with industries including financial services, telecommunications, media, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and leisure, as well as central government and public sector agencies.

David Sanders

David joined MDV in January 2020 to head up our growth strategy. He brings a breadth of experience in senior leadership roles in strategy, operations, business development, HR, resource management and improving business performance.

David has developed and delivered numerous strategic, operational and talent performance initiatives for a number of private sector, business education and governing bodies in both inhouse leadership and consultant roles. These include establishing leadership programmes, appraisal systems, implementing talent development and performance programmes, Diversity & Inclusion plans, developing HR procedures for SME’s and leading resource management teams.

David represented Great Britain for 13 years in the sport of canoeing, winning numerous World, European and National Championship titles. Retiring from international sport, he moved to provide strategic development and operational support to Sport England and the British Judo Association, during which time, he led multiple medal winning teams at Olympic, Paralympic, World and European Championship events.

At London Business School, David was a member of their Senior management team, delivering cross-organisational initiatives improving their performance and relationships with stakeholders including faculty, students, executive education participants, staff and suppliers. Most recently, he was Chief Operating Officer at Wilson Wraight management consultancy as well as a consultant to other owner managed businesses.

Working with senior leaders, David understands the complex issues they face. He seeks practical and commercial solutions to help leaders respond to their challenges and effectively adapt to changing business situations.

He currently has an interest in: Talent performance, adult development, the digitisation of learning resources and mental health and wellbeing in the workplace.

Emma Reed

Emma is an experienced consultant who started her career in industry with Thames Water and Ford Motor Company where roles leading streams of large Business Change programmes sparked her interest in the people aspects of delivering change. She moved into consultancy in 2003, joining Hay Group, a global management consultancy with a focus on helping organisations to deliver their strategy through people. During her 6 years as a consultant, Emma built her expertise across a wide range of areas varying from development of HR strategy to Organisational Design to Management Development. In her last year at Hay Group, she was responsible for managing the Financial Services consulting area of the business. Emma has spent the past 5 years running her own business, focussing on helping organisations to manage their talent, particularly at very senior levels. Emma stands out for her ability to quickly get to grips with client organisations and their needs and to develop bespoke solutions that meet these; from technical, project management and commercial perspectives. She thrives on delivering results in fast moving pressurised environments.

Kate Oliver

Kate is a chartered occupational psychologist with more than 20 years’ experience in consultancy. Her passion is for working with leaders in organisations to help them to grow, engage others and deliver through change. She combines in-depth psychological expertise with a pragmatic, results-focused approach. Kate brings to her work an ability to connect with people, along with the insight and courage to quickly identify the crux of an issue. She stands out because of her energy, sharp mind, impact and fun.

Kate has held senior positions in a number of consultancies, including SHL UK and Australia. Over the years she has worked with a wide range of organisations, in the private, public and third sectors, both in the UK and globally. She is experienced in using a vast range of psychometric tools and is also a fully qualified and BPS registered coaching psychologist.

Joy Palfery

Joy is a chartered occupational psychologist and registered coaching psychologist with a passion for helping organisations to get the right people into senior roles and to support leaders to realise their full potential. She brings deep insight and technical expertise, drawing on a wide range of assessment approaches, psychometrics and coaching techniques. Clients feel in safe hands with her good humour, pragmatic business focus and supportive challenge. Mindful of the privilege of having a window into people’s lives, she brings respect and perspective to her work.

She has worked in consultancy since the mid ‘90s, with a broad spectrum of public, private and third sector clients in the UK and globally thanks to remote technology. Her work spans a range of talent management, leadership development and organisational development activities.