Our back story

About us

We increase resilience and improve performance. Whichever way the wind is blowing, our programmes develop your people and build a culture to endure and thrive through tough times.

Extensive and wide ranging experience setting teams up right, managing growing pains, turning around underperforming teams, and navigating crises.

We have five principles. We help your leadership teams:

  • Be clear about the team you want to build and where you want it to go. Every team is different, so give yours the tools and purpose they need to stay focused, know their work matters, and understand what’s expected. As the team grows and changes, keep a steady focus on balance and progress.

  • Embrace a culture of continuous improvement with the humility to recognise successes and failures, learning from both to support growth. This approach helps the team and each individual to develop by identifying, sharing, and embedding best practices—avoiding the need to “reinvent the wheel” every few years.

  • Caring for yourself and your team is essential. Kindness builds trust and understanding, supporting everyone’s success. Good communication and healthy habits, physical, mental, and digital, are key to staying effective. True leadership isn’t about being “nice” or “tough”, it's about balancing empathy with accountability, helping teams stay resilient and prepared for any challenge.

  • If values aren’t matched by real behaviours, they lose meaning. Small actions matter, as colleagues will notice and draw conclusions from what they see. Consistent and genuine behaviour has a powerful, positive impact.

  • Leaders who invest in developing others create lasting impact and a built-in succession plan. Egos and hidden agendas undermine progress, but a culture that nurtures talent through genuine support and example builds lasting success and resilience.

Ready to lead with confidence? 

Meet the Founders

  • Brad Berwick

    Brad’s leadership journey began in the U.S. Army in 1991. It was in the Army where he learned the core principles of leadership and realised his passion for leading, mentoring and training people. Above all else, Brad learned the vital importance of leading by example with the understanding that “rules without relationship leads to rebellion”. Since then, Brad has gained over 30 years of leadership experience, including 12 years as a Secret Service special agent and 10 years working for a major oil and gas company.  

    During his time in the Secret Service, he had the privileged opportunity to protect numerous U.S. Presidents, Vice Presidents and various foreign Heads of State. It was during this time that he further honed his leadership skills, collaborating with a diverse group of both foreign and domestic stakeholders, including government officials, business leaders, military leaders, and law enforcement officials.

    In 2014 Brad transitioned to the corporate sector where he worked as an Investigations Manager for a major Oil and Gas company. In 2017 he moved to London where he rebuilt the Investigations team for Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). After successfully building a new team, Brad was promoted to the Head of Investigations for EMEA. His final role in Oil and Gas was establishing a new role within the company as the Head of Ethics and Compliance Integration and Case Management, based in Houston, Texas.

    Brad founded Venturi to share what he’s learned about leadership: building relationships and creating a culture of care and accountability, not overcomplicating things. His approach focuses on real-world lessons, honest discussions, and practical advice. Certified in Color-Me, he believes self-awareness and open conversations are two of the keys to effective leadership.

  • Richard Mackintosh

    Richard’s interest in understanding what drives people and helps them perform at their best began in 1979 through outdoor education. Over 25 years in the UK government and 10 years in senior corporate roles, he developed expertise in building, leading, and transforming teams, including addressing toxic dynamics. His focus has always been on helping people reach their full potential, regardless of their background.

    Venturi was founded from these experiences to provide leadership training that is tailored, practical, and lasting. Richard emphasises creating high-trust environments that attract top talent, foster innovation, and make workplaces more rewarding.

    As a trainer, coach, and leader, Richard has a practical, engaging style, using exercises and role plays to encourage exploration and insight. Certified in Color-Me, he sees it as a valuable tool for unlocking personal and team potential.

Associates

  • Sue Watson

    Associate

    Sue’s leadership career began in banking, however, after a few years she moved into Learning and Development and became a qualified Leadership & Management Development Specialist, Change Manager and Executive Coach.

    During her career she has gained extensive international experience in the UK, Europe, Australia, the US and India & across diverse industries, including financial services, telecommunications, professional services, IT, construction, retail, not-for-profit and education.

    Sue is passionate about helping people to grow and develop & believes that everyone already has what they need to succeed. She creates a safe and trusting environment with clients to enable them to unlock their true potential and challenge any limiting beliefs and behaviours. Sue’s approach balances passion, energy and creativity underpinned with pragmatic and structured solutions. She has in-depth experience of working with business leaders and their teams, from individual contributors to C-Suite members and business owners.

  • Gary Deakin CBE

    Gary Deakin is a distinguished former Major General in the British Army and Evoke International’s International Affairs and Crisis Management Director. An internationally experienced thought leader with a proven record in developing and implementing winning growth strategies, all the time with people at the centre. Gary is an expert in achieving unity of effort and he is a leader you want on your team to mentor, coach or guide you through a crisis.

    Gary is the founder of Kingfisher Consulting Ltd and the Chief Business Officer for the tech start up My Medical Gateway. He is an Othrys Associate, a strategic security and risk advisory company founded on public service values and ethics. He also advises a French security think tank; OPEWI (Institute for War).

    His last military appointment was Chief of Staff of a NATO Joint Force Command responsible for the planning and execution of NATO operations across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Gary has extensive commercial experience in the renewable energy and security advisory sectors in the UK and Central America.

    Previously he served as Commander Deputy Director Strategy, Plans, and Policy in US Central Command; Director of the Comprehensive Crisis Operations and Management Centre in NATO’s Allied Command Operations Belgium; Special Adviser to the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee.  He has been decorated for leadership twice.

  • Ross McDermott

    Ross has a passion for the ‘life skill’ of effective communication and how it links to effective leadership and coaching. His ‘North Star’ is to help others enhance and continually improve their skills in these areas.

    This vocation evolved from a career as an operational Hostage and Crisis Negotiator within the UK Police Service. He would later combine deployment in the field with leading large investigative departments as a senior officer, on top of training negotiation as a specialist skill.

    During this time, he was privileged to travel and work across countries and cultures, delivering training to groups within law enforcement and military units, supporting them in facing some of the most challenging interactions.

    Since 2017, Ross has worked in multi-national and global organisations, taking on corporate leadership roles within the fields of Risk, Resilience, Safety & Security and Operations. He is also a highly respected coach and mentor.

    Ross brings his experience from both the public sector and private industry. He uses this unique blend to help others develop the skills to benefit from more effective engagement with people and groups, in any environment.

Ready to lead with confidence?