About us

Karen Bladen, Managing Director

Karen Bladen is Managing Director of Protégé Management Limited. She began her career in publishing and exhibition management, and at the age of 25 was appointed to the Board of Blenheim Exhibitions and Conferences Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Blenheim Group plc. Prior to joining Protégé Karen has been working to support small businesses across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

Paul Cooper, Consultant

Paul Cooper is the founder of Protégé Management Limited.  Since leaving the Royal Navy in 1989, Paul has held a number of senior management roles in large corporations. He has also developed, and runs, several businesses including a food manufacturing company and a project management consultancy.

Janet Barrett, Consultant

Janet is an experienced procurement professional, and has worked in Local Government for 33 years. She is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supplies and holds a Certificate in Management. Janet brings a range of experience and skills to the team, and will be focusing on providing services to public sector organisations to develop Procurement and Sustainable Procurement Strategies, as well as delivering training and consultancy to support implementation of the National Sustainable Procurement Strategy.

Ian Williams, Consultant

Ian has recently joined the Protégé Management as a consultant from the Small Business Service where he was responsible for national policy on small business access to public procurement opportunities including the launch of the www.supply2.gov.uk opportunities portal. He worked closely with the Office of Government Commerce and was responsible for a number of initiatives to reduce burdens on small businesses pursuing government contracts. His career in the Department of Trade and Industry included various positions developing UK exports.

Sue Murkin, Coach

Sue is a qualified personal performance coach and trainer. Prior to becoming a coach Sue spent 13 years at management level in the property industry. Sue has a Diploma in Personal Performance Coaching, a Masters in NLP & Hypnotic Re-patterning.

Mike & Gill Thomas

Mike & Gill Thomas facilitate training in Construction Partnering and Integrated Project Teamworking for the public and private sectors. Mike is an experienced construction professional and was responsible for introducing Partnering and Value Management into a Top 100 FTSE company in the early 1990s. Gill is an education and communication specialist, concentrating on the soft skills in construction teams.

Charles Burt , Consultant & Trainer

After a successful management career in the insurance industry, Charles completed a Masters in Environmental Science. He helps businesses meet rising environmental pressures and embrace the challenges and opportunities of climate change and sustainable development. Charles is also a director of Groundwork Solent, Sector Leader for Sustainable Aviation at Farnborough Aerospace Consortium, a member of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Sustainable Business Partnership Management Group.

Chris Ward, Consultant & Trainer

After a career in the Army, Chris moved into Management, spending 25 years running retail stores for blue chip companies. His specialism is health & safety training which is delivered with Chris's unique sense of humour and panache. He is passionate in his support of his chosen charity - "Scope".

Chris is very proud of a critique from a recent course he ran..."you have far too much personality to be a Health & Safety Trainer"!

Dan Szabunia, Trainer

An excellent facilitator and coach with 11 years' organisational and management development experience.  Specialist expertise in :

» Organisational Development, specifically design, development and implementation of organisational change programmes
» Leadership development
» Group facilitation
» Design, development and facilitation of personal development workshops
» Senior and executive management coaching