About the Founder
Carl has had a lifelong interest in people, and specifically in what it takes to sustainably perform at high levels. There is no more fascinating and complex machine than ourselves, and while burnout and passivity come easy, sustainable performance requires real work, professionalism and humanity. Carl’s journey started 30+ years ago with a decidedly unsuccessful university tennis career leading to sports psychology study and ongoing focus on sustainable performance for individuals and teams.
He worked for twenty five years in private equity and finance, observing individual and team performance through a variety of economic and market cycles. Along the way he served in numerous positions including Chief Investment Officer, CFO, COO and Chief People Officer, as well as an executive and Non-Executive Board Director, each providing the opportunity to learn and observe more. For the majority of those years his focus was in the renewable energy and infrastructure sectors.
Carl founded the Academy in 2008 in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis. He began working with high performing law partners and other professionals (including himself) who had been made redundant, something previously unimaginable. His early work and curriculums focused on building perspective and resilience, important cornerstones of sustainable performance.
Longstanding individual clients are from senior private equity, tech and sports coaching. For the last six years Carl has been the Chief People Officer of venture and Microsoft-backed synthetic data company Hazy, where he implemented the Academy tools and approach. During that time the company had exceptionally high retention, staff development and NPS.
Carl has guest-lectured in Cambridge University’s Chief People Officer Executive Education program. Early in his career Carl co-wrote and received grant funding from the Chase Manhattan Foundation for developing a curriculum teaching corporate finance to visually-impaired students.
More about Carl on Linkedin
