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Sparknow was set up in 1997 by Victoria Ward upon her escape from the sharp end of the City. It has always been a network of interested equals, and each project pulls together a different group according to its needs and resources.
Left to right: Serena McHugh, Julie Reynolds, Philip Gibson, Chris Heimann, Fiona Hoppe, Paul Corney, Victoria Ward and Carol Russell celebrating a very intensive and rewarding off site session held over the weekend of July 4th
Here are some currently active sparknow people:
Carol trained at the Jamaica School of Drama as an Actor/Teacher. She now works in Britain as a writer, storyteller and consultant using storytelling in organisations.
A professional storyteller since 1994 Carol has worked in schools, universities and libraries, designing and executing storytelling and Creative Writing courses. She was guest storyteller on BBC’s GLR for three years, and has also performed at many international storytelling festivals, including, the Scottish International Storytelling festival, National Storytelling Festival, Jonesboro TN, USA, the Timpanogos Festival, Sundance, Utah and the Cape Clear International Storytelling festival.
She has been working in the corporate sector as a consultant/storyteller since 1996, facilitating workshops and creating stories for a wide variety of companies. The first of many projects with Sparknow was a commission, in 1998, to find the story of their first big futures project.
As a writer her work has been commissioned by all the major British TV broadcasters, including screenplay, ‘House of Usher’, a short films made for the BBC, a half hour single drama, ‘A Suitable Candidate; for Channel 4. She was also one of the original, BAFTA nominated team of adapters of Jacqueline Wilson’s ’Story of Tracy Beaker’. She is a member of BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) and is currently developing three drama series.
Chris in relaxed mode at Royal Festival Hall
Christopher works as a performance coach and consultant. Recent projects include communication and presentation skills training with senior management at BASF in Germany, performance training for Promise, a London-based branding consultancy, as well as internal communication training for the Royal Mail, and change management events for Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs. Past work includes innovation and creativity training for Orange plc, communication training for psychotherapists at the Tavistock Centre in London, and storytelling projects with homeless people for the Big Issue Foundation.
He teaches improvisation at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London where he is also a member of the audition panel. His work as a theatre director and writer includes the stage plays “100” and “Food” both of which won the prestigious Fringe First award at the Edinburgh Festival and toured extensively in the UK and internationally. He has directed productions at leading British theatres including the Young Vic Theatre and Soho Theatre in London, and the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh.
Christopher’s work in business draws on his background in theatre to create events that are interactive, challenging and fun.
Fiona’s background is in systems engineering which may explain her interest in helping clients develop new ways of working. As a knowledge management consultant she specialises in social network analysis, social capital assessment, communities, knowledge disclosure, narrative analysis and intervention design. With an in-depth understanding of information technology and its applications, as well as the human side of change, she has a passionate belief in helping people to attain their full potential Recent assignments include story elicitation research to enable cultural diagnosis at the newly merged Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and leading the knowledge strand of a project for the Islamic Development Bank.
She’s about to move to Boston to study at the Kennedy School of Management. We hope she’ll get the chance to start the first Sparknow US office while she’s there.
She is an experienced and creative research analyst with knowledge and skills gained from working in exchange traded derivatives and in the field of sustainable development. She has identified a number of industry trends and emergent opportunities in both environments through her commitment and passion for horizon scanning.
Stakeholder dialogue has been fundamental to much of her research work.
Julie packed up and ready to go
Before taking a research route, Julie was a freelance curator and exhibitions coordinator and has organised exhibitions, amongst other places, at Financial Dynamics (Financial PR Firm), The Spitz Gallery, Fresh Art Fair, the ICA and the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as well as working on artist development projects with London art trusts and London Borough Council Regeneration Departments.
She has an MA in Museum and Gallery Management from City University, London and a BA in Fine Art from Leeds Metropolitan University. She’s interested in the environment, and is a member of the RSPB, where she regularly volunteers for the dead bird watch in February on the Suffolk coast, and is keen on keeping fit.
Described as “the most organised young person I have ever met” by Victoria, Millie, the youngest member of the Sparknow team, is PA / Project Assistant to Sparknow’s Royal Mail project team. With Christmas casual sorting office experience, she brings to the project some insider information and has taken it upon herself to contact those she used to work with in bringing them on board.
Having taken an impromptu gap year she moved to London to get stuck into real life away from the confines of school and has been studying full time for her Certificate in Management Accountancy (CIMA) at London Bridge. She is off to Goldsmiths University in September to do a BA in Politics with Economics and Public Policy, where she will continue to work with Sparknow. She aspires to be a journalist, and spend time working abroad.
Other than her CIMA and Sparknow responsibilities Millie enjoys sewing, cooking and having a pint in the pub with her mates.
Paul in reflective mode in Lewes
Paul has considerable recent experience in running major assignments for Asian Development Bank, Swiss Development Corporation, Islamic Development Bank, Transport for London and BMS Associates (global top 10 reinsurance broker).
Paul also has a successful track record delivering complicated Corporate Advisory and technical due diligence projects. He was the architect and “gate keeper” of Sopheon’s product development process on which it’s preeminent software Accolade is based and has undertaken a number of process and management evaluations assessments on acquired and target companies for leading venture capital groups. He set up and ran the inaugural user group of Verity Inc in Europe and was the Project Director for a leading UK investment bank on the first deployment in the European financial services arena of Verity’s award winning search software. And in his spare time he oversaw the transformation of the operations of an old established golf club.
He spent 25 years in the City, positions included Senior Manager Corporate Finance with Saudi International Bank and Vice President Research and Marketing with Zurich Financial Services. He is a Visiting Lecturer at London Metropolitan University, a member of the Expert Advisory Panel of the Online Information Conference and the Institute of Directors.
For a more detailed history see: 
View Paul Corney’s profile
This collaboration has led to both design and facilitation work in a wide range of settings, including Sparknow projects for government and a large project looking at the way people work and the move of staff to innovative work spaces in the BBC. Penny has been engaged independently on a number of long-term projects for the BBC supporting major change within the work place including a substantial engagement with BBC Information & Archives to help redesign working practices.
Penny specialises in large scale events and has, more recently, used her broadcast skills to provide additional support for facilitated events and has produced down loadable material in the form of podcasts that enable conference materials to have a life span beyond the event and give access to all staff via company websites. She also produced and edited a short film for a large event for BTSR hosted at BAFTA.
Philip is a branding and communications consultant, workshop designer and facilitator, writer who has worked with Sparknow for 9 years. As well as his work with Sparknow he has 20 years’ experience developing brand strategies for a range of clients on behalf of Wolff Olins and Saffron including Crown Berger, Egmont, Eurotunnel, Lloyd’s of London, National Housing Federation, Royal Opera House. He has also done internal com- munications consultancy for clients including Royal & Sun Alliance, Shell.
He has over 10 years’ experience with particular areas of expertise in the use of pinboard and worksheets. In a couple of cases workshops have developed into training courses: Writing for the Web (for the Cabinet Office, Essex County Council, Severn Trent Water) and Making Your Point (presentations training for Lloyd’s of London). He writes corporate brochures, websites, brand books and annual reports for organisations such as Department for Education & Skills, Department of Health, Electra Fleming, The Boots Company, Expert Gardener and Telos.
Roger has been Sparknow’s Company Secretary & Financial Controller almost since inception back in 1997.
Having always targeted age 50 as his …“last day at work”… he was within one week of leaving NatWest Markets when the phone rang. It was Victoria needing help to run Sparknow!
Roger retired from NatWest Markets Finance as Head of Cost Reporting and Control and was responsible for integrating the central finance functions of 3 disparate businesses of NatWest Treasury, Corporate Finance and County Natwest Securities in 1992.
After leaving the bank, Roger worked for Guide Dogs for the Blind helping train puppies in their first year. He was also local Secretary and then Treasurer for Guide Dogs in Hertfordshire before moving to Somerset in 2005.
Sabine Jaccaud’s background includes experience of academia, business management and consulting as well as visual and performance arts. She is a communication professional with a focus on the experience of an organisation from within. Some of the companies she has worked with are JP Morgan, PA Consulting Group, ABN AMRO, HSBC, BP, Corporate Express, Syngenta and the BBC. A Swiss national raised in Australia, Africa, Asia and Europe, she is bilingual in English and French with a doctorate in comparative and English literature from Oxford University and a management diploma from London Business School. Sabine works from London, where she has been living for over 10 years and has close ties with the USA. Her research interests include how the city acts as a catalyst for conversations and connections, and how organisations nurture their cultural assets.
Serena is a product manager and data analyst working with Sparknow on the World Health Organisation project. Serena has been working in tech since she graduated in 2007 always with a focus on translating user insights and market opportunities into products/experiences which lead to increased KPIs and an overall improved user experience. Serena speaks pretty-good German and not-as-good-as-it-should be Russian. In her spare time Serena dreams about setting up a pop-up casino on her rooftop in Battersea and works on the blueprints for a maize maze once she finds the perfect field. Serena also collects momiji dolls and other cute loveable creatures. Serena is a math/stats geek with an unhealthy addiction to sitting professional exams which is slowly ruining her social life. Serena also has a BA in Film and an MA in Interaction Design."
In front of Ely Cathedral 22 November 2009
On leaving university in 1981 Victoria spent 16 years in finance and risk management, including stints in charge of research at the futures exchange and as chief operating officer for the capital markets division of an investment bank. In 1996 she was named Chief Knowledge Officer for the investment bank, and w hen it restructured the following year, she was given free use of the intellectual and knowledge assets developed during that period to found Sparknow on 1 November 1997. Everything in Sparknow’s portfolio, built over 11 years, can be traced back to its founding intentions to push the boundaries of narrative in workplace settings, to marry this with rigorous standards of method and research, and to experiment with new business models for the 21st century.
At Sparknow Victoria is the partner who leads programme design and research. Her current personal enquiries are into the role of journalling and sketchbooks in personal knowledge development and innovative working practice; possibilities with sound, voice and testimony; the hidden promise in cultural assets, heritage, place and curatorial practices in regenerating organisations, connecting where they are going to where they came from, and helping them adapt and re-engaging individuals and the organisation at times when the bond between person and firm ruptures or disintegrates; the role of cultural objects, memorial, rituals and reminiscence in handling change, trauma and loss in organisational settings.
Previous commitments have included stints on the LIFFE Board, the FTSE Steering Committee, the Financial Services Tribunal panel, Chair of School Governors at Elizabeth Garret Anderson. In the autumn of 2009 she’s starting a 3 year part time MA at the Tavistock on Working Groups.
She has a degree in languages and modern art from Cambridge University. She plays the oboe in an amateur woodwind ensemble, and in the Camden Light Orchestra