About
Sometimes having a new perspective can make all the difference.
We’re a diverse and flexible team of change-makers and problem-solvers: business, sustainability, and non-profit strategy, advisory, and communications consultants with broad, lived experience gleaned from careers in a range of sectors. We’re united by our passion to help business and society work better, smarter, and faster together through transformative Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategies, thoughtful collaboration, and effective cross-sector partnerships.
Decades of experience
C&E Advisory has decades-long experience of helping purposeful businesses, non-profits, foundations, and philanthropists to navigate business, social and environmental risks, challenges, and opportunities – and come out more resilient and relevant. We challenge and support organisations to put purpose firmly at the heart of what they do, and design intelligent strategies and programmes to deliver inclusive, sustainable impact and value for all stakeholders.
We believe
- People always come first
and that our health is inextricably linked with the health of our planet - In the principle of cause and effect
all actions and inactions have consequences and that when an issue becomes a cause it can better galvanise sustainable action and greater impact - Being a good business is good business
- Having a compelling purpose
or mission is necessary, but not in itself sufficient: a purpose, mission, or cause should deliver sustainable, high-impact change & effect - In the creative power of diverse perspectives
when individuals, organisations or sectors come together to solve problems at scale - Solutions with depth
integrity, authenticity, and transparency are our holy grail - Curiosity is essential
and we must never stop learning!
Manny Amadi, MVO
Building on a diverse career spanning the corporate, non-profit sectors, and cross-sector consulting, Manny founded C&E fuelled by his determination to help place societal consideration at the heart of business purpose and practice – and to help speed the mission of non-profits to greater impact. Manny advises, coaches, writes about, and catalyses effective action on a wide variety of ‘business and society’ issues including sustainable business, transformation strategy, stakeholder engagement, diversity & inclusion, social innovation, and levelling up communities.
He is skilled in convening and scaling peer collaborations to enhance collective impact and facilitating valuable dialogue between previously antagonistic companies and NGOs. He has worked with some of the world's foremost businesses, NGOs, Trusts, Foundations, and high impact philanthropists.
As an enthusiastic supporter of young people, Manny has served on the boards of several leading youth organisations; was the Lead Founder of The Charter School, East Dulwich, and a driving force behind the establishment and growth of The Charter Schools Educational Trust (the Trust educates nearly 5,000 pupils across six highly respected inclusive, non-selective community state schools, drawing on its Teacher Training School and Research School hubs to strengthen diverse local communities across south London). He is a Founding Trustee of Mission Beyond – a charity focused on addressing the UK’s social mobility challenge by connecting 1 million underrepresented young people to real jobs via Open Doors, a national digital infrastructure.
A Fellow of the RSA, Manny was awarded an MVO (Member of the Royal Victorian Order) in 1999 by the Queen, for services to the community in support of disadvantaged young people. He is married and feels lucky to have four much beloved sons.
Meet the team
Alex Oliver
A strategy and coaching professional with many years’ experience spanning public, private and not-for-profit sectors, Alex uses her facilitation, coaching and behaviour change expertise to help clients achieve better outcomes. Her lived experience throughout her career is that social interests are often best served when non-profit and commercial sectors collaborate for the common good.
Alex spent the early part of her career in the private sector with international strategy roles in consultancy, media and financial services. Inspired by a desire to drive positive social change, Alex moved to the UK Government’s Cabinet Office where she led a major cross-government Service Transformation workstream.
She spent time with global consultancy Kantar, where she headed up a UK public sector team and later supported the global government consultancy, Kantar Public (now Verian), as a Board Advisor, across strategy, innovation, and team development projects.
Today, Alex runs an executive coaching practice working with ambitious leaders and teams who want to get more out of life, achieve bigger goals, and transform their businesses and communities. A highly experienced facilitator, Alex has designed and held hundreds of workshops for stakeholders at all levels up to Board.
Fluent in French and semi-fluent in Spanish, Alex has an MBA from INSEAD, is certified as a Co-Active coach (CPCC and PCC) and has studied positive psychology, neuroscience of change, and systemic team coaching.
Anna Beyer
Anna is a transformation leader with 13+ years’ experience of leading complex transformation programmes across industry sectors (FTSE 100, major public sector & non-profit sector clients). She has deep expertise in operating model and change, having worked extensively with Executive Teams to turn their strategy into action. Anna spent most of her career in Deloitte’s organisation design practice, leading high profile transformation engagements for clients such as Transport for London, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Home Office. During this time, she led Deloitte’s future of work proposition, advising clients on the role of AI, robotics and the gig economy in the future world of work.
Moving to Sky, as Head of Transformation, she worked with their streaming businesses to improve international integration and set them up for growth. This included a secondment to Sky’s German business, where she led the market’s core transformation programme. Anna is passionate about gender equality and about the positive impact business can have in our world, both in terms of our planet and the communities they interact with.
Anna Cooper
Anna is a seasoned Programme Manager for C&E, bringing her professional skills of research, analysis, governance awareness, stakeholder engagement and creative problem-solving to benefit projects. She has led Programme Management for C&E programmes with UNHCR and Burberry, offering teams her strategic know-how, as well as her ability to roll up her sleeves and deliver work accurately and at pace.
Anna has a BSc in International Relations & History from The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), which included a period studying Mandarin in China. Previous roles have included experience as Research Assistant at LSE, and Associate Director of Strategy at BCB Group, a leading provider of business accounts and trading services for the digital asset economy, where Anna also gained experience as Shadow Board Member.
Charli Kumar
Charli is a transformational leader and executive coach, with a passion for sustainability.
Her 20 years' experience spans commercial, strategy and transformation in the dynamic European media industry.
She holds a degree in Economics and Management from the University of Oxford and started her career in strategy consultancy with Marakon Associates in the UK and US. Building on this, she worked in strategic roles at ITV, the UK’s largest commercial broadcaster.
She then held various UK and European senior leadership roles at Sky TV, including overseeing two of Sky’s streaming subscription businesses and spearheading its first organic market entry into Spain, which laid the groundwork for the pan-European Sky Showtime service. During time in Germany, she successfully transformed Sky Ticket (now WOW) into a robust, end-to-end growth business.
Charli has steered multiple end-to-end sales and service platform transformations, implementing Agile methodologies, and managed numerous complex, cross-functional transformation programmes - from marketing to data, kids’ content to advertising. She currently lives in Munich.
Charlotte Hillenbrand
Charlotte is a purposeful leader driving product development, innovation, and tech transformation across consultancy, agencies, charities, and start-ups.
With skills bridging business and product strategy, digital transformation and building Learning Organisations, Charlotte has a natural bias for action, making products as a vehicle for change and advocacy. She works to create positive impact, grow talent, increase productivity and spread happiness at work.
Charlotte’s career has spanned roles including as Director of Learning delivering the Professional Development programme at Made by Many, an award-winning London-based strategic digital product partner. The consultancy delivered high profile innovation projects for the likes of Universal Music Group, TED, Skype, WEF and adidas to explore and deliver digital innovation. She was also the first Digital & Innovation executive for UK charity Comic Relief, reducing fundraising platform costs by 65% in under a year, leading a cross-organisational Values refresh project and bringing the Digital & Innovation directorate to collaborate more closely with the charity's business and fundraising teams.
Charlotte is currently Fractional CEO of youth social mobility social enterprise, Mission Beyond working to connect the UK's fragmented social mobility ecosystem to help address the UK's lack of social mobility at scale.
Chloe Meredith
Chloe is a skilled Programme Manager for C&E, keeping projects and teams on-track to deliver impactful outcomes for a range of clients.
She has worked in the charity sector for over 20 years, specialising in inclusive heritage, with a keen interest in the intersection between cultural identity and social and environmental justice. Her work has focussed on the legacies and impact of colonialism and enduring colonial mindsets on cultural organisations and communities, and she has a Masters in Sustainable Cultural Heritage Management. Chloe has held strategic learning, engagement and fundraising roles at the Churches Conservation Trust and Ambitious about Autism.
Her career has taken her overseas, where roles have included supporting the Aboriginal elders of the Wurundjeri Tribe Cultural Heritage Council in Australia; Specialist Advisor to the development of a new Peace Museum in Cambodia; and designing remembrance experiences for visitors to WWII and POW sites for the Thai Tourism Authority.
Chloe is a member of the Church of England’s Contested Heritage Committee, an advisory body to the Church Buildings Council, focussing on church monuments with links to Britain’s historic trade and trafficking of enslaved African people. A keen environmentalist, she also grows low-impact seasonal cut flowers for florists and events.
Christèle Delbé
Christèle Delbé, MSc, is a Sustainable Business Director, intrapreneur and change agent with more than 18 years’ experience shaping and scaling shared value initiatives that unlock brand and revenue growth across FMCG, Utilities, Banking, Automotive and Technology sectors. She was Head of Sustainable Innovation for the Vodafone Group, where she led a B2B programme which generated an annual sales pipeline of £5M with the co-creation of four mobile products, helping to address supply chain, community engagement and access to water challenges across Africa and Asia.
She started her career as a sustainability consultant at SustainAbility, EQM and PIRC and then moved to Orange Group. She was awarded the Guardian Sustainable Business Award for Social Impact and spoke at TEDx Lausanne on innovative mobile products for Unilever, Nestle, Danone, Anglo American and Vodafone. She is a proud trustee for FareShare and Producers Direct, two charities addressing systemic challenges in food value chains. Christele grew up in West Africa, and has lived in France, the United States and Sweden before settling in London.
Beau Crowder
Beau has over 20 years’ experience of working worldwide in the education and development sectors. He has extensive experience working with foundations in systemic programme design, strategic portfolio development, management, plus monitoring and evaluation protocols. His sector focus includes early child development, primary education, school health and nutrition, as well as tertiary. He also specializes in developing strategic programmatic partnerships between national governments, multi and bi-lateral donors - both from a strategic funding and convening perspective - and foundations/private sector.
Past roles include Education Advisor at the Vitol Foundation and Director of Programs at Dubai Cares. Prior to this he served as a country director on multiple US government funded programs in Africa and Eastern Europe, responsible for financing UNICEF education and WASH programs as well as co-financed initiatives with the World Bank. In the private sector, Beau has worked as an education and development advisor with some of the world’s largest energy companies (including Exxon Mobil, Hess, and Vitol), as well as developing public private partnerships in the low-cost private schools sector.
Diana Spehar
With over a decade of experience in tech strategy, implementation and policy, Diana has advised top-tier firms including Sky, O2 Virgin Media, and EY on topics including AI strategy and ethics, cybersecurity, digital inclusion, and trust and safety. She holds an MPhil in Development Studies from Cambridge University and has participated in United Nations panels on the digital gender divide.
Former roles have included Data Ethics Lead for Sky Group, establishing a comprehensive data ethics and responsible AI practice, creating AI principles, frameworks, transparency tools, and initiatives such as the Ethical Machine Learning Working Group. As Senior Consultant in IT Strategy at EY in London, she led digital transformation projects across the public sector, infrastructure, energy, and financial services, helping organisations adapt to new technologies and cloud solutions.
Diana designed and led the flagship Wayra-NCSC Cyber Security Tech Accelerator - a collaboration between Wayra UK, Telefónica's open innovation arm, and the National Cyber Security Centre, part of the UK's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). As a responsible tech advocate at GSMA (the Global System for Mobile Communications Association), she engaged with mobile operators and UN agencies on tech policy.
Diana currently leads Artemis E, a consultancy focusing on responsible AI strategy and development, advising clients on strategic AI applications and executive content development on generative AI. Diana is also an Advisory Board Member for Sure Valley Venture and is actively involved in fostering responsible AI practices and guiding ventures.
Jess Moore
Jess is a multi award-winning leader with international management experience in the corporate, charity, and creative sectors, and expertise in cultural investment, corporate responsibility, sustainability, and international development. Jess is undertaking a PhD at Glasgow Caledonian University in using screen drama to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. She is also an Off West End Award-nominated playwright, and a director. Her plays have been produced in London and Edinburgh, and her short films have screened at several international festivals.
She started her career as a solicitor, before moving to a responsible business role at the Co-op and then as Commercial Director of national youth charity, vinspired. Jess then spent nine years at Warner Bros, in corporate responsibility roles, most recently as VP, CR for Warner Bros International. Among many other programmes, she created and led Warner Bros. Creative Talent, a multi-award winning international programme that gives talented people from underrepresented backgrounds access to the creative industries. She is Chair of the Board of Trustees of Tender, an arts charity working to prevent domestic abuse and sexual violence.
Kate Adams
Kate is an advisor on Organisation Purpose, Business conscience and growth, working with Boards and Execs who believe in the role business plays in society beyond profit. She has over 20 years experience working in private sector and social purpose organisations in media, tech, innovation and sports sectors. Much of her career to date has operated at the nexus of Business, Non-Profit and Government, crafting and executing strategies and partnerships that drive social progress and company performance. Kate’s passion is closing the gap between profit-led and purpose-led agendas to show that it can be ‘and’ not ‘or', helping corporates to tackle societal challenges in strategic, commercial ways and socially-led not for profit organisations to build longer term futures and finances.
Starting her career as a management consultant, specialising in HR, Reward and Organisation Development, she then transitioned in-house to develop a broader COO skill set. Recent roles include Chief of Staff, Strategy Director, Operations Director and Commercial Director and she has expertise in strategy, operations, social impact, leadership development, organisation development and coaching. She has worked with a wide range of organisations including Comic Relief, Nesta, Tech Nation, EDF Energy, DWP, Cabinet Office, Barclays and Astra Zeneca. Kate has previously been Chair of national charity, Missing People. and now sits on the Board of the British Paralympic Association and the ReGenerate Working Council.
Liz Lowe
Liz is a sustainability and communications professional with 30 years’ experience in roles spanning corporate responsibility and sustainability, brand PR and corporate communications, project management and philanthropy. She has had roles in agency and in-house and spent over 20 years in The Coca-Cola Company in Great Britain, most recently as the lead on corporate responsibility and sustainability. Liz was responsible for the strategic planning and delivery of frameworks, ambitions and partnerships, stakeholder engagement and driving an internal culture around sustainability.
A trustee of the Kent Wildlife Trust, Liz has a passion for nature and has deepened this through a focus on water stewardship and nature-based solutions to address business risk and supply chain resilience, while enhancing and connecting communities.
Louise Nicholls
Louise Nicholls is a senior leader with a proven legacy of impact in ethical business and sustainability, with deep experience in the food industry. Louise had an extensive career with UK retailer Marks and Spencer plc, spanning roles from food tech, ethical and responsible sourcing and Corporate Head of Human Rights, Food Sustainability & Food Packaging, responsible for their Plan A sustainability strategy.
With a successful track record of stakeholder engagement in 40+ countries, from individual affected rights holders to shared value partnerships with NGOs, she brings a wide breadth of experience in social and environmental collaborations. Louise founded and chaired Sedex Global, the technology company specialising in data, insights and professional services to empower supply chain sustainability. She was a Director and Chair of IEMA, the professional body for environmentalists and has held Board positions with Ethical Trading Initiative, the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) Stakeholder Oversight Board, the Consumer Goods Forum, and food redistribution charity, The Bread and Butter Thing.
Louise currently leads the Food Network for Ethical trade, as well as advising a broad range of clients from manufacturers to retailers, start-ups, investors and collaborative initiatives on Sustainability and Human Rights.
She also tutors for Cambridge Institute for Sustainable Leadership on business sustainability, Future Food Movement’s Climate action accelerator and is a Trustee of the sustainable trade initiative- IDH, the Sustainable Fishing Communities Trust, as well as a number of brand Sustainability Advisory Boards.
Mark Pallis
Mark is a dynamic and strategic leader, operating across the creative, business and policy sectors. A qualified barrister, he has held roles in chambers; as a consultant in the office of the Inspector General, UN FAO; and as policy director and advisor for All Party Parliamentary Groups on the African Great Lakes and Genocide Prevention, and Extraordinary Rendition. Most recently he has been policy advisor for the Dept of Health & Social Care’s Joint Bio-Security Centre.
He spent several years as a writer and freelance producer for BBC, ITV, and films, including as Story Editor for Shed Media’s award-winning drama Garrow’s Law for BBC1, before joining Pace Media as Business Development and Creative Director. Following a role at the RSA as Head of Engagement, he then set up Neu Westend Press, an international children’s book publishing company, specialising in books for children celebrating linguistic diversity. He is a Board member of Africa and Middle East Refugee Assistance (AMERA), a legal aid charity he co-founded in Cairo; and an ambassador for ‘Speak to the Future’, the UK campaign to promote language learning in schools.
Muna Wehbe
Muna is a strategic advisor to philanthropists, CEOs, foundations, and businesses. She builds lasting relationships with those she works with, serving as a confidential sounding board and offering peer-to-peer support. Muna brings 20+ years of experience growing organisations and nurturing driven, agile, and resilient teams in both the corporate and the non-profit sector, with a deep commitment to meaningful results.
A former CEO of a charitable foundation and sales executive at Procter and Gamble, Muna has overseen the development of collaborative and participatory grant-making programmes with global reach. She has also worked closely with an engaged Founder, managed a diverse board of Trustees, and handled a wide array of stakeholder relationships at all levels. Throughout, she has championed locally led change by supporting grassroots NGO leaders and activists.
She is a Trustee of Global Dialogue, a school Governor, and the proud mother of two girls, invested in helping to build a more just future for them.
Dr. Paula Owen
An environmental and sustainability specialist and published environmental author, with two decades of experience in energy, sustainability, climate change and carbon footprinting & management, Paula has a DPhil in Climate Change Chemistry from Oxford University, and a Masters in Information Science from City University, London.
Paula has worked across the academic, public, governmental, NGO and private sectors. She was a director at sustainabilty charity Forum for the Future; headed up the environmental information services for the British Library; spent eight years at the Energy Saving Trust developing its knowledge and insight resources and commercial consultancy capability, and has had secondments to the UK government’s Department for Rural Affairs, and Department for Energy and Climate Change. She has consulted to a range of organisations on energy and employee engagement matters including Proctor & Gamble, British Gas, BSkyB, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and the Tate museums. She is currently working on a schools carbon toolkit calculator for Cambridge University's Programme for Sustainability Leadership.
Paulette Cohen
Paulette is a strategic leader with 30+ years of experience in senior roles across private and not-for-profit sectors, specializing in DEI, community investment, leadership development, and communications. She is passionate about creating accessible, accountable strategies that deliver tangible impact.
At multinational bank Barclays, Paulette led the global DEI function, fostering an inclusive workplace, and managed global community investment partnerships focused on financial inclusion, women’s economic empowerment, and youth employability. A champion of employee diversity networks (ERGs), she now advises on ERG strategies and leadership development across sectors. She has also led communications for Save the Children and VSO.
An experienced Board Trustee and Committee lead, Paulette has influenced strategy and overseen governance for nonprofit organisations such as Business Disability Forum, Lord Mayor’s Appeal, and Conservation Volunteers. Currently, she advises the social mobility non-profit Mission Beyond and has consulted for organisations including Clyde&Co, CIPD, UNICEF, and Warner Brothers Discovery.
A qualified Executive Coach, Paulette supports senior leaders driving social change and was awarded an MBE in 2022 for services to DEI and business.
Ruth Davison
Ruth is a strategist and leader with over 20 years of experience driving growth, change, and impact for charities and purpose-led organizations. An expert facilitator, she excels at supporting Boards and teams to craft and implement clear strategies.
Ruth’s career began in fundraising, where she led award-winning initiatives and grew income at UK charities such as Crisis, Friends of the Earth, and Christian Aid. She built successful fundraising programmes from scratch at Canal & River Trust and Prince’s Trust International before transitioning to philanthropy.
At Comic Relief, Ruth led global grant-making, social impact-investing and advocacy, later serving as Interim CEO. She increased annual income to over £100m, introduced the ‘green’ (non-plastic) red nose, and advanced EDI and culture change initiatives. As CEO of Refuge, the UK charity providing advocacy and support for women and children experiencing domestic violence, Ruth delivered the organisation’s first multi-year strategy, transformed its culture, secured vital new funding, and achieved significant policy wins through advocacy.
Ruth has served on the Boards of Oxfam GB, Greenpeace UK, and the UK’s National Emergency Trust. After leading global impact at The Conduit, a London-based private members' club and community focused on driving social and environmental impact, she now supports charities, grant-makers, and purpose-driven organisations – including a wide range of commercial and non-profits - to enhance sustainability and impact, with expertise in social and environmental justice.