COURSE FACILITATORS
Dr Theo Nell
Background
Dr Theo Nell is a registered industrial psychologist with more than 30 years of experience across the private, public, and higher education sectors. He specializes in organizational development, change management, leadership development, talent management, and executive coaching.
He is recognized for combining a strong people-centered orientation with a disciplined systems-thinking approach. His work focuses on helping leaders uncover the deeper drivers of performance, culture, and capability, and translating strategic intent into practical, sustainable action.
Experience
Throughout his career, Theo has held senior leadership roles in Human Resources, Organizational Development, Talent and Leadership Development, and as Chief People Officer across diverse organizations. These roles have enabled him to work effectively across all organizational levels, lead complex change initiatives, and design leadership and learning interventions that result in measurable behavioral and performance improvement. Theo has held several senior line management roles, providing him with firsthand insight into the complex challenges leaders navigate on a daily basis.
Theo holds a Masters degree in Industrial Psychology, and a Doctorate in Leadership, Performance and Change.
He is currently the Owner and Director of Connect to Grow, where he partners with clients across sectors and countries to deliver organizational development, leadership development, and executive coaching services. He also facilitates organizational development workshops that equip HR practitioners to lead and sustain transformation within their organizations.
Approach and Expertise
Theo’s approach is grounded in systems thinking, practical application, and measurable outcomes. He works collaboratively with leaders and teams to move beyond surface-level solutions, enabling them to build clarity, alignment, and capability that drive sustained impact. He is particularly skilled at helping organizations translate strategy into aligned behaviors, leadership practices, and cultural shifts.
Professional Commitment
Theo’s work is grounded in integrity, clarity, and trust. He is deeply committed to enabling leaders and teams to move from intention to meaningful, sustained impact. He brings both rigor and humanity to his practice, ensuring that transformation is not only strategically sound, but also practically embedded and enduring.
Melanie Glickman
Background
Melanie Glickman is a certified coach and facilitator with nearly 30 years of professional experience. The first half of her career was spent in corporate roles, including as a Vice President, which gave her firsthand insight into organisational complexity and the real demands placed on those who lead, particularly during periods of uncertainty. The second half of her career has been dedicated to coaching clients and facilitating workshops covering topics such as leadership development, change management, team dynamics, coaching skills, effective communication, emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, and related organisational topics.
Experience
Over the years, Melanie has coached hundreds and trained thousands of leaders and professionals. She works with individuals and groups to strengthen leadership and communication, supporting organisational effectiveness and the conditions that enable employees to thrive and projects to progress.
In addition to being a Master British Certified Trainer, Melanie is a Certified Neurodiversity Aware Coach, a Certified ADHD Coach, and a Certified Burnout Coach. She holds the Professional Certified Coach credential from the International Coaching Federation and an Executive MBA from Duke University.
Approach and Expertise
Melanie’s style is approachable, empathetic, and thoughtfully challenging. She aims to meet people where they are and create an inclusive, reflective space that supports growth without judgement. Her work is about giving people room to think deeply, question assumptions, and reconnect with what matters to them as well as their teams and organisations.
Professional Commitment
Having lived in the US, England, and Germany before settling in Wales, Melanie brings an international perspective and a deep appreciation for the richness of diversity and the many ways people find purpose in their work. Her work is shaped by respect for individual differences and a neuro-affirming belief that performance improves when support fits how people think, feel, and work.
Mette Hvied Lauesen
Background
Mette Hvied Lauesen is a certified coach and facilitator working with organization development, leadership practice and professional resilience. For the past eight years she has delivered leadership training across three continents, working with approximately 200 leaders annually, primarily in research, academic and knowledge-intensive environments. She holds an MA and has many years of experience as a communications advisor in complex organizations in both the private and public sectors. This combination gives her a practical understanding of how leadership, communication and culture play out in real organisational life, not only in theory but in everyday interactions.
Experience
Mette works with leaders, researchers and professional teams navigating demanding and complex work settings. Her focus is on strengthening leadership capacity, clarifying communication and supporting healthier ways of working under pressure. She facilitates leadership programmes, group processes and individual coaching in ways that connect directly to participants’ daily realities and organizational context.
Approach and Expertise
Her areas of expertise include leadership under pressure, stress and capacity management, organizational communication and grief-informed workplace support. She combines structured coaching frameworks with behavioural insight and reflective practice to support development that is both realistic and usable. Her sessions are known for being clear, grounded and practical, and she believes that learning tends to stick better when there is room for perspective, honesty and a bit of humour along the way.
Professional Commitment
Mette’s facilitation style is calm, pragmatic and participant-centred. She aims to create spaces where people can think clearly, speak openly and experiment with new approaches, while keeping the work relevant, respectful and occasionally light-hearted. She is committed to helping leaders and organizations build sustainable practices that support both performance and wellbeing over time.”
Susan Myburg
Background
Susan Myburg is a registered Industrial Psychologist and highly experienced leadership and organizational development practitioner, with 41 years of experience across the private and public sectors. She spent 23 years in banking and 12 years in the public sector, developing deep expertise across the full HR value chain.
Her areas of passion include organizational development, organizational effectiveness, and executive coaching. Susan is recognized for her ability to operate at both strategic and operational levels, combining a strong people-centred orientation with a disciplined, systems-oriented approach to understanding and addressing culture, performance, leadership, and organizational dynamics.
Experience
Susan has held senior and executive leadership roles, with responsibility for leading and delivering the full spectrum of HR functions. She has consistently been entrusted with high-impact initiatives beyond her formal portfolio, strengthening her capability in organizational and business management, strategy, governance, and compliance.
Over the past six years, she has led her own consulting practice, partnering with clients across sectors and countries to enhance organizational effectiveness and optimization. Her work includes executive coaching, consulting, facilitation, strategic alignment, and large-scale organizational optimization interventions. Susan is an experienced facilitator of Large Group Interactive Change (LGIC) processes and brings extensive exposure to systems psychodynamic consulting, leadership development, team effectiveness, and change management initiatives.
Approach and Expertise
Susan brings strong depth in organizational development, optimization, and effectiveness methodologies. Her work is grounded in systems thinking and informed by a systems psychodynamic perspective, enabling her to surface and work with the underlying dynamics that shape behavior, culture, and performance. She is highly skilled in facilitating transformation and change across diverse contexts and group sizes — from executive teams to large-scale interactive change processes. Her expertise spans strategy alignment, leadership development, culture and values work, team dynamics, and executive coaching, with a focus on sustainable organizational impact.
Susan holds a Master’s Degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology and has completed the Executive Development Programmed at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS). She continues to build on this strong academic foundation through ongoing professional development, facilitation, and applied systems work across multiple sectors.
Professional Commitment
Susan is committed to enabling organizations and leaders to achieve meaningful and sustained effectiveness. She approaches her work with integrity, depth, and practical wisdom, ensuring that transformation efforts are both strategically aligned and behaviorally embedded.
CONTACT US
Contact us to find out how to register.
Dr Theo Nell
e-mail: theo@connecttogrow.co.za
mobile: +351 918255301