Core team

Octavius Black is the Co-Founder and CEO of Mind Gym, which he co-founded in 2000. Octavius co-authored Mind Gym’s four books and has written in The Times, Financial Times and The Sunday Telegraph. Octavius co-founded Parent Gym with Joanne Black. Prior to founding Mind Gym, Octavius was a director of the organisational communications consultancy Smythe Dorward Lambert and prior to that he was an analyst at Booz Allen Hamilton. Octavius read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at The Queen’s College, Oxford University.

Joanne Black is the Non-Executive Board Chair at Mind Gym, and a former barrister and parliamentary candidate. Joanne was called to the bar in 1994 and practised as a human rights barrister until 2010. She co-founded Parent Gym in 2009 and joined the Board of Mind Gym in 2011 becoming Non-Executive Chair in 2014. Other previous roles include Vice-Chair of the Fawcett Society and board advisor to Women2Win. Joanne read English Literature at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University.

Dr. Sebastian Bailey is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Mind Gym. Sebastian has led the development of Mind Gym’s products since its inception, from the portfolio of 90-minute workout to the latest digital eWorkouts. Sebastian conducted the definitive academic research on how to maximise the transfer of learning, which underpins Mind Gym’s proposition. Sebastian co-authored the four Mind Gym books. Sebastian gained a PhD from Bristol University with a thesis entitled “Maximising transfer: How learning translates into action in organisations.”

Richard Steele joined Mind Gym as Chief Financial Officer in March 2018. From 2012 until January 2018, Richard served as Finance Director of Cook Trading Limited, the frozen ready meal retailer. Prior to this, he was Finance Director at the retailer White Stuff Limited from 2007 to 2012. Richard has also held a variety of finance roles within Principles Retail Limited and Easy Group and started his career at Tate and Lyle plc where he qualified as an accountant and worked for 10 years from 1989.

Baroness Diana "Dido" Mary Harding is Senior Independent Non-Executive Director on the Mind Gym board. Dido is also a non-executive director on The Court of the Bank of England and Chair of the Bank’s Remuneration Committee. Dido was previously Chief Executive of TalkTalk Telecom Group plc from 2010 to May 2017 and prior to that held a variety of senior roles at both J Sainsbury plc and Tesco plc. Dido has also served on the boards of The British Land Company plc and Cheltenham Racecourse. In August 2014, Dido was offered a peerage and sits in the House of Lords as a Conservative peer. She was appointed to the Economic Affairs Committee of the Lords in July 2017. Dido is a trustee of Doteveryone, a think tank which champions responsible technology and she is a member of the UK National Holocaust Foundation Board. Dido became Chair of NHS Improvement on 30 October 2017.

Sally Tilleray is Independent Non-Executive Director on the Mind Gym board. Sally has served as Group Chief Operating Officer and Finance Director at Huntsworth plc, the international public relations and healthcare communications group, from 2004 to 2014. Sally is an experienced marketing services agency executive and has been Non-Executive Chairman at Cognito Europe since 2016. In July 2019 she became a Non-Executive Director of NAHL plc, the AIM-listed consumer legal focussed marketing and services business. From 1999 to 2003, she held the role of CFO Europe for Predictive Inc., an IT network consulting business which undertook an IPO on Nasdaq in 2000. Prior to this, she held senior finance positions at Imperial Software, Unique Solutions, Dowty Communications and Sunlight. She started her CIMA qualification at Bayer UK and completed it while working at Schlumberger plc.

David Nelson is Non-Executive Director on the Mind Gym board. David qualified as a chartered accountant in 1987 and has been a partner of Dixon Wilson since 1990, serving as Senior Partner from 2008 to 2018. David is a non-executive director of a number of family-owned companies. He is an adviser to UK-based families and their businesses, advising on financial and tax matters 24 in the UK and overseas. He is also a trustee of a number of UK trusts. David is a non-executive director on the board of Daily Mail and General Trust plc (LSE: DMGT) and also sits on the Audit and Risk Committee and Remuneration and Nomination Committee.

Octavius Black is CEO of Mind Gym which he co-founded in his kitchen on 01/01/01. Octavius writes extensively in the Financial Times, Times, Sunday Telegraph and City AM, and has co-authored four books. He also leads Mind Gym’s CSR program, Parent Gym, which delivers free parenting programs in socially challenged areas across the UK.

Dr. Sebastian Bailey is a thought-leader, Co-Founder and President of Mind Gym where he consults on the future of learning for global organizations. Sebastian holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology with Cognitive Science from the University College of London and a PhD from the University of Bristol, where his thesis focused on how to maximize the transfer of learning in organizations.

As Chief Creative Officer, Mary-Clare is responsible for leading Mind Gym’s team of psychologists to deliver high-quality, effective and innovative solutions to our clients. A chartered business psychologist and leadership expert, she has over 10 years’ experience, at all levels of business, in Leadership and Management Development, Diversity and Inclusion, Organizational Change, and Talent Management.

Ryan Boughan serves as the Global Head of Client Team with Mind Gym. He has been with Mind Gym since 2011 and his experience of growing our client base helps inform Mind Gym’s strategy on marketing, recruiting and retention, solution support and design, and the prioritisation and launch of new products and points of view in the marketplace. Ryan is the Executive Sponsor on many of Mind Gym’s largest and most complex client accounts working in partnership with the management team and senior sales team to oversee and broaden our client relationships across the globe.

Richard Steele joined Mind Gym as Chief Financial Officer in March 2018. From 2012 until January 2018, Richard served as Finance Director of Cook Trading Limited, the frozen ready meal retailer. Prior to this, he was Finance Director at the retailer White Stuff Limited from 2007 to 2012. Richard has also held a variety of finance roles within Principles Retail Limited and Easy Group and started his career at Tate and Lyle plc where he qualified as an accountant and worked for 10 years from 1989.

David Turnbull joined Mind Gym as Chief Operating Officer in November 2018. Prior to that, he worked for three years as the COO of Heidrick Consulting, the consulting arm of Heidrick & Struggles, the executive search firm, and spent 15 years at McKinsey & Co., the management consultancy, working as a consultant and then as global manager of McKinsey’s Organisation Practice.

Tara Tapper joined Mind Gym in January 2019 having held senior HR leadership roles across a wide range of industries including retail, legal, health, IT, and financial services. Most recently, she successfully led change and transformation programs in the FinTech sector, including at Zopa, HSBC and as Group HR Director of Wonga. Tara also brings significant international experience having spent four years in India, where she established and managed the Human Resources department for the Royal Bank of Scotland’s offshore business.