Testimonials
​Gayle has worked with Place2Be in two different capacities - one as a Business Development Consultant and secondly as a Coach. On both fronts Gayle has been brilliant to work with - a huge amount of energy, a determination to move things along and a shared passion in bringing out the best in people, be that the children and young people we support or our teams. We have progressed extensively in the areas Gayle has supported us in. Highly recommend Gayle!
Gayle planned and facilitated a strategy development day for our team. Liaising closely to clarify our needs for the day and the outcomes we wanted to achieve. She then organised and delivered a thoroughly successful day, it was interactive, fun, productive, involved everyone and resulted in clear outcomes.
Gayle is a skilled facilitator with a sound knowledge of business planning processes. She involved us in activities that opened us up to new thinking and ideas. She was able to judge the room and adapt as we went along, kept us all focused and on track, and integrated energisers throughout the day. I would recommend Gayle for this type of work.
Simon Armstrong, Chief Technical Officer
Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP)
Over a period of around 6-8 months, Gayle worked with me to help identify barriers in my thinking and provided some useful tools to help boost my confidence and performance in the workplace. Gayle listened, challenged some of my assumptions and gently encouraged me to grow and push myself. As a direct result of her input and support I progressed to a senior manager role and I would thoroughly recommend her as an excellent coach.
Senior Manager Open University
I appointed Gayle Hudson to a developmental and managerial post at the Open University and she was subsequently a highly valued colleague for nine years. Throughout that time Gayle demonstrated strategic leadership, most especially in the area of partnership brokering. She is entrepreneurial and a self-starter, and invariably keen to innovate and develop creative solutions to various challenges. A key element of her approach is that she is clearsighted on the need to deliver outcomes and agreed targets - she is without doubt a ‘completer-finisher’. Gayle has excellent interpersonal skills, is a good manager of people and a constructive and collegiate team player. Her people-skills have been honed and put to good use in her commitment to professional coaching and personal mentoring - in this, and in her work more generally, she has highly developed facilitation skills. I would recommend Gayle very strongly and without reservation to any future employer or anyone who may have the opportunity to work with her.
Rob Humphreys CBE, FLSW
Senior higher education professional
I was extremely impressed with Gayle’s professionalism and her ability to focus on delivery, yet keeping an eye on strategy and she has excellent strategic planning skills.
She was a strong team player and supportive and helpful to colleagues. Her knowledge of widening participation is exemplary and she has a strong values-based ethos for her work. Gayle is innovative and creative in her approach and develops strong partnerships through her working relationships with colleagues internally and externally.
Gayle is a great networker. She was able to identify opportunities, particularly with partners and maximise them for mutual benefit. One of the examples where she has really made an impact with regard to widening participation is her work for student carers where she worked over eight years with the Carers Trust and others to shape practice and policy not only in Wales but across the whole of the UK within The Open University.
She is focused and has excellent project management skills, including bid writing for externally and internally funded projects. She secured the funding and set the ground work for a £500,000 Wales wide project in collaboration with the further education sector.
Lynnette Thomas
Deputy Director Open University Wales
Her excellent organisational and development skills have made a huge impact on projects whether that be by securing external funding to developing a Badged Open Course (BOC) on OpenLearn Cymru. In addition, her expert facilitation skills have brought a range of people from across departments together. Gayle's ability to clearly articulate the issues has been instrumental in rallying people around a focused aim and, more crucially, her tenacity in seeking solutions to complex problems has delivered tangible results in policy and practice.
Ceri Wilock - Assistant Director OU in Wales
I have known Gayle since 2012 when she trained and qualified as part of the internal coaching network with the Open University. Over the following years, she has regularly coached managers in various roles across the university. She has played an active role in the coaching network, attending regular supervision and on-going training. I have consistently received excellent feedback from her ‘coachees’ and their line managers on the impact of her coaching. Gayle has been one of our high performing coaches. She is very adaptable and depending on the needs of the ‘coachees’, has worked with clients via face to face, Skype and telephone sessions. She has also worked successfully offering intensive one off sessions as well as under taking longer term contracts with clients. I have no hesitation in recommending Gayle as a coach.
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Over a period of around 6-8 months, Gayle worked with me to help identify barriers in my thinking and provided some useful tools to help boost my confidence and performance in the workplace. Gayle listened, challenged some of my assumptions and gently encouraged me to grow and push myself. As a direct result of her input and support I progressed to a senior manager role and I would thoroughly recommend her as an excellent coach.
Senior Manager Open University
I appointed Gayle Hudson to a developmental and managerial post at the Open University and she was subsequently a highly valued colleague for nine years. Throughout that time Gayle demonstrated strategic leadership, most especially in the area of partnership brokering. She is entrepreneurial and a self-starter, and invariably keen to innovate and develop creative solutions to various challenges. A key element of her approach is that she is clearsighted on the need to deliver outcomes and agreed targets - she is without doubt a ‘completer-finisher’. Gayle has excellent interpersonal skills, is a good manager of people and a constructive and collegiate team player. Her people-skills have been honed and put to good use in her commitment to professional coaching and personal mentoring - in this, and in her work more generally, she has highly developed facilitation skills. I would recommend Gayle very strongly and without reservation to any future employer or anyone who may have the opportunity to work with her.
Rob Humphreys CBE, FLSW
Senior higher education professional
I was extremely impressed with Gayle’s professionalism and her ability to focus on delivery, yet keeping an eye on strategy and she has excellent strategic planning skills.
She was a strong team player and supportive and helpful to colleagues. Her knowledge of widening participation is exemplary and she has a strong values-based ethos for her work. Gayle is innovative and creative in her approach and develops strong partnerships through her working relationships with colleagues internally and externally.
Gayle is a great networker. She was able to identify opportunities, particularly with partners and maximise them for mutual benefit. One of the examples where she has really made an impact with regard to widening participation is her work for student carers where she worked over eight years with the Carers Trust and others to shape practice and policy not only in Wales but across the whole of the UK within The Open University.
She is focused and has excellent project management skills, including bid writing for externally and internally funded projects. She secured the funding and set the ground work for a £500,000 Wales wide project in collaboration with the further education sector.
Lynnette Thomas
Deputy Director Open University Wales
Her excellent organisational and development skills have made a huge impact on projects whether that be by securing external funding to developing a Badged Open Course (BOC) on OpenLearn Cymru. In addition, her expert facilitation skills have brought a range of people from across departments together. Gayle's ability to clearly articulate the issues has been instrumental in rallying people around a focused aim and, more crucially, her tenacity in seeking solutions to complex problems has delivered tangible results in policy and practice.
Ceri Wilock - Assistant Director OU in Wales
I have known Gayle since 2012 when she trained and qualified as part of the internal coaching network with the Open University. Over the following years, she has regularly coached managers in various roles across the university. She has played an active role in the coaching network, attending regular supervision and on-going training. I have consistently received excellent feedback from her ‘coachees’ and their line managers on the impact of her coaching. Gayle has been one of our high performing coaches. She is very adaptable and depending on the needs of the ‘coachees’, has worked with clients via face to face, Skype and telephone sessions. She has also worked successfully offering intensive one off sessions as well as under taking longer term contracts with clients. I have no hesitation in recommending Gayle as a coach.
Julie Stock - Coaching Programme Manager, Open University
Patrick Johnston, Director of Learning and Practice
Place2Be