The Team

Simon Toy, Managing Director and Senior Consultant

Simon has sold, trained, and managed salespeople in UK blue-chip organisations. He has also recruited and trained sales forces in Eastern Europe for an international security company and in the UK for a small IT company.

His passion for performance psychology was born out of his involvement in national level sport (don't ask him which sports please), where he realised the key role of attitude in achieving superior performance.

His mum thinks he's great and so do his kids.

Margaret Potter, Sales & Marketing Director

Following a mad-cap career within the pharmaceutical industry, from being at the coal face, to selecting the miners to leading the troops on a national level, Margaret joined Performance Associates in 2002.

She is passionate about performance and success through motivated, committed, happy employees.

She specialises in tripping potential clients up whilst Simon sits on them, or vice-versa.

Gareth Bloomfield, Director

Gareth has rich range of experience to draw from. Amongst these he has worked as a blacksmith, a Royal Marine, a Police Detective and as an assistant psychologist within the NHS. He has raced for GB in the world indoor rowing championships in Boston and recently began his work up to swimming the channel by swimming from Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight. What he has recognised in these very different environments is how attitudes and beliefs are every bit as important as technique, fitness, knowledge and skills in driving his and other peoples' performance.

Gareth says that meeting Simon Toy, 'the mind and soul behind Performance Associates PA' changed his life.....literally! Within two years of that fateful day and after some intense training, he found himself delivering Performance Associates performance psychology workshops around the world and taking his Masters in Experimental Psychology. Gareth says it has been a fascinating journey and keeps alive his dreams of opening up new opportunities for himself and those he trains and coaches.

Rob Kemp, Associate

Rob is qualified by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) as a Coach and Mentor and has a wealth of experience gained over twenty years working as a leader within large and small organisations. Since 2006 Rob had gained experienced working in a wide range of sectors as a coach, trainer and consultant. Rob values Coaching as a way to increase performance in any walk of life; a way to help individuals set meaningful goals, which are relevant for their context, and take positive action towards them - and by doing so achieving success in their chosen area.

Alison Smith, Associate

Alison is a versatile and experienced development professional and coach with expertise in a wide range of leadership and management capabilities. Alison is passionate about working with others to develop their capabilities to deliver results.

With a background in operational management and HR she is able to bring a commercial perspective to the topic in hand.  Her keen sense of humour, challenging, enthusiastic and dynamic approach to development make her in demand as both a facilitator and coach.  portfolio includes working with individuals and teams on a variety of topics including leadership, emotional intelligence, people management, team development, transitioning to new roles, bottom line results, personal presence and impact, change/transformation management to name but a few. 

Alison is a full Chartered Member of the CIPD and is qualified in a range of psychometric tools, including the Hay Leadership Styles and Emotional Intelligence Inventories, along with MBTI, OPQ and NEO to name but a few. 
 

Amanda Bickerton, Associate

Amanda initially spent 7 years in the NHS progressing to Senior Technician specialising in paediatrics.

She then spent 21 years in the Pharmaceutical industry firstly as a Representative then progressing to Regional Trainer followed by promotion to Field Training Manager with responsibility for the Training Team and delivery of initial and ongoing training for the Field Force.

In the last year she has worked as a consultant, coach and trainer helping her clients, both organisations and individuals to maximise their potential and to achieve results beyond their expectations.

Mark Woodhouse, Associate

Mark Woodhouse is an experienced consultant, trainer & coach and an associate of Performance Associates. 

Mark served twelve years in the British Army attaining key positions as a Staff Tutor and Training Development Analyst with the Army Physical Training Corps (APTC). He also gained a first class honours in Sport Science whilst in the Army. After leaving the military he held the position of Area Training Manager and Programme Director with Premier Training International.

Ben Harris, Associate

As a consultant, Ben works with individuals and organizations on career
development, performance management and strategic organizational issues
to support individual and business goals.

He has extensive experience designing and facilitating training on topics such as career development, coaching, project management, diversity, interpersonal communication, interviewing skills, conflict management and strategic negotiation. 

With 20+ years of experience in the field of training and development for profit and non-profit organizations.  He is a member of the American Society for Training and Development, the Human Resource Management Association of Chicago, the Association for Experiential Education and the International Society for Performance Improvement.  Ben Harris holds a Master's of Education in Adult and Corporate Instructional Management from Loyola University.

Sally Frazer, Senior Associate Performance Associates.

Sally is equipped with over twenty years experience within the NHS arena.  She has a proven and successful background in the challenging and competitive arena of pharmaceuticals, holding senior positions in leadership, training and marketing.

Sally started her career in the pharmaceutical industry selling into primary and secondary care, managed at first, second, and third line levels. Sally has also held positions in Training and Development, Regional Sales Management and Field Sales Management, cumulating in leading a team of Sales Managers, NHS Project Managers and a field force of over 100.

The companies Sally has worked within are:
Eli Lilly
Wyeth
Innovex
AstraZeneca

Sally joined Performance Associates as a specialist in leadership, sales and management; coaching & mentoring.  She is highly enthusiastic and motivational in her delivery and is able to flex her style to accommodate each participant’s learning style.