Our Team
Cumulus Outdoor Events have a number of core staff team members and a group of associates. They work with Cumulus with particular clients on certain programs. All are great people, very qualified in their fields of expertise and highly experienced. We make sure the right sort of person with the right type of credentials work with your teams, members of staff or your activity groups. In addition to our key staff we also have a number of associate instructors and support crew who help out on our larger outdoor corporate events and adventure races.
John Blair
John has worked in the outdoor learning and team building industry for over 25 years (and is starting to look like it has been that long). He has been a long standing advocate of using the outdoors and of experiential learning techniques. John adores working with people in different environments and has a very relaxed and friendly style, ideal for supporting and encouraging others to experiment and develop. His current role in Cumulus is the day to day management of the business, administration, marketing, product development and program design. This allows him to put his imagination, creativity and experience to good use. Whenever possible, he also actively works on training programs and events, in fact anything to get him out of the office.
John has designed and delivered programs for clients such as American Express, Lloyds TSB, Waitrose, DEFRA, Ryvita, Barclays, B&Q, Foreign & Commonwealth Office, WHSmith, Sainsburys and Sony.
John runs programs covering issues such as:
Some of John's qualifications include:
- MSc Outdoor Management Development
- Certificate in Supervising Health & Safety
- Certificate in Marketing
- Certificate in Training
- Certificate in Management
- Level 3 Canoe Coach
- Level 3 Sea Kayak Coach
- Level 4 White water Kayak Coach
- Single Pitch Award
- Archery Leader Award
- Windsurfing Instructor
- Dinghy Sailing Instructor
- Advanced Powerboat Helm
- ATV Instructor
- Dragon Boat Coach
- High Ropes Instructor
- Outdoor First Aid
Russell Thompson
Russell has worked in over 50 countries developing and coaching teams as well as team leaders and managers. He is a very motivated individual and his enthusiasm for experiential learning and the outdoors is very infectious. His programs are very detailed and entirely learner centered, ensuring the needs of the participants are fully met as well as the program objectives being fully covered. Russell lives and breathes the outdoors. He runs expeditions every year to remote areas around the globe, he played a leading role in establishing outdoor education and accelerated learning programs across the middle east and has delivered key speeches on the subject to various international symposiums. As the operations director for Cumulus, Russell ensures all the resources and staffing are appropriate for each program as well as event manages the programs and liaises with clients before during and after events.
Russell has delivered programs for clients such as English badminton team, Motorola, The Arab Bank, African & Eastern, Britvic, National Commercial Bank, BMW, Lloyds TSB, Co-operative Financial Services and Honda.
Russell runs programs covering issues such as:
Some of Russell's qualifications include:
- International Mountain Leader
- Single Pitch Award
- High Ropes Course Director
- NLP Practitioner
- Arctic Survival
- Outdoor First Aid
Dan Barnfield
Passionate about enabling individuals and teams to reach their true potential, Dan has years of experience in experiential learning, education and people development. From young people in adventure therapy programmes, to senior management and team development, Dan is a creative and versatile trainer. Using a lively, positive and enthusiastic approach, he uses the ability to build rapport quickly to generate fun, interactive and meaningful learning and help to develop more effective teams and individuals. Dan has an easy going, light hearted approach to his work that quickly puts people at ease. He also has a great ability to break down barriers and generate real discussions about difficult and essential issues to help clients improve their self awareness and positively tackle problems. As well as being a great educator, he has huge amount of experience working in the outdoors as a facilitator, trainer and instructor.
Dan has worked as the lead consultant with clients such as BT, Office of Rail Regulation, Department for International Development and the Museum of London, Toyota, Kent County Council and Mencap.
Dan runs programs covering issues such as:
Some of Dan's qualifications include:
- Licensed MBTI Practitioner
- Certified user of the Strength Deployment Inventory
- Certified user of the 16pf Instrument
- NLP Master Practitioner
- Coach Practitioner of NLP
- Business Practitioner of NLP
- Licensed user of MAP Assessment
- Licensed Management Team Roles Indicator Practitioner
- NVQ Level 3: Development Training
- MLTE Single Pitch Award
- BCU Level 4 Coach: Surf Kayak
- BCU Coaching Processes Course
- RCD Ropes Course Instructor: Level 2
- Rescue 3 Swift-water Rescue Technician: Unit 1
- RYA Safety Boat
- Outdoor First Aid
Jenny Maddox
Jenny is a great trainer, a wonderful woman and has an amazing ability to empathise with everyone and get to the heart of the matter straight away. Before working with Cumulus and other organisations, Jenny had long and successful career with Waitrose as a management trainer working with middle and senior level managers. She designed and delivered training events, which ranged in content from practical skills development to increasing the self-awareness, influence and personal effectiveness of trainees and managers. Jenny also worked as a personal coach with managers as they joined the business and later in their careers.
As a training consultant she has worked as a trainer and coach with individuals and groups from a wide variety of organisations, including Save the Children, the National Audit Office, Sunrise Senior Living, Deloitte and Watson Wyatt. She also continues her association with John Lewis, working for them as a consultant.
Jenny runs programs covering issues such as:
Some of Jenny's qualifications include:
- MSc in Training and HRM from Leicester University (1997)
- Qualified in psychometric tools - FIRO and Myers Briggs Type Indicator step 1 (2000 to 2002) and MBTI step 11 (2005)
- Practitioner certificate in Neuro Linguistic Programming (2002)
- TA 101 - (2004) and extensive working knowledge of Transactional Analysis
- Accredited Coach with the Association for Coaching (2008)
- Member of the Institute of Transactional Analysis (since 2004)
- On the register of Occupational Testing with the British Psychological Society to the highest level - Full Level B (since 2003)
- Member of the Association for Coaching (since 2006)
Veronica Smith
Veronica has worked in the field of learning and development for over ten years and feels privileged every day to be doing a job she loves. She is equally comfortable working indoors as well as outdoors, the common theme being a love of accelerated and experiential learning which engages heart, mind and body. She has a facilitative style and the ability to build rapport quickly, enabling her to create a safe learning environment and work well with groups across the client spectrum. She is a really interesting woman to talk to and spend time with and has mischievous sense of humour. She has a great mixture of life experiences that she can bring to learning and development programs that benefits everyone she works with.
Recently she has worked with HM Prison Service, RAF, Microsoft, Welsh Water, Fujitsu and Britvic on a range of development programs using experiential learning techniques.
Veronica runs programs covering issues such as:
Some of Veronica's qualifications include:
- NLP Practitioner (2005)
- Belbin Team Roles Accredited (2006)
- Life Coach (2005)
- Challenging Behaviour (2005)
- Conflict Management and Resolution (2005)
- Appreciative Inquiry (2005)
- Emotional Intelligence (2006)
- Ropes Course Facilitator (1998)
- BCU Level 2 Kayak Coach (1996)
- Joint Service Mountain Expedition Leader (summer) (2004)
- RYA Safety Boat Driver (1999)
- BA (Hons) Early Childhood Studies 2:1
Sarah Campbell
Sarah's work focuses on training, coaching and facilitating both groups and individuals. She specialises in Team Development through enabling teams to create a common vision for their future, find solutions and apply learning. Her enthusiasm and passion is to facilitate others by creating a perceptive and fun environment to bring the learning alive so the delegates can make it their own - optimising the back to work transfer.
Sarah has over 15 years experience in people development, preceded by a number of management positions in the private sector. Working with the long term unemployed through to managers and directors of global multi-nationals, she has created and run development events over a wide range of topics using her skills in facilitation to help individuals and teams become more effective. She believes in a holistic approach helping to find the balance of the individual's needs as well as the teams and the organisation's.
Sarah runs programs covering issues such as:
Some of Sarah's qualifications include:
- IPD Trainer Certificate
- Belbin Trainer
- Crucial Conversations Presenter
- CIPD
- CAEI Certificate
Chris Allen
As a past manager for both commercial nurseries and training centres he has extensive knowledge of trees, plants, the natural environment and how they interact, impact and rely upon each other. He uses this knowledge to link to staff training programs leading to unique, interactive and environmentally inspiring development sessions. He has worked with national retailers, many independent garden centres, voluntary sector organisations and charities, schools and colleges.
Chris project manages contracts in the UK with contractors and volunteer groups to implement his horticultural designs within a training format. He is also involved with the world famous RHS Chelsea and Hampton Court Palace Flower Shows where his displays and garden have received many awards. He also writes regular editorial for the professional and consumer press and media. He has then been actively involved with the hands-on implementation of these within varied and stimulating learning environments; the great outdoors providing some of.
He is committed to creating positive learning opportunities where all participants are encouraged to challenge themselves and discover new knowledge.
Chris runs programs covering issues such as:
Some of Chris' qualifications include:
- ATB Instructor
- NPTC Trainer
- Royal Horticultural Society Assessor
- City & Guilds Assessor
Paul Burrows
Paul is a true outdoor professional, working in the outdoor adventure industry since 1991. He has worked all over the UK and France in posts including outdoor education centre management, instructor training for college courses as well as training and assessing potential instructors for centres across England.
Paul has a great ability to link his passion for the outdoors with the use of experiential learning for producing excellent and effective outdoor training programs for clients. He is able to engage everyone attending events and training days in order for them to gain maximum benefit and enjoyment from their development experiences. As well as working on our training programs, Paul plays a major role in our provision of adventure events and service development, working alongside John and Russell to help ensure outdooor experiences are run in accordance to the latest outdoor thinking and practices.
Paul runs programs covering issues such as:
Some of Paul's qualifications include:
- HND Outdoor Leisure Management
- City & Guilds Assessor
- Powerboat Instructor
- Senior Dinghy Sailing Instructor
- Level 4 Inland Kayak Coach
- Level 4 Sea Kayak Coach
- Single Pitch Award
- Mountain Leader Award
- Mountain Bike Leader
- High Ropes Course Instructor
- First Aid Award
- Cave and Mine Leader
Chris Barratt
Chris is a well travelled trainer; working in over 25 countries around the world he makes maximum use of the environment he loves to develop the groups he works with. Hidden behind an easy going nature, Chris has an amazing ability to make insightful observations of behaviours language and interation which leads to a great ability to offer effective and relevant feedback for clients. He works with a range of client groups from retail to logistics and financial services.
When not working, Chris enjoys spending time tavelling to remote areas, ascending high mountains and soaring above the countryside on paragliders.
Chris runs programs covering issues such as:
Some of Chris' qualifications include:
- BA Leisure Management
- Certificate in Coaching & Mentoring
- Certificate in Life Coaching
- NLP Practitioner
- REC Emergency First Aid
- Ropes Course Instructor
- Single Pitch Award
- Mountain Leader
Anita Grey
Anita is an experienced trainer, working with organisations to design and implement personal development programmes for their employees, using outdoor situations and experiences to develop a range of management skills. Various recent projects have included time management training in Qatar, customer skills training and positivly influencing others for Ladbrokes, senior and middle management development for Lombard and a cultural change and teambuild program for Coras. Anita has also been working on soft skills training programs for the armed forces.
When she is not working, Anita enoys running walking holidays and expeditions in Europe.
Anita runs programs covering issues such as:
Some of Anita's qualifications include:
- B.Ed Outdoor Education & Drama
- Practitioner in Alexander Technique
- MBTI Myers Briggs
- NLP Practitioner
- Single Pitch Award
- International Mountain Leader
Sharon Milroy
Sharon is a fantastic trainer and change agent who is extremely experienced in working with oganisations to find new, empowering and sustainable ways to move forward. She does this by drawing on models for change and leadership from psychology, business and academic models. Sharon has a real fascination for everyone's ability to adapt and develop. Using refined coaching skills, probing questions, facilitation and non-judgemental feedback; she helps people to embrace their own development and growth.
After spending many years training within a retail environment, Sharon has gone on to run programs for healthcare trusts as well as county and district councils.
Sharon runs programs covering issues such as:
Some of Sharon's qualifications include:
- NLP Master Practitioner
- Foundation Certificate in Coaching Supervision and Coaching Mastery
- Myers-Briggs Step I and II Type Indicator Practitioner
- Transactional Analysis TA 101
- British Psychological Society Levels A + B
- Corporation of Advanced Hypnotherapy (Atkinson-Ball College of Hypnotherapy DABCH, MCAHyp)
