Home

Why Leapwise?

Our Impact

Our Team

Our Careers

Our Insights Blog

Contact Us

LinkedIn

Working with you for the public

At Leapwise, our team is the reason we consistently deliver exceptional results for our clients.

Our consulting teams comprise highly skilled professionals committed to making a positive impact in the public sector. Each team you work with will have a blend of the sector expertise and experience that allows us understand your world, the specialist technical skills to address your specific challenge, and the core consulting skills required to work seamlessly with your teams and inspire change. We take an interdisciplinary and evidence-based approach to problem solving, embracing ideas from behavioural science, economics and management – but always focus first and foremost on getting things done.

We pride ourselves on our collaborative and client-focused approach, which allows us to work closely with our clients and co-create solutions – ‘doing with’ and not ‘doing to’.

Our Team

Tom Gash

Tom Gash

Managing Director

Tom Gash is Leapwise Managing Director, leading the organisation, overseeing its most critical projects, and developing many of Leapwise’s tools and methods. He has spent his career supporting decision making of ministers and prime ministers, senior officials and the boards of non-profits and private companies in the UK, Europe, Middle East, North America and Australasia.
Tom works at the interface of government, business and academia and is passionate about the need for better decision making to solve our most pressing social problems. Prior to becoming and independent adviser and founding Leapwise, Tom was Director of Research at the Institute for Government, where he was part of the organisation’s set up team and board and led a range of ground-breaking research to improve government effectiveness. Before this, he was senior adviser (Home Affairs) in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit in the mid-2000s, a role that followed a period supporting FTSE 100 executives as a strategy consultant with Boston Consulting Group.

Tom’s sector specialism is crime, security and justice and he operates across Leapwise service areas. He is the author of Times ‘Thought’ Book of the Year “Criminal: The Truth About Why People Do Bad Things” (Penguin, 2016), an in-demand international speaker on both criminal and organisational decision-making, and a regular media commentator (BBC, Sky, ABC, Fox) and government Select Committee expert witness. He has directed over 100 consulting and research projects and authored over 30 academic and practitioner focused articles, as well as articles for The Financial Times, The Times, The Guardian, WIRED, and Prospect Magazine. He is an Honorary faculty member of University College London and a Senior Fellow of the Institute for Government.

Email Tom
Leapwise

Sean Cregten

Director

Sean Cregten leads public sector consulting projects for Leapwise.  His work focusses on strategic planning and long-term decision making, and helping organisations develop capabilities and effective governance.
Prior to Leapwise, Sean worked across the New Zealand public and third sector on business cases, economic advice, and transformation and capability programmes as a consultant with PwC. He has a keen interest in dual-mandate organisations, regulatory design, and in how to tackle wicked problems that ‘fall through the cracks’ of traditional organisational structures.

Sean has experience getting endeavours off the ground, including launching a digital start up in Canada, creating advisory offerings leveraged for public good, and developing methods for teams to enjoy doing their best work together. He has an MBA with distinction from the University of Cambridge and a BA from the University of British Columbia.

Email Sean
Leapwise

Amber Mullins

Director

Amber Mullins is a Director at Leapwise. She helps public sector organisations improve performance by leading projects on productivity, data-driven decision-making, and organisation development. Amber works hand-in-hand with leaders to support them through transformation and develop lasting capabilities in their organisations that can effectively handle change.
Prior to Leapwise, Amber worked in consulting at Deloitte across New Zealand and Canada, where she focused on public sector transformations. Notable projects include establishing a new Ministry in New Zealand that had a citizen-centred operating model, developing a shared service design centre for the Canadian federal government, and enabling a public tele-healthcare provider to provide additional support to people through COVID-19 .

She has a passion for solving complex social issues and is particularly interested in the application of human-centered design principles to effect social change.

In her spare time, she can be found travelling, cooking, reading, and learning a new hobby or skill.

Email Amber
Leapwise

Tanvi Bhatkal

Manager

Dr Tanvi Bhatkal is a Manager at Leapwise, with over 10 years of mixed methods research and project experience. She brings a strong quantitative research background, a passion for social justice issues, and experience and skills conducting research with vulnerable groups.
At Leapwise, Tanvi has worked on a range of projects across UK policing and local government, including work on delivery planning, workforce modelling and survey design. Prior to Leapwise, Tanvi worked at the Institute for Development Studies (IDS), the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and as an independent research consultant, managing and supporting over 20 social research and development projects.

With an academic background in economics, development and social geography, she holds a PhD from University of Cambridge, where she also taught applied statistics to undergraduates, and an MSc from University of Oxford.

Leapwise

Annie Haswell

Senior Consultant

Annie Haswell is a senior consultant at Leapwise, specialising in policy, evaluation and behaviour change. She also brings experience in organisational development, including governance improvement work.
Annie has worked on Leapwise projects in policing, justice and local government, including a behaviour change project to reduce fly-tipping and work to promote preventative approaches in public services. She previously worked in the tech industry, developing behaviour change solutions that reduce carbon emissions.

Annie holds a master’s degree in Behavioural Science and an undergraduate degree in Psychology, both from Durham University. At Durham, she founded and led the Durham University Behavioural Insights Society and led a randomised controlled trial project focused on evaluating the impact of a leadership development tool. She has helped shape some of Leapwise’s core project methodologies relating to workforce and public behaviour change, and is passionate about creating positive social impact through behavioural science.

Leapwise

Joe Bowen

Consultant

Joe Bowen is a Consultant at Leapwise, where he currently focuses on supporting performance improvement and change in policing. Prior to joining Leapwise, Joe spent 6 years in the education sector, most recently as an English Teacher. Joe has a strong interest in high performing organisations and worked at the top- performing secondary school in England, where he developed the curriculum that enabled pupils to rank first in national exams. He also supported national projects at the Department for Education and worked on the design of school inspectorates in Ghana.
Joe holds a first- class degree from the University of York in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE), where he ran a consultancy group that worked on pro- bono projects for the local community and undertook projects to support entrepreneurs in Uganda.
Leapwise

James Sweetland

Consultant

James is a Consultant at Leapwise and brings extensive experience consulting and researching on police effectiveness. Immediately prior to joining Leapwise, James advised and wrote independently on policing, technology, and AI, working with and interviewing senior policing leaders in the UK and internationally. He led a major research project on police use of facial recognition in Western countries, resulting in an academic publication and a perspectives paper for the Police Foundation (forthcoming), and interviewed the UK Minister for Policing, Sweden’s National Police Commissioner, and the heads of the IOPC, HMICFRS, City of London Police, and Avon and Somerset Police.
​Earlier in his career, James worked for the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) and the leading Westminster think tanks Demos and Reform, where work included co-authoring a policy paper with former Home Office Chief Scientific Adviser Sir John Aston. James holds an MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Oxford University and was a previous winner of the Orwell Youth Prize. His work on policing has been published by The Times and featured on BBC Radio.

With a passion for enhancing public safety and evidence-based practice, James continues to contribute to the dialogue on effective policing strategies through Leapwise Perspectives and wider thought leadership publications, and through his consulting work.

Leapwise

Jules Taylor

Executive Support

Jules Taylor is the Executive Support at Leapwise, managing Tom’s diary and looking after the HR and Operational Admin for the Business. A Virtual PA since 2019, she had previously spent 12 years working in London supporting C-Suite and HR Executives as a Personal Assistant.
Prior to working as a Personal Assistant, Jules worked as a Travel Agent for over a decade, which allowed her to indulge in her love of travelling and seeing new places.

Outside of working, she is also a keen sporting volunteer. She recently supported the UEFA’s VIP & Protocol Team, both as a volunteer and volunteer recruiter, during the men’s and women’s tournaments at Wembley Stadium. Her career highlight was being given the opportunity to be a Games Maker at the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, based at Greenwich Park for the Equestrian.

Leapwise

Emma Turner

Finance and Contracts Manager

Emma is our Finance and Contracts Manager and therefore first point of contact for everything accounts and procurement related.
During her time working for a selection of government funded QUANGOs and other centrally funded organisations, Emma gained extensive experience working with start-up businesses and SME’s.

Prior to joining our team, Emma was Business and Finance manager at the River Restoration Centre – the knowledge and interest garnered led her to purchase a canal boat. She is also an ex-footballer, coach and referee who played in the first ever women’s national league. If Emma is not out walking or on her boat, she’s watching football or travelling.

Leapwise

Margo Lau

Fractional Chief Marketing Officer

Margo is Leapwise’s Fractional Chief Marketing Officer. She brings over a decade of International brand and growth marketing experience as a Commercial leader. The first portion of Margo’s career experience involved leading large-scale, cross-organizational, complex enterprise projects as a Brand Marketer in FTSE250 Fast Moving Consumer Good (FMCG) companies. During the latter half, she pivoted to becoming an early employee of high-growth tech startups and scaleups as a foundational builder to drive sustainable Go-to-Market growth and success. Margo leads Leapwise’s marketing and thought leadership. With her unique blend of strategic insight and hands-on execution, Margo is dedicated to fostering innovative marketing solutions that resonate with diverse audiences. Her passion for storytelling and data-driven decision-making empowers the Leapwise team to elevate brand visibility and engagement, ensuring that every initiative aligns with our mission of building high performance for the public.

Our Network

Leapwise

Paul Griffiths OBE

Paul Griffiths is a Leapwise Associate and former senior police officer, who led one of the largest modern slavery investigations in the UK. He previously served as President of the Police Superintendents’ Association (2019 – 2022) and was recognised for services to policing with an OBE in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours list. For his leadership during the pandemic, he was appointed a Companion of the Chartered Management Institute in 2020. In his spare time, he is a Deputy Lieutenant, Magistrate, and chairs the Board of Trustees for St John Ambulance Cymru.
Leapwise

Nicola Hughes

Nicola Hughes is a Leapwise Associate and a consultant specialising in leadership. Nicola is an experienced facilitator, designing and delivering engaging, collaborative workshops and development programmes for a range of audiences from senior Westminster politicians to local community activists.
She works with public sector and charity leaders to help them set strategy and make better policy; some of her recent clients include the Young Women’s Trust, the Government of Jersey, London Councils, and the Cabinet Office.

Before going into consultancy, Nicola worked at the Institute for Government, where she led research and learning programmes on ministerial effectiveness. Previously, she was a senior policy adviser at Shelter and worked on governance in central and local government.

Nicola is a passionate supporter of environmental and social causes and a trustee of two social enterprises.

Leapwise

Suzanne Jacob OBE

Suzanne Jacob OBE is a Leapwise Associate with over two decades’ experience in crime, security and policing. She has worked extensively within government on national security and organised crime, and at national charities Victim Support, Crimestoppers and SafeLives. Suzanne currently works independently as a NED and consultant, focusing on organisational development and strategy, security and safeguarding issues, and accountability within state agencies.

 
Leapwise

Rick Limentani

Rick Limentani is a Leapwise Associate and adviser with twenty years’ experience in strategy consulting. He brings strong analytics and communications skills, and has experience in procurement and transformation projects, both in the public and private sectors. He has previously worked with a number of consultancies including McKinsey and LEK. Beyond consulting, Rick is a serving magistrate and is an award winning screen-writer.
Leapwise

Neha Mahendru

Neha Mahendru is an Associate Director with Leapwise with twenty years of experience across the charitable, public and private sector. She works with Leapwise and independently as an adviser and coach.
Previously, Neha was a Director at Impetus where she spent nine years supporting charities deliver sustainable impact and scale. And she was a management consultant with McKinsey and Optum Health, improving health care organisations through analytical insight and by building collaborative networks.

Neha is an accredited executive coach (AOEC) and is passionate about helping leaders at all levels reach their full potential.

Leapwise

Wayne Parkes

Wayne Parkes is a Leapwise Associate with 30 years’ experience in policing, having held numerous senior leadership roles focused around digital and ICT, police business support services, organisational transformation and change. This includes time as Programme Director for the National Enabling Programmes at the NPCC, Chair of the National Police Technology Council (where he delivered the first National Policing Digital Strategy), and roles leading the business services transformation between Warwickshire and West Mercia Police.
Leapwise

Vishal Singhal

Vishal Singhal is a Leapwise Associate and independent adviser who has previously worked with a number of consultancies including Strategy&, LEK and Teneo.
Vishal has broad experience across a number of industries, with recent projects including work in the energy sector, real estate and software services.

Vishal studied a Bachelors degree in Economics at the University of Warwick and a Masters degree in Technology Entrepreneurship at UCL. Vishal has also successfully completed all 3 CFA exams.

Leapwise

Richard Smith

Richard is a Leapwise Associate. He helps leaders to find their path to growth, impact and value creation, drawing on 16 years’ experience working with leaders in strategic, financial, operational and human domains. His focus is on understanding and building leaders’ direction and purpose, creating the space for exploration and debate before clarifying objectives and techniques for success.
When supporting the process of change within an organisation, Richard’s work starts by expressing a clear direction of travel and then establishing effective processes to decide on actions and assess the results. The process itself delivers improved short-term effectiveness, while the discussions and experience creates the opportunity to change behaviours, attitudes and decision-making approaches in order to create sustained long-term increases in performance.

Richard started his career in consulting with Boston Consulting Group and worked from London and Mexico City on global strategy and transformation projects. He has also worked in strategy and leadership roles at the BBC, DMGT and Small Screen Media (a startup), and as an independent adviser. He has an MBA with distinction from INSEAD and an MA in Natural Sciences from Queens’ College, Cambridge, majoring in Experimental Psychology. He is married with two young children and everyday life includes school runs, homework and bedtime reading, as well as mentoring aspiring leaders who are building careers in social enterprise.

Leapwise

Charles Thomas

Charles Thomas is an Associate Director with Leapwise, with over 20 years of experience working both as a consultant and senior manager across a mix of global organisations.
Recent work within the UK public sector has included advising the Chief Executives of several UK local authorities, the Aircraft Carrier build project and the setup of COVID response centres across the SouthEast.

Charles has deep expertise in large scale programme & capacity management, having designed & implemented over 100 customised solutions to help organisations forecast and improve performance by re-configuring their operations, typically providing audited improvements of 20% or more. He benchmarks his solutions within a sports forecasting methodology that has outperformed all bookmakers across the last five years.

He holds MEng and DPhil degrees from Oxford, where he still lives with his family indulging an ironman triathlon hobby and providing foster care for vulnerable children.

Want to work with us?

Leapwise also draws on over 20 independent consultants and experts with differing specialisms. If you have a passion for better decision making, strong skills and experience and wish to join our core team or our network, please contact us.