Richard Winfield is the creator of The Directors' Academy, providing distance learning resources for director development. www.thedirectorsacademy.com

His expertise has developed over a series of careers and specialisms, always combining his love of learning with his talent for systems and communication and a commitment to helping individuals and teams realise their potential.

The result is a rounded individual with comprehensive international experience and knowledge that is both broad and deep.

Richard helps directors and boards become more effective by clarifying goals, improving communication and applying good corporate governance.

Clients call him when they need to bring structure and clarity to their thinking. He can help you identify core issues and make the complex simple, holding the space for you to create your own solutions.

Recognise him for his sharp interventions and a wicked sense of humour. If you think he is being direct, notice the warmth in his eyes. He is driven by curiosity; he wants to make things clear.

Richard designed, developed and commissioned the world's first bus location system and won several awards for strategy development for rural public transport.

He co-founded a newspaper publishing company and managed its sale to EMAP.

He facilitated some 20 Investors in People projects, including the first magistrates court in the country and the first local authority in Wales.

He was responsible for the development of directors of subsidiaries of an international engineering group.

He created 'Invisible Coaching - the art of natural coaching' and developed coach training programmes for training companies.

He now specialises in director development and corporate governance, training and facilitating workshops internationally.

He is the creator of The Directors' Academy - online portal providing distance learning resources for director development.

Richard is the author of several books on coaching and governance, including the 'New Directors Handbook' series.

His academic qualifications include: BSc Civil Engineering, MSc Highways and Transport, MSc Management and Technology. He is also a master practitioner in NLP.