News
October 2011. James will be the strategic advisor to the HEFCE HE Leadership and Governance inquiry at the Royal Institute.
September 2011. James has been asked to help the R.I.B.A leadership team develop and establish their 5 year strategic plan.
May 2011. Parthenon Consulting, one of the leading US Consultancies specialising in Higher Education and Health Care have appointed James as their Senior Advisor to help them with their strategic initiatives in the UK.
March 2011. Bromley Healthcare have asked James to provide leadership coaching to their new executive team.
May 2010. The University of Salford have asked James to provide leadership coaching to the 6 key theme leaders of the university around whom the strategic direction will centre in the next 5 years.
May 2010. Aspire Talent Management Chairman, James Cooke, and Lesley Granger, formerly Director HR for BBC Global News are part of a consortium that has beaten all comers to create a leadership coaching template for the National Health Service in London. The consortium is led by Capstick, the country's major health related law firm and the Governance Institute.
Susann Jacobs, chief executive of Aspire, said "we are thrilled to be working with NHS London on such a significant contract - leadership is at the heart of Aspire's transformational consultancy"
April 2010. Kings College London is one of 7 British Universities to be ranked in the world's top 25, up from 96 7 years ago. James has been the strategic coach for Kings throughout this period. The University of Warwick, also a client has moved to 59 in the world league
February 2010. James has become the Chairman of Aspire, a consultancy created to optimise the engagement with and performance of the workforce in establishing sustainable competetive performance. Susanne Jacobs, the CEO was central to KPMG's winning the Times Best Empolyer award three years in a row from 2006.
July 17 2009 James and Noel will be in the US till August 17.
They are both contactable at 001 772 492 1550 or by e mail.
July 2009 The Variety Club of Great Britain appoint James to their strategic advisory group.
During the last 20 years The Variety Club has given more than £200 million to helping disadvantaged young people throughout the country. VCGB uniquely represent the show business industry of theatre, film and TV.
February 2009 The R.I.B.A appoint James Cooke to write for their monthly journal.
James has been asked to write a monthly column "Managing in Recession" for the RIBA Journal (circulation 50000). This will be launched in April 2009. James's colleague, John Toppin FCA will contribute the financial articles. Together they will support the magazine with an extended series of papers on managing clients, cash, people, systems and risk on this web site. The third strand of a three part parallel programme will be to offer coaching via telephone and in person to help businesses in the profession cope with the extreme threats of the current recession. The Journal articles will be supported by a blog via www.ribablogs.com entitled Managing in Recession.
October (Contd) Warwick University Phase 2.
Warwick University have asked James to implement the second phase of his strategic programme with them.
October 2008. The Lady Eleanor Holles School Governorship.
James has been appointed to the Board of Governors of LEH. Lady Eleanor Holles School, founded in 1711 is today one of the oldest and most distinguished private schools for girls in Britain. Situated in its own grounds in Hampton on the South Western outskirts of London, it has recently acieved wonderful results across the board including 93.7% grade A and A* at GCSE, and 96% grade A and B at A levels.
September 2008 Golf Report.
There is more to life than work, no matter how engrossing that is. This is to record that on September 12th I broke 80 for the first time! The course was at Swinley Forest, which is naturally now my favourite.
Royal Bank of Scotland.
July 2008.
James gives the Childs Bank address on "Managing in Recession".
H.O.K London.
April 2008.
James has been retained as the strategic coach to H.O.K in London. H.O.K is one of the world's leading and largest firms of architects employing nearly 2000 staff in 24 offices and with its headquarters in St Louis, Missouri. The UK, European and Middle Eastern markets are led from London.
University Appointments.
London March 4th 2008.
James has been appointed as the strategic advisor to the Universities of Warwick and Salford.
Warwick rose nearly 20 places to 57 in the Times Higher Education Supplement world rankings at the end of 2007. At Salford James is working with the School of Built Environment, rated 6*, the UK's and one of the world's leading Schools.
Website and Photographs
London 18th February 2008
Many people have asked me about this website. It was created by Robert Shilston and Andrew Betts of Assanka Ltd who can be contacted on 0870 085 2038 or by visiting www.assanka.net.
Ross McNicol is my photographer and is contacted (when he's not shooting!) at r@rossmcnicol.com.
Happy Christmas
London 11th December 2007
James wishes all his clients, friends and associates a very pleasant Christmas, and a prosperous new year.
Humana Europe advisory board
London 12th October 2007
Humana has announced the appointment of a distinguished Advisory Board to guide its provision of commissioning services for NHS primary care trusts.
The members of the Board are eminent healthcare professionals and leaders with substantial NHS experience. They will provide expert vision and counsel to Humana as it works in partnership with the NHS to address some of the challenges facing the service and to improve patient outcomes. They include:
- Sir Jonathan Michael, deputy managing director, BT health,
- Ken Anderson, managing director, investment banking, UBS,
- Professor Judith Petts, professor of Environmental Risk Management, University of Birmingham,
- Mr James Cooke, Specialist in Strategic Development and Change Management,
- Professor Michael Deighan, Associate director, National Clinical Governance Support Team,
- Dr Ezekiel J Emanuel, chair Department of Bioethics, The National Institutes of Health in the US.
The Advisory Board will be co-chaired by Baroness Julia Cumberlege, former Health Minister, chair of South West Thames Regional Health Authority and vice-president of the Royal College of Nursing, and Dr Michael Dixon, chairman of the NHS Alliance and practising GP.
Humana Europe has been appointed as one of only four total suppliers to the NHS Framework for procuring External Support for Commissioners (FESC)
Comment on this page
"Every Director should have a coach - someone you can speak with in confidence. James understands business and has a PhD in people. He has an uncanny knack of helping me see the wood from the trees. "