James is the Founder and Managing Partner of Sterling Black. Previously, he was Managing Partner at Deloitte Leadership Consulting and prior to that was Managing Director, PDI (Korn Ferry).
With more than 30 years of experience, James specialises in partnering with Chairs and CEOs.
He focuses on review of Board Effectiveness, Chair Feedback and Director Development; CEO and C-Suite Assessment for Selection, Development and Succession; CEO Succession, CEO Coaching and Development and Executive Team Effectiveness.
Based in Australia, he has worked extensively in Europe, North America and Asia. He works closely with international clients and local clients large and small across all industries.
James holds a Master’s in Business Administration degree from Columbia Business School and an MBA from London Business School. He also holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree and is accredited in all credible leadership psychometric and ability measures.
Years Coaching
30+
Types of Organisations
All sectors
Levels of Roles Coaches
Types of Assignments
Qualifications & Accreditations
:James McLaren
:Managing Partner, Board Member & Coach
Amanda is a former General Manager for Davidson, Director and Founding Partner of Madston Black, Principal at Korn Ferry and General Manager at Stephenson Mansell Group.
A highly experienced coach she has worked over the past 25 years with CEOs, Board Directors, and Senior Leaders across a range of global companies, NFPs and government organisations.
Her coaching and facilitation approach is creative and tailored to meet client needs. She leverages a deep understanding of the dynamics of human behaviour in the corporate setting to get great results.
Depending on the engagement, Amanda deploys a number of frameworks, including McKinsey’s transformation models, (Corporate Evolution), Adaptive Leadership (Professor Ron Heifetz), The Five Chairs (Louise Evans) and Schema Therapy (Geoffrey Young).
Individual and group coaching engagements have been with clients including HSBC, Unilever, Metcash, Ferrovial, Boral, CBA, Bacardi, Westfield, Westpac, Macquarie Bank, CSIRO, Sydney University and IAG as well as a range of local and state government organisations.
Amanda holds a BA (Communications) degree from the University of Technology, has undertaken the Manager as Coach program at Sydney University and has completed the Change Skills and Approaches to Change at the Australian Graduate School of Management, Sydney. She is certified in a range of psychometric instruments and is a member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF).
Prior to working in executive development, Amanda worked as a journalist in print, radio and television later becoming a corporate communications specialist in Australia and the UK working on a range of high-profile campaigns and events for clients including Nestle, NRMA and Oxfam
Years Coaching
20+
Types of Organisations
All sectors
Levels of Roles Coaches
Teams Facilitated
Types of Coaching & Facilitating Assignments
Qualifications & Accreditations
:Amanda Sheard
:Partner, Coach & Facilitator
Lara is a Partner with Sterling Black. With more than 25 years of leadership assessment and development experience. Lara’s career has focused on bringing together business and psychology to unlock executive potential, drive change, and transform strategy into sustainable performance. She has held CEO, C Level and Global roles in the consulting industry.
Lara specialises in CEO & C-Suite Assessment for Selection, Development and Succession, executive coaching and facilitates executive team workshops focused on leadership effectiveness and global change.
Lara holds postgraduate qualifications in Business Psychology and a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology & History) from Monash University. She is accredited in a range of leadership behavioural and psychometric measures as well as coaching and learning methods.
:Lara Osborne
:Partner
Simon is a Partner with Sterling Black. Simon works with Chairs, CEOs and Senior Executive Teams in business and government to improve their ability to inspire and engage their organisation. Simon has over 15 years of experience turning leaders into inspirational speakers specialising in Leadership Communication. Simon’s focus is on helping leaders to authentically engage, inspire and influence using archetypal storytelling, executive presence and personal impact.
He was the managing partner of the Black Isle Group, working with Australian clients since 1994.
An accomplished board director, business strategist and coach, Simon is also adjunct faculty for one of the premier business schools in Australia. He holds a Masters in Business Administration from the Graduate School of Management (UWA), a BSc is Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Southampton University, is AFMA accredited and holds a diploma in Financial Services.
:Simon Mariner
:Partner
Jane has worked as a consultant to boards advising on a range of matters relating to performance of boards, composition and culture for 30 years. Jane is interested in the human elements of governance, and in the difference that can be made by active and effective boards. Clients have included the largest listed companies, governments, co-operatives, professional associations, charities and industry groups as well as many large and small private companies.
Throughout her career, Jane has been a strong advocate for social and economic equality for women. A highlight in this area was her time as Chief Executive of a policy organisation advising the government on women’s issues. In her recent roles, Jane has carried through this commitment in her actions to encourage greater diversity on Australian boards. Jane works with academic researchers in this area and has published papers and is currently co-authoring a manuscript on diversity for publication later this year.
Jane was a member of the Council of the University of Wollongong and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and Chief Executive Women, where she is contributing to a review of the governance of CEW. She has qualifications in design (BA Hons), education (GradDipEd) and management (MA), and is continuing her studies in psychology and counselling. She was awarded a Centenary Medal by the Australian government in recognition of her contribution to women and business.
:Jane Bridge
:Partner
Paul is a highly experienced leadership consultant with over fifteen years of experience working with his own clients. He focuses on improving culture, team effectiveness and leadership.
Previously, he was a Principal at McKinsey to be part of the team that developed the firm’s approach to culture and leadership. Prior to that he was a business strategy consultant with Pappas Carter Evans & Koop (later BCG) and Australian Consulting Partners (founding partner).
Paul holds a Masters in Business Administration degree from AGSM. He also holds a Bachelor of Economics degree and is accredited in The Leadership Circle, NeuroColor, Human Synergistics, Barrett Values Survey.
Years Coaching & Facilitating
30+
Types of Organisations
All sectors
Levels of Roles Coaches
Teams Facilitated
Types of Coaching & Facilitating Assignments
Qualifications & Accreditations
:Paul Collings
:Partner, Coach & Facilitator
Lucy is the Chief Operating Officer of Sterling Black. She has over 20 years of commercial experience including 13 years in consulting.
Lucy joined Sterling Black in 2018 and is responsible for overseeing all commercial operations and day-to-day business operations.
Lucy is passionate about the quality of Sterling Black client service and fostering a stimulating employment experience within the firm. She is also actively involved in engaging with clients to ensure service quality and building internal capabilities.
With her extensive experience, she is particularly adept at driving consulting solutions across the full range of leadership offerings.
:Lucy Liddle
:Chief Operating Officer
Rebecca is one of Sterling Black’s Global Project Managers. Rebecca is a Project Management professional with 20 years’ experience within the Professional Services Industry. For the last 13 years Rebecca has been dedicated to the execution of large-scale, complex project, change management, and training execution within the Professional Services Industry.
Rebecca is passionate about driving enterprise efficiency through capability uplift, change and transformation. She has significant experience developing and delivering strategic programs of work alongside Boards, Chairs and Executive Committees. Rebecca has direct experience in driving leadership assessments, organisational performance, culture change programs and coordinating custom learning projects.
Rebecca prides herself on delivering quality solutions, providing a premium client experience and finding efficiencies in day-to-day processes. Rebecca is adept at facilitation and execution of solutions that contain a wide array of leadership and culture tools and methodologies.
:Rebecca Williams
:Global Project Manager
Years Coaching
20+
Types of Organisations
All sectors
Levels of Roles Coaches
Senior Executives
Types of Assignments
Qualifications & Accreditations
:Louise Kovacs
:Coach
Years Coaching
20+
Types of Organisations
Corporate organisations
Levels of Roles Coaches
Types of Assignments
Qualifications & Accreditations
:Rolene Fain
:Coach
Years Coaching
23+
Types of Organisations
Levels of Roles Coaches
Types of Assignments
Qualifications & Accreditations
:Mike Hamer
:Coach
James is the Founder and Managing Partner of Sterling Black. Previously, he was Managing Partner at Deloitte Leadership Consulting and prior to that was Managing Director, PDI (Korn Ferry).
With more than 30 years of experience, James specialises in partnering with Chairs and CEOs.
He focuses on review of Board Effectiveness, Chair Feedback and Director Development; CEO and C-Suite Assessment for Selection, Development and Succession; CEO Succession, CEO Coaching and Development and Executive Team Effectiveness.
Based in Australia, he has worked extensively in Europe, North America and Asia. He works closely with international clients and local clients large and small across all industries.
James holds a Master’s in Business Administration degree from Columbia Business School and an MBA from London Business School. He also holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree and is accredited in all credible leadership psychometric and ability measures.
Years Coaching
30+
Types of Organisations
All sectors
Levels of Roles Coaches
Types of Assignments
Qualifications & Accreditations
:James McLaren
:Managing Partner, Board Member & Coach
James is the Founder and Managing Partner of Sterling Black. Previously, he was Managing Partner at Deloitte Leadership Consulting and prior to that was Managing Director, PDI (Korn Ferry).
With more than 30 years of experience, James specialises in partnering with Chairs and CEOs.
He focuses on review of Board Effectiveness, Chair Feedback and Director Development; CEO and C-Suite Assessment for Selection, Development and Succession; CEO Succession, CEO Coaching and Development and Executive Team Effectiveness.
Based in Australia, he has worked extensively in Europe, North America and Asia. He works closely with international clients and local clients large and small across all industries.
James holds a Master’s in Business Administration degree from Columbia Business School and an MBA from London Business School. He also holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree and is accredited in all credible leadership psychometric and ability measures.
Years Coaching
30+
Types of Organisations
All sectors
Levels of Roles Coaches
Types of Assignments
Qualifications & Accreditations
:James McLaren
:Managing Partner, Board Member & Coach
James is the Founder and Managing Partner of Sterling Black. Previously, he was Managing Partner at Deloitte Leadership Consulting and prior to that was Managing Director, PDI (Korn Ferry).
With more than 30 years of experience, James specialises in partnering with Chairs and CEOs.
He focuses on review of Board Effectiveness, Chair Feedback and Director Development; CEO and C-Suite Assessment for Selection, Development and Succession; CEO Succession, CEO Coaching and Development and Executive Team Effectiveness.
Based in Australia, he has worked extensively in Europe, North America and Asia. He works closely with international clients and local clients large and small across all industries.
James holds a Master’s in Business Administration degree from Columbia Business School and an MBA from London Business School. He also holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree and is accredited in all credible leadership psychometric and ability measures.
Years Coaching
30+
Types of Organisations
All sectors
Levels of Roles Coaches
Types of Assignments
Qualifications & Accreditations
:James McLaren
:Managing Partner, Board Member & Coach