Global Team, Authors & Partners

Co-Founders

Nicole van der Merwe
Director

Nicole is an International Facilitator, Business Consultant, Coach and Keynote Speaker on the subjects of Leadership Development, Business and Personal Mastery. With an impressive corporate career spanning over 17 years of senior leadership roles, She is no stranger to constant and never-ending improvement in challenging and dynamic landscapes having relocated internationally 4 times with her family. Her experience has taught her the importance of connection, humility, adaptability, and relatedness; how to develop emotional resilience and adapt strategies to manage the change and get ahead. Nicole is the co-founder of Mastery Global.

Hank van der Merwe
Co-Founder

Hank is the co-founder of Mastery Global and is an internationally recognized facilitator, keynote speaker, consultant, coach, and author on the subjects of Business Leadership and Self Mastery. He combines his 20 years of executive corporate experience in the ICT industry with his energetic and entertaining facilitation style making him one of the highest rated consultants in his field internationally. Hank has the ability to engage his audience and create an environment where optimal learning and motivation can take place. His passion for inspiring people with proven content, while having fun at the same time, has set him apart with his clients in over 25 countries in North America, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia Pacific Region. Hank’s first book “Live on Purpose- Mastery Class” was personally endorsed by Ken Blanchard, author of the best-selling “One Minute Manager”.

International Contributing Authors

Dr. Martyn Newman

Martyn Newman, PhD is a clinical psychologist specialising in Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and Mindfulness. He is author of the best-selling book Emotional Capitalists and newly released The Mindfulness Book. And co-author of the Emotional Capital Report™ – the global benchmark for measuring EQ and leadership performance – and the Emotional Intelligence Sports Inventory – the world’s first psychological inventory to measure how EQ supports elite sports performance.

Martyn received his PhD from the University of Sydney and holds an MA from GTU at the University of California, Berkeley, a Masters of Psychology from Monash University, Melbourne, and a Doctor of Psychology from La Trobe University, Melbourne. He has held academic posts as Senior Lecturer at the University of East London, the School of Psychology at ACU National and is currently Visiting Fellow for Leadership at Sheffield Business School, Sheffield Hallam University and an Instructor in Mindfulness on the MBA program, Sydney University.

Dr. Jesse Lyn Stoner

Dr. Jesse Lyn Stoner is one of the foremost experts on helping leaders create a shared vision and the strategies to achieve it. For over twenty-five years, she has worked closely with leaders in hundreds of organizations using collaborative processes to engage the entire workforce in creating their desired future.

She is a former executive director for Guest House Conference Center and currently a director of Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Co-author with Ken Blanchard of the international bestseller Full Steam Ahead: Unleash the Power of Vision and several materials in Blanchard’s Situational Team Leadership program, her clients include Honda, Marriott, Skanska, Stanley Black & Decker, SAP and T.K. Maxx to name a few. Jesse writes an award-winning leadership blog and was named American Management Association’s Leader to Watch, a Top 50 Leadership Expert by INC magazine, and recipient of the Conant Leadership Award. Her writing has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Huffington Post and Forbes.

Dr. Fons Trompenaars

Fons Trompenaars is recognised around world for his work as consultant, trainer, motivational speaker, and author of various books on all subjects of culture and business.

He has spent over 30 years helping Fortune 500 leaders manage and solve their business and cultural dilemmas to increase global effectiveness and performance, particularly in the areas of globalisation, mergers and acquisition, HR, Managing Change, leadership development and digitalisation. Listed regularly as one of the world’s most influential, living, management thinkers, he has been awarded the International Professional Practice Area Research Award by the American Society for Training and Development. Fons was voted one of the top 20 HR Most Influential International Thinkers 2011 by HR Magazine. He is also ranked in the Thinkers50 2011, 2013 and 2015 as being one of the most influential management thinkers alive. He was inducted in the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame in 2017 which salutes distinguished Management Thinkers and their contributions having made a lasting and vital impact on how organisations are led and managed.

International Partners

Trevor Hughes
South Africa / Africa

Trevor Hughes, a Strategy Consultant and Business Coach, brings both passion and expertise to his role across a broad range of industry-leading companies, partnering with executives and leadership teams striving to reach new levels of performance. Trevor’s previous experience includes roles at Gemini Consulting, where he began as a senior strategy consultant and became the Managing Director of the South African business. He has participated in strategy projects in South Africa, UK, and USA, involving growth strategies, corporate portfolio management, sales (customer) and marketing strategies, scenario planning and visioning. Trevor holds an MBA from Wits Business School and a Masters Degree in Philosophy in management coaching from the Stellenbosch Business School. He also has a bachelor degree and a master degree in civil engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand.

Anthony Doyle
South Africa / Africa

Anthony Doyle holds a B Com Honours in business economics and marketing. He has over 25 years experience in sales, marketing, and has held various senior business leadership positions in the FMCG industry in South Africa. Anthony’s passion for building brands and driving sales performance has seen him successfully achieve double digit growth in the blue chip brands that he led. He has delivered multiple consulting projects and sales force effectiveness programs in Africa and South Africa for leading telecoms, liquor and food companies.

Kevin Perkins
United Kingdom

Kevin Perkins is a certified speaking coach with a career of 16 years of public and motivational speaking. Kevin is a cancer survivor, a family man and a keen sportsman and his broad range of life experience resonates with people from every background and culture. The diverse nature of Kevin’s career has led to the development of a broad range of communications skills and the ability to positively engage with business audiences. As an experienced Toastmaster, master storyteller and consummate wordsmith, Kevin demonstrates the techniques and structure required to create presentation mastery.

Donna Obeid
Lebanon / Middle East

Donna brings more than 20 years’ of experience in ICT, financial services and construction industries with proficiency in business transformation, governance and compliance, management consulting, and contracts and project management of large-scale projects of diverse nature. 

She has worked with large leading organisations and consulting groups in the Middle East and South Africa, developing long-term value for clients and partners, building great relationships with people and effective teams, motivating and leading team members.