Anne Elder-Knight

Unlocking untapped leadership talent has been the through-line in Anne’s career. From her early days in equal opportunities to designing and facilitating leadership development, and major culture change programmes, to coaching and mentoring senior leaders and their teams, she has been fascinated by what it takes to be our individual and collective best. 

Drawing on this experience Anne now designs and leads programmes that enable leaders to successfully bring out the best in themselves and future generations of leaders. 

Anne has had stints based in the UK and NZ and worked with leaders from Europe to Asia, Africa to the US, as well as Australia and New Zealand. She has experience in industries ranging from manufacturing to FMCG, financial services to utilities, health to hospitality, as well as government and not-for-profits, adapting to each with her down-to-earth style. 

Known for her perceptiveness in quickly getting to the heart of issues she has a reputation for being supportive yet direct when it comes to calling leaders and teams on behaviours that are limiting their performance.

Thirty years ago, Anne set off to university determined to be a lawyer. After realising her talents lay elsewhere, she turned her impressive intellect to studying politics and religion and realised she had a fascination with how people acquired and utilised personal power to influence their own and others' behaviour. She ended up with a Master’s degree in Political Science and clarity that her life's work was to show others how to be their best and achieve great things.

Today Anne divides her time between Auckland and the Waikato, travelling to do work she loves, with people she likes, wherever they happen to be.

Kate Peterson

Kate Peterson is the only person Anne will trust to guide and facilitate her programmes. This is not only because Anne is a control freak when it comes to her material, but because Kate is, at least in Anne’s eyes, an even more skilled guide and facilitator than Anne is herself. (Kate does not agree!)

Over the course of her career, Kate has worked across a wide range of roles reaching from sales, operations and customer service, to business management and human resources in a variety of industries. The last fifteen years of Kate’s corporate career saw her in Executive Team Leadership roles for Lion Co. (New Zealand and Australia), Gough Group, PGG Wrightson and Meridian Energy.

Her experience in these industries and from her vantage point as a member of executive teams, has ensured Kate has first-hand knowledge of what it takes to be effective both personally and professionally as a leader in today’s evolving business environment.

Today Kate works as an executive mentor and facilitator of leadership development programmes. Kate moves between bases in Christchurch and Cambridge, like Anne, travelling to do the life changing work she loves, with people she connects with.

Pauline Johnston

Pauline Johnston is our Business Manager Extraordinaire. Anne’s strength is in the thinking, designing and leading truly innovative and impactful programmes. Pauline is across all aspects of the business to ensure everything happens when and how it is meant to.

Initially trained as an Executive Assistant, Pauline’s talent for both organising and influencing was soon recognised and led to senior roles in facilities and operational management. This provided valuable insights into many aspects of the business including people management, customer service, process improvement, and financial management. Taking on a new challenge(s!) Pauline became a Mother, having a daughter and then twins in quick succession – at the same time as building a new home.

Pauline believes she now has found her perfect job, arranging her work around family commitments, bringing all her skill and experience to bear doing the work she enjoys most.

Anne is eternally grateful Pauline has been willing to take her on and seems to enjoy all the work Anne doesn’t! If you need time with Anne, to discuss arrangements for a workshop, or simply want some information about what we have to offer Pauline is your first and most reliable point of contact.