Our hand picked team of consultants at Castalia have coached and trained some of the most senior level corporate PAs from the UK, Dubai, South Africa, India, Holland, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Russia, Nigeria, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia. We run our programmes globally in order to take our experience to PAs all over the world. We actively support and build strong links with other organisations who are dedicated to the professional development of Executive Assistants and PAs.
We are a team deeply committed to ensuring the complex development needs of senior level assistants are met and bring together all of our PAs under the umbrella of The 100 Network; a truly global social network of senior level PAs to continue to exchange ideas and share best practice.
Susie Barron-Stubley, Managing Director
Susie is a highly respected and sought after coach and trainer and has trained thousands of PAs around the world. She has a passion matched by few for the professional and personal development of PAs and has worked with some of the highest level and influential Executive PAs and Assistants in the corporate, government and celebrity fields. She is a regular speaker at international PA conferences and summits and regularly writes articles for national publications on the professional development of Executive PAs and 2010 sees her judging the prestigious The Times/Hays PA of the Year Awards alongside Karen Brady. She has recently released the very first set of training DVDs exclusively designed for Personal Assistants and is currently training PAs as far afield as South Africa and Shanghai.
Susie herself spent 10 years as a PA and Executive Assistant before re-training as an Executive Coach in order to use her extensive experience to support others to reach their highest potential in this difficult and complex role. She has supported high profile public figures and corporate leaders and has liaised with institutions from British Royal Households to global business executives. Her unique insight into the world of the Executive PA brings a distinct quality and depth to her specialist development programmes.
Susie Barron Stubley speaking at The Times/Hays PA of the Year 2010 Awards
Gerry Hyde, Executive Assistant to Susie Barron-Stubley
Gerry is, without doubt, the most important person on the Castalia team!! Whist trying to keep a sometimes over enthusiastic Susie on the straight and narrow and in the right place at the right time, she charms clients, consultants and suppliers and ensures the smooth day-to-day running of Castalia and ensures everybody has the right information at the right time and is in the right place!
Gerry has over twenty years experience working in corporate and with SMEs in the capacity of Office Manager and Executive Personal Assistant. Her background includes industries from retail, facilities management and the training arena. Prior to joining Castalia Gerry worked for ten years for a Sales and Management Development organisation and this has given her a vast knowledge of the training industry and complements her creative and organisational skills. Gerry is always keen to help others, is extremely reliable and enjoys being involved in new projects. Her organisation skills are captured in the seamless day-to-day running of Castalia.
Lindsay Thompson, Associate Director of Coaching
Lindsay has a corporate background with 11 years’ experience supporting at Board-level within global organisations including ConocoPhillips and Deutsche Bank. Fluent in German and now rusty in French, her background in languages has always provided an added perspective to Lindsay’s work, particularly with regard to communication and understanding – not only between foreign cultures but also between management levels and groups within the workplace. Lindsay believes that coaching as a management style is crucial for the future of business as it encourages input, creativity and growth, fostering understanding and allowing us to learn from each other. Ultimately, great coaching has much wider implications as the ‘ripple effect’ carries our learning and respect for others outward, beyond the people immediately surrounding us.
Carolyn Gilligan, Senior Training Consultant
Carolyn joined Castalia in 2006 as our senior Executive PA Training Consultant. Her area of specialism is supporting senior level Corporate PAs to develop their social and business skills and leads our exclusive one-day public training programme on Business Etiquette and Protocol for Corporate and Private House PAs. Carolyn brings a wealth of experiences to our clients; including her experience of supporting many high profile individuals in private and public organisations herself. She is a respected speaker at many major PA Conferences and Seminars and is the author of 'The Role of the Executive Secretary', and is currently writing a series of handbooks covering a wide range of topics addressing the development needs of Executive PAs. Lucy Blenkinsopp
Having enjoyed a successful career in the fashion industry and as a model, Lucy is using her considerable talents to the benefit of Senior PAs and now works as a qualified Image Consultant. Lucy specialises in supporting senior PAs and EAs to present themselves appropriately to operate with impact and flair at Executive level. Lucy's ethos is based on the proposition ‘Be the Best you Can’ and understands that it is, at times, a challenge for senior PAs to demonstrate the authority and responsibility they hold within the organisation. Presenting yourself in the appropriate style and business dress to fit your own personality and organisation will take you a long way in achieving that goal.
