Who We Are
Apex Leadership Limited was founded by Anthony Sturgess and Phil Higson. They are both experienced management educators and developers, and former business school department heads.
Anthony and Phil established their business to help organisations benefit from management theory, knowledge, ideas and insights. Bridging the gap between this wealth of resource and the workplace is one of the key aims of Apex Leadership Limited.
They have a long track record of developing innovative and challenging management and leadership development interventions, including programmes which have won national awards. From several MBA programmes to tailored, client specific programmes, Anthony and Phil have worked with new and experienced managers, in a wide range of organisations, across a breadth of management and leadership roles.
Anthony Sturgess
Anthony has almost twenty years experience in the teaching, facilitation and coaching of managers and leaders. This experience ranges from individual leadership and management development to leading organisational change.
Anthony has worked with a wide range of managers from small and large organisations. More widely, he has worked within client organisations, using an internal consultancy approach to create tailored development solutions and programmes. These have supported numerous public and private sector organisations to successfully develop their managers, to achieve effective change, and to realise genuine organisational improvements.
Anthony:
- is trained in action learning and hybrid action learning approaches;
- has long experience in working with real projects and improvement issues in organisations;
- has facilitated and supported 360 degree feedback processes for managers and leaders;
- is a former Executive Education Manager at Chester Business School;
- is currently engaged in doctoral research into improving how organisations engage with universities, and how leadership and management development interventions can be designed to have greater impact;
- has authored or created numerous training and development tools;
- is experienced in managing large projects to create published management and leadership development resources, including resources with the Pearson Group’s management development business for their corporate clients;
- has developed a knowledge portal approach to leadership and management development in organisations, enabling businesses to more effectively link a wide knowledge base to help them manage their specific issues, challenges and opportunities.
Phil Higson
Phil is former head of two departments in the University of Chester’s Business School (firstly Business, then Marketing, Tourism and Services Management).
He is a published author and active researcher, with over 20 years experience in business and management education as lecturer, course developer, manager, external examiner and consultant. He has worked mainly in UK universities although he has also consulted or taught in France, Russia and Hong Kong.
A former MBA course leader, Phil has also written research articles and conference papers exploring the role of business schools in workplace management development. Before becoming an educator, Phil worked in several small and large organisations, in both the UK and Australia.
This combination of management experience in small and large organisations, in both private and public sectors, has given Phil a wide ranging perspective on work and management.
Phil:
- has almost 40 years of management experience in small and large organisations, in both private and public sectors;
- is trained and experienced in teaching adult learners;
- has authored or created numerous training and development tools;
- is experienced in managing large projects to support management and leadership development in organisations;
- counts strategic management, marketing, services management, and customer care among his teaching areas of expertise.