Our Consultant Team
Mark Hutchinson
Managing Director
Mark works with Boards, CEOs and Executive teams to drive organisational impact and performance. He has over 20 years’ experience in leadership consulting and organisational development, including a decade working in London at senior levels in large, blue-chip global companies. Having founded D&Co in 2016 he now works from the top to improve performance across a range of sectors. He has been engaged by board chairs to support the selection, induction and development of CEO’s and to conduct reviews of leadership and culture. A director on a State Owned Enterprise since 2019, helping to navigate an organisation severely impacted by Covid, has honed his perspective of how CEOs and their teams can best work with their board.
His clients value his ability to make the link from how CEOs and senior leaders operate to the setting and delivery of strategic priorities. His style is engaging, insightful, curious and challenging.
Mark commenced his career as a Clinical Psychologist in NZ and the UK underpinning his ability to help individuals develop meaningful self-insight, personal change and growth. As well as 14 years in a global leadership consultancy he worked as OD Manager at Barclays UK retail bank during the GFC.
Qualifications:
BSc Hons (1st class) , MSc, PGDipClinPsych, London Business School: Strategy and Innovation Programme. Member of NZ Institute of Directors having completed their Governance and Finance programmes.
Jo Nicol
Associate
Jo is one of NZ’s most successful, dynamic and strategic Organisational Development professionals. She has worked at senior management levels in NZ, Australia and the UK, where she led award-winning change programmes whilst working for the Royal Bank of Scotland as Head of Organisational Change and Head of Customer Service. As Global Organisation Development Manager for Fletcher Building, she led culture and capability improvements for 19,000 people in 40 countries. The Fletcher Building Organisational Development team, led by Jo, won several highly-coveted international awards. These included the Fortune 500 Best Leadership Development (International category (2015)) and the international business school EFMD award for most innovative executive development in partnership with Auckland University (2014). As Development Director for NZ Global Women, Jo delivered leadership programmes that accelerate female leader’s performance and success.
Qualifications:
BBS
Paul Thompson
Principal Associate
From the UK, Paul become a business psychologist in 2005 following 20 years in Managing Director and marketing roles in a number of international companies. In 2005 he joined the same global leadership consultancy as Mark, supporting the capability agenda at numerous blue-chip organisations. He is particularly experienced at assessing and developing senior leaders at an individual level, having worked with over 1000 of them across a range of sectors and functions.
Since moving to NZ with his Kiwi wife in 2012, Paul continued his partnership with Mark on a number of clients and has been a Principal of D&Co since its inception. He also partners with Ottmann Global Partners, a European business psychology consultancy and is a Director of an export and marketing company in NZ.
His clients find his style thoughtful and reflective, and that he provokes deep insight. His management experience makes his support grounded in business reality, and his marketing background enables him to link insights to commercial goals. He aims to achieve a deep understanding of what lies behind a track record and reputation, to lay the foundations for further professional growth and greater strategic impact. His strategic and commercial acumen combined with his seasoned approach has made him a valuable advisor to Boards in gathering feedback for and supporting CEO’s.
Qualifications :
MA in History from Oxford University, DipPsych in Psychology from London Metropolitan University, MSc in Occupational Psychology from Goldsmiths College, London University, Chartered Psychologist, British Psychological Society.
Faye Luxton
Principal Associate
Faye brings over 20 years’ experience in supporting the transformation of companies through the development of strategic enablement of diverse workforces and leadership groups. Working across all elements of HR and OD to drive business outcomes.
She has a passion for making a difference; for the long-term through a strategic perspective and approach, and in the short term through pragmatic, practical and impactful implementation and tactics. Making an impact to and through individuals, as well as through the systemic people and process dimensions of a business.
She has experience across a broad range of sectors, including financial services, manufacturing and public sector, Faye is skilled at creating a compelling case for change and coaching and developing senior executives and business leaders to execute. Focusing on working with CEO’s and executive teams to build culture and cohesion at all levels of the business. Her style encourages personal connection and authenticity, ultimately delivering outcomes through engagement.
Wanda Douglas
Associate
Wanda is a Registered Psychologist who has been practicing across both public and private sectors since 1996. She started off her career serving with the Royal New Zealand Air Force, eventually holding the position of Director of Psychology, and continues to work for the New Zealand Defence Force as an Army Reservist Psychologist (rank of Major). Wanda has extensive experience in change management, performance management, team dynamics, and senior executive leader selection across various organisations. She is a highly experienced executive coach, and continues to interface as such with a range of large-medium businesses across the country. Wanda is also a Mental Skills consultant and has contracts with the Hawke's Bay Rugby Football Union and High Performance Sport New Zealand, working with a number of our elite regional and national athletes. Wanda lives in the sunny Hawke's Bay and has been running her own psychology business since 2010. She is excited to be part of the Divergent and Co team and looks forward to working with individuals and organisations to help drive change and improve performance.
Qualifications:
BA (Psychology), MA with Honours (Psychology)
Matt Harrison
Associate
Matt is an organisational psychologist registered in NZ and chartered in the UK. He worked for over ten years at the NZDF where he supported performance across a wide variety of senior, technical, and high-risk areas. His roles included head psychologist for the RNZN and deputy director of defence psychology. More recently, Matt spent five years consulting in talent and leadership in the private sector in the UK and Europe where he specialised in teams, OD, and senior leader assessment and development. Matt is a dad of one and likes to play in the outdoors in sports including paragliding, mountain biking, and motorcycling. He also contributes to the performance safety scene in adventure sports. Matt is delighted to be joining the Divergent team after his recent return from the UK.
Qualifications:
MSc (Psychology), BSc(Hons) (Psychology), BCom/BSc (Management and employment relations/psychology)
Rob Ngamanu
Associate
Rob has been a registered clinical psychologist in New Zealand for over 15 years. He has extensive experience and deep insight into psychological assessment, the delivery of treatment in both group and individual settings, the provision of psychological supervision and acting as an Expert Witness. Rob has worked primarily in the government sector with Department of Corrections, the New Zealand Parole Board, Courts of New Zealand, Community Probation, and Prison Services. Rob has also had experience in private practice providing a variety of psychological services to those from different backgrounds and professions using a variety of therapeutic modalities to help individuals progress towards optimal performance. Rob manages a large team of psychologists and supports them to meet their professional goals and obligations. He also works with a diverse range of organisations and sits on several multi-disciplinary panels. Rob currently focuses on talent development, capacity building and strategic management to build effective team culture where individuals and groups identify a unifying purpose and develop processes and strategies that drive optimal performance.
Qualifications:
BSocSc (Hons) , MSocSc (Psychology), PGDipClinPsych,