Your tutors

Your Facilitators

Each cohort has a dedicated facilitator who will support you through your Help to Grow journey. They oversee the 12 taught sessions and facilitate your weekly peer calls.

Ashley Cavers

Ashley Cavers

Ashley is an experienced business owner and adviser, with a focus on start-ups, scale-ups and impact ventures. She has delivered a number of European-funded enterprise support programmes, and is the current programme lead working with the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership to support social enterprises and purposeful businesses in the county. Ashley has a background in print and broadcast media.

Learn more about Ashley

Jeff Stewart

Jeff Stewart

Jeff is an experienced academic and marketing practitioner, specialising in digital and social media marketing, analytics and product marketing.

Learn more about Jeff

Jeff is also a Help to Grow tutor

Nick Wake

Nick Wake

Nick is a Chartered Marketer, lecturer and facilitator. His 25 year's plus of experience covers a variety of contexts including FTSE top 100 client side and international business services. He works with SMEs to solve their temporary marketing leadership challenges and provide creative marketing services.

Learn more about Nick

Nick is also a Help to Grow tutor

Dr Karla Zimpel-Leal

Dr Karla Zimpel-Leal

Karla is an experienced practitioner, academic and facilitator. Her research interests are multidisciplinary and include disruptive care models, healthy ageing, business model innovation and knowledge transfer. 

Learn more about Karla

Karla is also a Help to Grow tutor

Emma Read

Emma Read

Emma is a Senior Lecturer at Oxford Brookes Business School and key topics and areas of interest include: marketing strategy, celebratory events, responsible leadership, hospitality and tourism. 

Learn more about Emma

Emma is also a Help to Grow tutor

Your tutors

Your tutors will lead different modules, depending on their areas of expertise. With both practical and theoretical expertise they will guide you through the taught sessions in an engaging and accessible way.

Julie Cook

Julie Cook

Julie teaches on a range of business and management programmes in Brookes. She also provides consultancy services in relation to people and change matters; business transformation and new ways of working especially in relation to using global communications.

Learn more about Julie

Dr Surja Datta

Dr Surja Datta

Surja’s research interests include innovation, and creativity. His current research is focused on understanding and explaining the 'creative milieu' phenomenon and his most recent book explores how firms attain achieve competitive advantage in a fast-changing business landscape.

Learn more about Surja

Emma Easton

Emma Easton

Emma is an experienced marketeer and small business owner who is passionate about demystifying marketing and lead generation. Emma has worked with a range of companies, across different sectors, supporting them transform their marketing activity.

Learn more about Emma

Dr Paul Jackson

Dr Paul Jackson

Paul’s areas of expertise include digital strategy and leadership, e-Business, information systems and systems thinking, with a particular focus on the management of innovation involving AI and machine learning. Paul has previously worked as a consultant to national e-Government projects.

Learn more about Paul

Dr Kate Ringham

Dr Kate Ringham

Kate is a Chartered Accountant with a consultancy and academic specialism in Corporate Social Responsibility in addition to financial and non-financial reporting. Kate is the academic lead for the Help to Grow programme.

Learn more about Kate

Prof Tim Vorley

Prof Tim Vorley

Tim’s research and publications are predominantly in the fields of entrepreneurship, enterprise and regional economic development. He works extensively with a number of central government departments and agencies, as well as with Local Enterprise Partnerships and local government bodies.

Learn more about Tim

Dr Rachel Wang

Dr Rachel Wang

Rachel is a Senior Lecturer at Oxford Brookes Business School. Rachel’s research interests are primarily in Data Analytics and application of Big Data in Business and Organisational Management.  

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Dr Diana Clayton

Dr Diana Clayton

Diana combines both high quality academic experience with nearly 20 years’ senior HRM practitioner expertise. Diana combines proven people management capabilities (directly and through matrix organisations) with good interpersonal skills and change management competencies.

Learn more about Diana