Keith Ovenden

Keith joined the Fleet Air Arm branch of the Royal Navy as an Aircraft Engineering Apprentice directly from school, progressing through the ranks from Apprentice to Senior Officer. He has held positions as the Human Resource Manager, Operations Manager and Training and Development Manager and finally left to start a new career in Management Development in 1998 after completing 27 years. He saw active service in the Falklands and Bosnia campaigns and Northern Norway as part of the Commando Helicopter Force, operating aircraft in both the Arctic and Antarctic and also has extensive managerial experience in Procurement, Policy, Training and Support. One of the last positions he held was as the Leadership Development manager for the Fleet Air Arm Engineering School, managing a training facility in the heart of Snowdonia where he developed his interest in training and development.

He is a qualified Performance Coach for Business, a Member of the Chartered Manager Institute, and has a real passion for helping develop high performing teams. As a Director of i2i Development Solutions he works with major businesses in Leadership development, Change Management and Continuous Improvement skills. A qualified Mountain Leader, RYA Day Skipper, kayak and climbing Instructor he has led expeditions to many parts of the world including the High Himalayas. When not working he enjoys relaxing with his wife and 3 sons, DIY, singing and playing guitar.





Alex holds a variety of academic teaching positions at University of Oxford (Templeton College), University of Pretoria (Gordon Institute of Business Science), University of Bath and University of Kingston. He teaches on a number of executive, postgraduate and undergraduate programmes in the subject areas of Business Management, Operations Management, Services Management and Strategic Management.

Prior to his current teaching roles, he led a £0.5 million research project in the field of Customer Service Management at the University of Oxford (Templeton College) involving major multinational companies including Shell, British Telecom, British Gas and Scottish and Southern Energy. The overall outcome of the work challenged companies to change established practices in order to meet the current and future customer expectations and requirements. It also formed the basis for his PhD that is now complete and due to be awarded in June 2005.

As well as his current academic posts he has a growing consulting practice. He consults on a variety of aspects in including strategy review and implementation, business improvement, business design, business startup, new product development and supply chain management.

Clients are from a range of different industries such as advertising, fashion, finance, food, law, management consulting, mining and pharmaceutical. They include Abbott Laboratories, Asiaorganic, Challinors, DeBeers, FCB London, GKN, Jacqui Quinn, John Crane, Lorelei, Natures Way Foods, Nexus Consulting, Pokit and Standard Life Assurance Company.

Through his research and working with different businesses, he has developed and published several simulations and case studies which are used on a wide range of MBA and executive programmes. These form the basis of his applied and experiential approach to learning, which combines simulations and case studies with a variety of other materials such as film clips and business-based projects

I spent the first 13 years of my professional career as an Air Engineering Officer in the Royal Navy, spending much of my time between project management jobs in the MoD and operational tours of duty in the Commando Helicopter Force. Seeing frontline operational experience in both Bosnia and Northern Ireland.

Since leaving the Royal Navy in 2001 I have specialises in Change Management and Leadership development and work closely with a number of large organisations. I am a member of the Chartered Management Institute, a Chartered Engineer and a member of the Royal Aeronautical Society. I graduated from Oxford Brookes University in June 2003 with a Masters of Business Administration, specialising in entrepreneurial leadership.

Keen to do almost anything in the outdoors I am a mountain leader,
climbing, canoeing and Kayaking instructor and have lead expeditions
as far a field as south America. Married to Sara with a beautiful two
year old daughter Charlotte. 

 
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