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
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.
Sean Cregten
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.
Amber Mullins
Amber Mullins is a Senior Manager 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.
Robyn Whitaker
Tanvi Bhaktal
Prior to joining Leapwise, Tanvi worked at the Institute for Development Studies, the ODI, and independently, as a 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.
Jules Taylor
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, Jules is a keen sporting volunteer. Most recently for UEFA supporting the recruitment of volunteers and then volunteering with the VIP & Protocol Team for both the men’s and women’s tournaments at Wembley Stadium. But the career highlight was being given the opportunity to be a Games Maker at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics, based at Greenwich Park for the Equestrian.
Our Network
David Paul
After an early career in central government and the European Commission, David has specialised in the criminal justice sector, working with over 20 police forces and central government as a management consultant with KPMG and other firms.
He has held senior policing roles as an Assistant Chief Officer and Programme Director. He was responsible for delivering a portfolio of major change in Sussex Police, realising £32m of savings and implementing core policing systems to improve performance and build collaborative opportunities. Recent work includes design of a shared service transformation programme with the Metropolitan Police Service.
Nicola Hughes
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.
Charles Tugendhat
With eight years’ consulting experience with Leapwise, independently and at the Boston Consulting Group, he has also held VP and strategy leadership roles at EMI and the BBC. Charles specializes in strategy and business model design, and has worked across industries. He is Lean Six Sigma certified and has a BA from Cambridge University.
Neha Mahendru
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.
Charles Thomas
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.
Vishal Singhal
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.
Richard Smith
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.
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.