Sara Boas is the founding director and principal coach of boas. Her via™ coaching model forms part of a full set of tools for transformation which are used to transform leadership in business, the public sector, research institutions, NGOs and the arts. She has coached and taught leaders from over 60 countries and is a regular speaker and member of the associate faculty at the London Business School, the Center for Creative Leadership, the Université Libre de Bruxelles and other providers of leadership education. At the heart of Sara’s work is her commitment to honest, creative dialogue. She accompanies and guides individuals with international leadership responsibilities as they learn how to survive their success and grow to the next level of impact and fulfilment. Sara’s work combines insights and methods from psychology, anthropology, organisational behaviour, neuro-linguistic programming, movement observation and philosophy of science. Other sources include dance, yoga and martial arts. Her work is shaped by diverse wisdom traditions and her love of wild nature. In 2003 Sara established the Foundation for the Arts in Social Transformation (FAST), a global voluntary organisation which uses artistic processes and dialogue to enable young people and members of vulnerable and marginalised groups to realise their creative potential and take a leading role in their own communities.

Matthew Speyer is a coach and consultant in leadership and personal development. He is a member of the core team at boas, supervising the coaching work and ensuring that psychological and social aspects of business leadership are taken into account in design and delivery of leadership development. He also provides advanced professional development to senior teams in medical and community service. Matthew has been a speaker and board member in pan-European psychological associations and is a director and co-founder of the Institute for Men’s Development in Göttingen, Germany. His degrees in mathematics, philosophy and psychology (from Oxford and Göttingen, respectively) reflect his commitment to breadth and depth of enquiry. He lives in Germany with his wife and son, and finds balance and inspiration in contact with nature and the outdoors.

Guest faculty
Past guests have included Robert Dilts, co-founder of Neuro-Linguistic Programming; Susannah Darling Kahn, co-director of the ‘School of Movement Medecine’; Philippe Rosinski, author of ‘Coaching Across Cultures’, ‘Supercoach’ Mike Munro Turner and Non-Violent- Communication expert Godfrey Spencer.