Clare Edwards

Clare Edwards is Principal of BrainSmart Consulting and is committed to enabling people to work smarter, lead effectively, build great teams and thrive in change. Clare is particularly passionate about the people side of change, a critical success factor in any change initiative, and works with teams and leaders to transition from change being feared to being embraced.

First building a career in hospitality with a major hotel chain, then with global IT organisations, Clare spent 16 years working at senior management level with European and American corporates. Roles included Head of Corporate Development for XO Global Communications, Customer Marketing Manager for SAP UK and Head of Support Services Europe, Middle East and Africa for Datapro Research Corporation.

Clare has worked in and managed multinational teams and it was in the turn of the Millennium Internet ‘boom and bust’ that she realised her vocation for helping people fulfil their potential as she coached more than 60 people through a major retrenchment program.

Following her passion for people development, Clare transitioned to working with 2 leading UK team development companies, assisting key clients including The Prime Minister’s Office and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to take their teams to the next level of performance. An intuitive ability to sense challenges and opportunities in inter-team dynamics, to help organisations create or enhance their culture and to facilitate sustainable change through people, are some of her signature strengths.

With her series of ‘Change your Brain’ Keynotes, Clare speaks frequently at Industry Association and Leadership conferences. Recent conference clients include NPA Worldwide, Mission Australia, CompTIA, The Executive Assistant Congress, Institute of Managers and Leaders and Hays Consulting.

Clare is fluent in the Dutch language and conversant in French and German. She has consulted to a number of organisations in the UK, USA, SE Asia and Australia, including commercial, public sector and not for profit clients. In 2015 Clare rebranded her business to BrainSmart following extensive study of the evidence-based Neuroscience of Leadership and Change.

Qualifications and Accreditations include an Advanced Diploma of the Neuroscience of Leadership, a Postgraduate Diploma in Management Studies (University of West London), Team Management Systems® (TMS) Practitioner and Opportunity Orientation Profile Practitioner, Everything DiSC and The Five Behaviours of a Cohesive Team accreditation and Certified Master Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP).

Memberships include a Fellow of The Institute of Managers and Leaders ANZ (FIML) and Professional Member status of the Professional Speaking Association (PSA) and membership of the Change Management Institute and Institute for Learning Professionals. .