Emma Weber BA (Hons) ACC LCA
Founder and Director of Vivat®

Emma’s development of the Turning Learning into Action® program is a culmination of many years working in management and as an executive coach. 

Graduating with an honours degree from Leeds University, Emma’s career started in the competitive retail industry as a buying and merchandising specialist with leading retailers such as Next PLC and Debenhams. 

She held responsibility for budgets in excess of £10 million.  With Emma as strategist and coach, her team exceeded all performance expectations and set a new benchmark, which helped drive the business strongly forward.

Emma moved into management consulting and executive coaching, where she put into practice the lessons she had learned during her retailing career about the importance of fostering behavioural change to supplement training and development activities.  Now one of the youngest accredited coaches in Australia, Emma holds the respected International Coach Federation’s ACC qualification.

Excited by the results she achieved while coaching senior executives in the UK, Emma established her own business, Vivat®.  Now based in Sydney, but maintaining an office in London, Emma is committed to helping clients achieve demonstrably better results from training activities, through the support programs she continues to develop.

Deb King Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing
Vivat® Associate

Deb King is an enthusiastic and inspiring coach.  She is committed to assisting individuals ‘go beyond’, enabling them to stretch themselves beyond their current thinking to create significant change. Deb brings to her work with Vivat® the belief that old dogs can learn new tricks and create exceptional results in the process.

An experienced executive coach and trainer, Deb works as an Associate for Evolution Learning and Open Door Coaching Group. Most recently Deb has co-facilitated a successful series of the new Certificate IV in Business and Workplace Coaching ensuring that her skills and expertise in the coaching arena can be shared with those working in the corporate space.

As well as being an accredited coach with the Coaching Academy of Australia, Deb holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Marketing) and Small Business Management Qualifications. Prior to running her own business, her roles have included National Promotions Manager for Buspak Advertising, coordinating teams of promotional staff around Australia; Manager and Licensee of several top London venues; nightclub founder in Zakynthos, Greece; and Marketing Manager for two London Restaurants.

In her free time Deb is an active community supporter through both her work with the International Coach Federation (most recently as Membership Secretary for the Sydney Chapter 2005-2006) and her fundraising activities, spear-heading last year’s Rendezvous Expo that raised $30,000 for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
In addition, Deb is also a presenter of the ‘Possibilities’ Radio Show on community radio 2SSR.

Maree McKeown BBSc (Hons), Dip Ed, ACC
Vivat® Associate

Maree is a dynamic coach with global and local coaching experience. Her clients describe her as inspirational, action focused and highly skilled in her craft.

In her role as regional manager and lead trainer for a global  coach training
company, Maree has worked with Coles Myer, Monash University, QBE, EDS and ABC Radio. She has been influential in the development of the training company with involvement in project design, IP advances, sales and brand enhancement.

Maree has worked in business development and education in Australia and Germany. She is experienced in team management and communication and holds certificates in business planning, operations and management.

Maree believes that Turning Learning into Action® is the fundamental next step in increasing the effectiveness of training and is passionate about her involvement in the program.

Based in Melbourne with her partner and young family, Maree loves to embrace life and believes health and happiness come from determination, hard work, self belief and life balance.

Sandra Makdessi
Vivat® Associate

Sandra Makdessi believes that we are all capable of creating success, yet sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in our busy lives and lose sight of commitments we have made to ourselves. Just as great leaders and top athletes have someone to support them and help them to continue to succeed Sandra sees her role supporting those who attend training in a similar way. Her aim is to support, encourage and push participants to achieve their goals and create sustainable change as well as great results.

Sandra Makdessi was engaged in the corporate sector for twenty years, including 5 years with CB Richard Ellis as a Business Information Systems Analyst. Her strengths lie in her knowledge of business, commitment to driving desired outcomes and her good humour. The diversity of roles that Sandra performed enabled her to develop outstanding skills in communication, training and systems management. Her most recent role involved working with business vision and goals, in consultation with the directors, senior management and end users. Her coaching techniques were invaluable in drawing out requirements and effectively communicating with personnel across all levels and cultures throughout the Asia Pacific region.

Sandra is the current vice president of the International Coach Federation Australasia – NSW Chapter, and studying towards a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Psychology, at the University of Western Sydney. She also provides pro-bono executive coaching to an executive of a not for profit charity organisation.

Marion Langford Bus, Grad Dip. Employment Relations, Grad. Certificate in Counselling, MBTI Practitioner, Buzan Licensed Instructor in Mind Mapping®
Vivat® Associate

Marion Langford is an enthusiastic and personable coach with the dynamic ability to inspire and assist others to achieve their goals. She aims to help others reach their full potential, whether working in a group situation or in a one to one client relationship, by providing practical skills and leading technology.  Marion is adept at articulating the messages that others want or need to hear, at the same time reminding them of their mission and values.  All of this, she achieves in a supportive and positive atmosphere of respect and cooperation.

Marion works with groups or individuals to develop their communication, thinking, leadership, creative and personal skills drawing on her knowledge and experience gained from over 14 years of experience working in a global corporate environment with Pricewaterhouse Coopers including Human Resources and Counselling.

Marion is a strong advocate of Johann von Goethe’s belief… “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it…”  Her uniqueness comes from her ability to inspire others to develop their potential and to build courage in others to pursue their dreams, whether at a corporate or individual level.  She matches this enthusiasm by equipping individuals with the tools and the attitude to succeed.

From her work in the area of Mind Mapping®, Marion is very aware of the need for follow-up action after any training intervention, and Turning Learning into Action® is a vital part of any training initiative.

She is an accredited trainer in Effective Communications, including Family Communications, which encompasses practical and transferable skills invaluable in the corporate world.  These skills include identifying problem ownership, active listening, conflict resolution and a win/win approach to problem solving.

Based in Sydney, Marion is dedicated to life-long learning.  Her passions include developing individuals, working with corporations, educators and communities (whether at a local, national or global level) to facilitate growth ultimately for the benefit of humanity.  Marion’s energetic and enthusiastic approach is motivated by her goal of making a positive difference to our world.  She is a great believer in the adage “we can make a difference by everything we say and do”.

Erica Bagshaw CRC, Grad Cert NLP
Vivat® Associate

Erica Bagshaw is an inspiring and dynamic coach who combines practical hands-on business experience with an extraordinary ability to encourage individuals and teams to bring out their best performance. She has a wide ranging corporate background in IT Management, Business Systems Analysis, Sales and Recruitment Consulting. She has held National Business Development roles managing large bid processes and mentoring management teams through cultural change programmes.

Erica is highly trained in NLP and is a Certified NLP Practitioner and Coach.  As well as being a member of the Australian Institute of Management, Erica is an active member of the North Sydney Chamber of Commerce and has been a guest speaker to their coaching club. 

Through her experience coaching and facilitating at companies such as Staffit, Nestlé, Globe, MLC, NAB and Ray White, Erica has seen that business large and small can struggle to maintain the pace required to fulfill their vision. She sees that bridging the gap between intention and implementation at the end of a training process is an effective way to assist companies in moving towards their vision. 

Erica has a strong belief in the power of the human mind and is passionate about encouraging people to harness their full potential.  She has developed and provided educational seminars and workshops teaching thinking strategies to improve results including goal setting, productivity improvement, time management, work/life balance and stress management. 

Alison Cannell Grad Dip. Counselling and Psychotherapy
Vivat® Associate

Alison brings a unique combination of international corporate experience, psychotherapy background and a lively, energetic style.

She prides herself in supporting clients to not only change their behaviour but also more deeply understand what drives their behaviour.

Alison has gained experience over 18 years of extensive senior level engagements within Australia and the United Kingdom in industries such as Financial Services (including Insurance Australia Group and Royal Bank of Scotland), Hospitality, Retail (including Sainsburys Supermarkets & Boots the Chemists), and Manufacturing. Her focus has been on developing managerial capability within organisations and supporting the behavioural aspects of Change Management.

Across her work Alison supports individuals to grow self-awareness of their own behaviour, so enabling more conscious choice of useful and healthy behaviour which will grow self-worth and support achievement of potential. She is an expert coach and facilitator and enjoys seeing clients maximise their learning opportunities through sustained behavioural change.

Linley Rose
Vivat® Associate

Linley is a perceptive coach whose enthusiasm is liberating and infectious. Her motivation, encouragement and solutions based focus is outstanding. Linley is passionate about helping people think better and through doing so creating better results.

With new skills, knowledge and a fresh awareness as a basis for change Linley see’s that supporting training with coaching adds tremendous value to program participants.

In her role as regional manager, lead trainer and assessor for a global coach training company, Linley has worked with and project managed coaching initiatives with Air New Zealand, National Bank, DB Breweries, AMP and Ministry for Environment. She is also a presenter at Auckland University School of Business Short Courses. Linley presents numerous tailored training courses for EMA on Coaching, Personal Effectiveness, and Customer Service.

Linley is committed to professional development and has received an ovation from the Australasian International Coach Federation conference for services to coaching. Linley’s management background in retail, banking and as General Manager of an exhibition company have all been sales and customer focussed.

Linley is passionate about helping people work toward a fulfilled and rewarding life inside and outside or work.

Based in Auckland with her partner, Linley loves adventure, travel and believes that being happy is the key to having a life with everything in it that you do want.