Treehouse Innovation About us
Founded in 2010, we are a close-knit multidisciplinary team of talented, creative and helpful people committed to enabling our clients to accomplish amazing things.
We have led teams and grown businesses at places like IDEO, Fujitsu, PwC, Phuel, EY and Sumo Digital - and are all seasoned design thinkers.
We love what we do, we are easy to work with, and we share our clients’ high expectations for quality, originality and measurable value in the new services, products and strategies that we help them bring into the world.
Our values
Curious
Curiosity is the heart of innovation. In everything we do, we seek to ask new questions, explore new possibilities, take risks, experiment and continuously learn.
Collaborative
We believe in the power of diverse groups to create better, more innovative solutions. That is why all of our services are delivered with you, not just for you.
Passionate
We are passionate about what we do, and it shows. Going above and beyond for our clients comes naturally to us because we deeply care about the work we do and the positive impact that it can have
Fun
Sense of humour, openness, and a genuine, down-to-Earth style make us who we are as a team. And from what our clients tell us, we’re an easy and pretty enjoyable bunch to work with.
Expert
We really know our stuff. From decades of experience, we know what works, and what does not. And we’re always learning. We uphold the highest possible standards of academic rigour and quality of work in everything we do.
Caring
We understand that our clients entrust us with their most important challenges which will have a real impact on their businesses and working lives. We take this responsibility seriously, and care as deeply about achieving the right outcome as our clients do.
Find us
Treehouse Innovation,
Studio 34, RIVERSIDE BUILDING,
55 Trinity Buoy Wharf,
London E14 0FP
Schedule a call with one of our senior advisors today discuss how Treehouse can help you transform your business and teams and drive innovative growth.
Schedule your free consultationOur team
Adam Billing
Innovation Leader, Facilitator & Speaker
Adam Billing
Innovation Leader, Facilitator & Speaker
Founder of Treehouse Innovation
Adam Billing is the Founder of Treehouse Innovation, a leading, London-based innovation agency that works at the nexus of human-centered design, emerging technology, and organizational culture.
Building Future-Ready Organizations
With over two decades of innovation experience, Adam has served as strategic advisor to CEOs and Innovation Leaders, and has helped organizations like Sky, Sony PlayStation, DLA Piper and AstraZeneca to develop new products, services and more agile, change-ready teams.
Adam is also the founder of a successful software start-up and has designed and led numerous innovation projects, transformation programs, and organizational development and change initiatives.
Thought Leadership
He frequently serves as faculty at the University of Cambridge as part of senior leadership and executive education programs. He is a frequent keynote and conference speaker and published author on innovation – having featured in Forbes, Emerald: Strategy & Leadership, CIPD, ARK Group, Managing Partner, and the International Bar Association.
Prior to founding Treehouse Innovation, Adam worked at Ernst & Young Consulting, and later Capgemini Consulting where he focused on collaborative innovation in the firm’s Accelerated Solutions Environment (ASE). He holds an MBA along with a Masters in Public & International Affairs.
Roots, Rhythms, and Restoration
Beyond his corporate achievements, Adam was also the founder of a touring rock band that was signed to Sony Music, where he composed and performed for audiences in the US, UK and Europe, before re-focusing his creative energies back on the world of design and innovation.
In his downtime, he enjoys hanging out with his wife and two kids, tackling ambitious historic home restoration projects, hiking in the Cotswolds, and travelling back to his hometown of Cincinnati Ohio to stay connected with his roots.
Duncan Brannan
Lead Consultant, Designer & Facilitator
Duncan Brannan
Lead Consultant, Designer & Facilitator
Overview
Duncan helps individuals and organisations uncover deep human insights, embrace their creative confidence, and collaborate more effectively to tackle complex challenges.
As a senior leader at Treehouse Innovation, Duncan has spent over a decade shaping the strategy, culture, and delivery of a team dedicated to making innovation accessible, actionable, and impactful.
His facilitation style is engaging and grounded, helping people feel heard and inspired while pushing their thinking further.
Projects
Duncan has led innovation initiatives for organisations across industries, including the Bank for International Settlements, Capgemini, DLA Piper, and the Financial Conduct Authority.
His work spans from designing future-focused leadership events with 400+ global executives, to guiding design sprints that generate solutions for people living with disabilities, to facilitating strategic conversations around AI and the future of law.
During the pandemic, he led a global team in reimagining the smart home of the future for KAUST. He also teaches regularly on executive education programmes at London Business School, both in the UK and internationally.
DLA Piper: Culture transformation to deliver greater impact
Future Skills
Duncan believes that the skills and behaviours of a designer curiosity, empathy, creativity, and resilience – are vital for thriving in a world defined by rapid change. These ways of working form the foundation of his capability-building work; helping teams build the confidence and reflexes to experiment, adapt, and lead through uncertainty.
He brings these ideas to life not only in boardrooms and classrooms, but also through volunteering with Apps for Good, helping young people develop creative solutions to real-world problems. His passion lies in equipping the next generation with both the mindset and methods to imagine and build better futures.
Cognitive Diversity & Creative Tensions
With degrees in Philosophy & Psychology, and Fine Art and a career that spans consulting, technology, government, education, and the arts – Duncan thrives at the intersections of different ways of thinking. He draws creative analogies across disciplines and encourages teams to embrace the productive tensions between logic and imagination, structure and play.
His belief in cognitive diversity underpins his work: the idea that real innovation happens when lawyers, artists, engineers, and dreamers come together to create something no one could build alone. Whether he’s leading a workshop, painting a canvas, or pulling a pint in his community pub, Duncan sees creativity as a deeply human and shared endeavour.
El Tong
Chief Of Staff/ Innovation Consultant & Project lead
El Tong
Chief Of Staff/ Innovation Consultant & Project lead
Helping business leaders create impact, transform and grow
El is a partner at Treehouse Innovation and recognised expert in innovation, facilitation and business strategy. She has over 20 years of experience helping organisations and teams to grow their business through insights, creativity and innovation.
El specialises in helping experienced teams to scale their innovation efforts as well as helping those brand new to innovation and design with building the skills and confidence to make an impact. In addition She has lead large scale strategy and design initiatives with global clients including Orange Business Services, eBay, Novartis, SKY, DLA Piper and Generali.
Co-creating for impact
Prior to her work with Treehouse, El was an Innovation leader within Fujitsu where she set up and ran the customer co-creation service. She led customer co-creation and NPD projects, alongside delivering workshops and training sessions to give teams the creative confidence to put their ideas into action.
Having spent 14 years in technology companies as both a strategy consultant and an Innovation leader, El has first hand experience of trying to introduce new products, services and ways of working within large corporations and have plenty of lived experience of making things happen under tight constraints
User research expert
El has extensive experience in planning and conducting user research, synthesizing insights and developing strategic recommendations. From user interviews and ethnographic studies to detailed reports and actionable strategies, she helps clients turn research into transformative results. She has worked on high-profile projects for Lawtech UK, West Coast University (US), FCA, Sky and Norton Rose Fulbright, among others.
Reels and hoop dreams
With a degree in Film & Television, El still loves to indulge in watching independent and obscure movies, as well as offbeat series.
Also, when not working, or spending time taking care of her family, El likes to master a new skill. She’s tried her hand at piano playing, dress making, baking and most recently embroidery. She can often be found hoop in hand, on public transport or in the sports stands relaxing with a bit of cross stitch.
Steve Baker
Innovation Consultant & Project lead
Steve Baker
Innovation Consultant & Project lead
Building better organisations through innovation
Steve is an expert facilitator and design thinking specialist, dedicated to helping organisations tackle complex challenges that require a different perspective. As a key member of the leadership team at Treehouse Innovation, he works with senior leaders to design organisations that create meaningful impact – whether through developing innovative products and services or solving societal problems that drive long-term value.
Bridging strategy, systems thinking, and implementation
With an early career rooted in process re-engineering, Steve applied principles of Lean, Six Sigma, and Systems Thinking to help organisations optimize performance. Over the past decade, he has worked across Australia, New Zealand, and Asia, collaborating with executives and senior leaders in financial services, travel and aviation, IT, FMCG, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, and professional services. His ability to connect strategic vision with execution makes him a trusted partner for leaders driving systemic change.
Facilitating change at scale
Steve has extensive experience leading workshops, coaching teams, and delivering large-scale innovation programs. His facilitation work ranges from intimate leadership sessions with executive teams to high-impact conferences of up to 1,000 participants. He blends strategic insight with dynamic engagement techniques to challenge, inspire, and empower teams to drive transformation.
Steve has been instrumental in organising and facilitating events that drive strategic value, such as:
Gigs and golfing
When he’s not immersed in client work Steve loves to spend time with family and friends – whether that’s walking, cooking or going to a gig.
He used to be a handy golfer but finding the time these days is not so easy. His favourite place to be is on a course by the sea dreaming of the 19th hole.
Certifications & Trainings
ExperiencePoint, Lean and Six Sigma
Leadership accreditations: LSI, HBDI, Exec Coaching (EMCC)
Mark Garner
Strategy Consultant & Project lead
Mark Garner
Strategy Consultant & Project lead
Building better organisations through innovation
Steve is an expert facilitator and design thinking specialist, dedicated to helping organisations tackle complex challenges that require a different perspective. As a key member of the leadership team at Treehouse Innovation, he works with senior leaders to design organisations that create meaningful impact – whether through developing innovative products and services or solving societal problems that drive long-term value.
Innovation through Human-Centered Design
Mark is a strategic designer and innovation expert with a deep-rooted background in GV Design Sprints and Human-Centered Design, shaped by years in the startup ecosystem. As a member of the leadership team at Treehouse Innovation, he helps organizations tackle complex challenges with cutting-edge design methodologies.
Designing for impact
Mark has facilitated Design Sprints and trained teams for some of the world’s leading organizations, including OECD, P&G, SAP, Nike, and the Bank of England. His approach blends strategic design with transformative innovation, enabling teams to think boldly and execute effectively.
Design Sprint Academy
At Design Sprint Academy, he played a pivotal role in building an international design network of over 6,000 members in collaboration with Google.
Building a Smarter Tomorrow
Beyond Design Sprints, Mark is passionate about sustainability. He actively works on designing sustainable business models, integrating environmental stewardship with innovation to shape the future of business. His entrepreneurial spirit has also led him to be a founding member of multiple startups, including the first online supermarket for Harvard and MIT students.
Improv, Altitude & Arctic Plunges
When not immersed in the world of design, Mark performs long-form improv as a member of Scratch Theatre in Berlin. He’s also an avid climber and a dedicated member of Berlin’s Wim Hof ice bathing community, proving that he’s never afraid to break the ice—both figuratively and literally.
Certifications & Trainings
- Fluent German & English Speaker
- Certified UX Designer
- Scrum Master and Design Sprint Facilitator
- IDEO – Storytelling for Influence
Brooke Kühne
Senior Consultant & Facilitator
Brooke Kühne
Senior Consultant & Facilitator
Driving strategic innovation across diverse sectors
Adam Billing is the Founder of Treehouse Innovation, a leading, London-based innovation agency that works at the nexus of human-centered design, emerging technology, and organizational culture.
Building Future-Ready Organizations
Brooke is an innovation consultant at Treehouse Innovation specialising in design, facilitation and strategy. With a focus on delivering high impact results, she leverages deep user research and strategic thinking to tackle complex challenges across diverse sectors. Brooke believes innovation is more than just a process or function, but rather a mindset that enables us to be ready for change.
<п>Brooke has led and contributed to projects addressing diverse challenges, from innovating in legal tech and reshaping global business models to transforming higher education and designing future-ready retail strategies. Her ability to facilitate workshops and guide cross-functional teams ensures impactful outcomes.
Assessing change-readiness
Brooke designed, developed and launched the i2 assessment in conjunction with Professor Jeanne Liedtka and Darden University. This tool provides organisations with a way of measuring competency in the behaviours and skills that research has proven results in the most future-ready and resilient teams.
User research experience
Brooke has extensive experience in planning and conducting user research, synthesizing insights and developing strategic recommendations. From user interviews and ethnographic studies to detailed reports and actionable strategies, she helps clients turn research into transformative results. She has worked on high-profile projects for Lawtech UK, West Coast University (US), Sandvik Coromant, ITAB, and Norton Rose Fulbright, among others.
Explorer, foodie and ice cold dip enthusiast
Outside of work, Brooke enjoys spending time outdoors exploring the mountains and finding the best hidden swimming spots for ice cold dips in the Atlantic Ocean around Cape Town, where she lives with her family.
She is a passionate cook and coffee lover and is happiest when traveling and exploring new places with loved ones. Her favourite place on earth is deep in the African bush, camping free of fences and phones for the ultimate reset.
Certifications & Trainings
- 33a AI Opportunity Mapping
- Project Management Course
Marie Laffitte
Senior Designer & Project Manager
Marie Laffitte
Senior Designer & Project Manager
A swiss-knife designer
Marie is a strategic design specialist with a passion for creative innovation using the full range of Human Centered Design principles and Systems Thinking. She deeply believes that design can help navigate complex systems and offer an agile regenerative lifestyle for people and the ecosystems.
Future-ready strategic workshops
She co-facilitates human-centered workshops to help our clients to solve problems and develop their own internal cultures of innovation as well as bringing ideas to life through prototypes, user testing, and visual communications. She also helps deliver the story with impact by creating lasting compelling assets such as executive summaries, newsletters, or narrative videos.
Human-centered projects
Marie co-leads project teams embracing the Design Thinking journey. She engages end users in ethnographic research. Working with our teams and stakeholders to synthesise key insights and present learnings in a range of mediums. From storytelling reports to compelling video content. From conducting interviews, field observations, creating sacrificial concepts and compiling analogous case studies she has been pivotal in research projects including for Generali (The Human Safety Net charity), Intapp, ITAB, King Abdullah University of Science & Technology and DLA Piper, among many others
Events to drive value
Building on her previous experience in exhibition design, Marie brings strong project management skills. Alongside the project team co-design the conceptualization of a series of engaging, creative experiences. They combine complex, strategic thinking with the creation of activities and content that are emotionally impactful and memorable.
Bahi Kandasamy
Finance & Operations
Bahi Kandasamy
Finance & Operations
Commercial Director
As the Commercial Director at Treehouse, Bahi is a key driver of the company’s success, overseeing finance, legal, and operational functions.
He actively partners with the business development team, leveraging his expertise to develop effective pricing strategies and create impactful presentations that resonate with client procurement teams, facilitating Treehouse’s inclusion in their approved vendor lists.
Bahi also maintains a strong focus on project execution, working in tandem with delivery teams to define project scope with the clients and ensure consistent progress towards achieving defined objectives.
Outside work
Outside of work, Bahi’s primary passion ignites in the summer months on the cricket pitch. He proudly holds the position of skipper for a village cricket team with a rich history stretching back to 1975, demonstrating his leadership both in his professional and personal life.
In the quieter moments away from the crease, you’ll often find Bahi exploring the picturesque English countryside, enjoying tranquil walks and the beauty of nature alongside his family.
Delivering value
As a vital member of the senior leadership team, Bahi provides the rigor and strategic vision necessary to scale the finance and operations functions, directly contributing to the company’s growth trajectory.
Bahi’s extensive background as a Senior Finance and Operations leader, marked by progressively senior roles as a Management Accountant, Finance Business Partner, and Commercial Director, has cultivated a deep understanding of managing finance and operations at all levels within creative environments. He is passionate about leveraging streamlined operations and insightful commercial analysis to drive significant business expansion.
Marisha Thakker
Innovation, AI Consultant & Speaker
Marisha Thakker
Innovation, AI Consultant & Speaker
Designing Future-Ready Systems Across Law, Healthcare, and Technology
Marisha is an innovation leader, strategist, and legal technologist committed to helping organizations imagine and implement their futures. She works with governments, corporates, and communities to design collaborative, human-centered approaches to systemic change—with a particular focus on AI readiness, legal innovation, and cross-functional transformation.
Across her career, Marisha has helped New York’s largest hospital network reimagine the future of the patient experience, and the world’s largest environmental law firm embed innovation into everyday operations.
Recognised Speaker and Systems Thinker
A frequent speaker and educator, Marisha has shared her insights on design thinking, AI, legal innovation, and the future of work at conferences and universities around the world.
Highlights include:
- Design Thinking + Design Doing at Cornell Alumni Leadership Council (New York)
- Human-Centered Design and JusticeTech at UC Hastings, LexLab (San Francisco)
- The Law Firm of the Future panel at Legal Innovators (San Francisco)
- Legal Design and Service Innovation at Cornell Law School, Cornell Tech Campus (New York)
- The Future of Healthcare Experience at Mad*Pow Healthcare Experience Design Conference (Boston)
Bridging Disciplines with Purposeful Design
Marisha holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship from Cornell Tech, where she worked in interdisciplinary teams to build LegalTech and JusticeTech solutions. She also holds a Master of Science in Strategic Design and Management from Parsons School of Design, where she explored over 150 opportunities for disruption in the legal industry and developed design-led strategies for driving innovation in regulated spaces.
Before founding her own company, her professional journey began in corporate law—most notably at Dentons, the world’s largest law firm—where she led innovation initiatives focused on legal service design and emerging technology. She has since built a reputation as a sought-after facilitator and workshop designer, especially in navigating complex environments and translating systems thinking into tangible, user-centered solutions.
Zeroproof Mixology and Pop-Up Poetry
When she’s not designing workshops or generating new business ideas, Marisha is usually dreaming up experiences that stir the senses and spark connection. She curates zeroproof mixology events that blend storytelling, flavor, and ritual—and hosts the occasional poetry pop-up, turning everyday spaces into moments of collective reflection and creativity. Whether she’s mixing a drink or disciplines, her favorite work is the kind that brings people together in unexpected ways.
Amaya Senett
Customer Support
Amaya Senett
Customer Support
Client Success
Amaya is a customer support representative at Treehouse Innovation. Providing technical support for Sprintbase users and assisting facilitation and delivery of The Directors College Module. She is passionate about making sure customers receive timely and helpful support.
Artist and nature enthusiast
Outside of work, Amaya enjoys all things creative. With a passion for art of all kinds, she is an avid painter, writer and digital artist. She is also a lover of nature and spends her summers up north surrounded by evergreens.
Charlotte Gao
Product Designer
Charlotte Gao
Product Designer
Designing with Empathy
Charlotte is a Product Designer specializing in crafting human-centric experiences in both digital and physical environments. She is dedicated to making complex information accessible through thoughtful design.
For over a decade, Charlotte has led and designed projects across many sectors in the UK, Europe, and North America. By observing users, testing ideas, and refining designs, she ensures that final products actually meets people’s needs. She also works through user flows, edge cases, and system constraints to ensure that every part of a product serves a clear purpose.
Multi-Disciplinary Designer
Charlotte’s experience spans user research, UI/UX, product, and graphic design, making her a multi-disciplinary designer who can adapt to different challenges. She has consistently helped teams refine their ideas, build better products, and create digital experiences that truly connect with users.
Charlotte also has extensive experience transforming traditional workshops and training programs into interactive, hands-on learning experiences, making learning more engaging and accessible.
Hands-on Experiences
Freudenberg 175th Anniversary: Strategic and Creative Engagement
For Freudenberg’s 175th Anniversary event, Charlotte designed a bespoke iPad app that guided participants through interactive games and exercises focused on the future of their company and industry. This tool streamlined collaboration, encouraged problem-solving, and provided real-time strategic findings.
The app not only facilitated learning but also collected valuable feedback and ideas for management, ensuring that discussions turned into actionable insights. Additionally, Charlotte’s visual design work for the event’s presentation materials elevated Freudenberg’s celebration of its long history while preparing for its future.
Love of Immersive Stories
Outside of work, Charlotte enjoys story-driven video games, horror films, and fantasy novels. She enjoys Dungeons & Dragons for its creative problem-solving and world-building, and she applies the same mindset to her design work—approaching challenges with curiosity, adaptability, and creativity. She also likes working with her hands by experimenting with new recipes and flavors in the kitchen, and unwinding with cross stitching.
Dan Parkinson
Senior Consultant & Business Development
Dan Parkinson
Senior Consultant & Business Development
Making unknowns, known. ASAP.
As quickly as possible, Innovation teams turn unknowns (insights no one has noticed) into knowns (products, services and experiences people love). To do it profitably requires a distinct set of mindsets, skills and practices.
For over a decade, Dan has helped people outside of classic innovation roles, like marketing, sales, IT, finance, hr, facilities, and legal, take on these mindsets, skills and practices to respond to unanticipated changes and exceed expectations.
Previous clients and partners include: Coca-Cola, Harvard, Dell, IDEO, IMD, Genentech, EJ Gallo, WTW, Heineken.
Human-Centered Design for Sales
One of the core presuppositions of our work at Treehouse is that hidden inside a customer’s behaviour there are high value opportunities waiting to be discovered by thoughtful, present and curious listeners.
In a world where salespeople lead with solutions looking for a need, Dan helps our team and client sales teams listen differently and open up new opportunities.
The smell of the place
With past lives in managerial accounting and theology, Dan’s empathy, strategic thinking and pragmatism support our clients looking to move beyond ‘innovation theatre’ and into the affordable adoption of innovation mindsets, skills and practices at a meaningful scale.
Dan is a subject-matter expert on the ways in which Treehouse’s products and services come together in unique client contexts to mobilize change.
DLA Piper: Culture transformation to deliver greater impact
Go fast, go slow
Dan calls Toronto home where you’ll find him in the ice rink, yoga studio, on the bike or camping in the backcountry with his young family, rain, shine (or blizzard).
Teodora Nikolaeva
Head of Design / Front End Development
Teodora Nikolaeva
Head of Design / Front End Development
Designing with Purpose
With over 15 years of experience in graphic/UI/UX design, and front-end development, Teodora plays a key role across Treehouse Innovation’s web platforms and tool.
Since joining Treehouse Innovation in 2016, she has contributed to shaping the company’s digital presence as well as supporting the development of its growing suite of tools and platforms.
Teodora is responsible for the co-design, development, and maintenance of Treehouse Innovation’s websites, ensuring they reflect the brand’s creative and user-focused ethos.
Supporting Innovation with Custom Tools
Teodora is also a core member of the team behind Sprintbase, where she has contributed to the evolution of the platform’s interface and user experience.
She designed and developed the original prototype of i2Skills—Treehouse Innovation’s assessment app, and is currently part of the team working on its latest and most advanced version. Beyond major products, Teodora has created a number of bespoke tools, including the Photo/Visual Study app, used to gather visual insights during design research, and the Better HMW Questions Builder, which helps teams frame stronger problem statements.
Creative background
Before joining Treehouse, Teodora worked with a range of marketing and creative agencies, designing and building websites for clients across industries. From one-pagers to complex CMS-driven platforms, she crafted user-focused digital experiences—often wearing both the designer and developer hats on fast-moving teams.
Inspiring Genre Writers Through Charity
Outside of her work at Treehouse, Teodora is the co-founder of a small charity publishing initiative that supports Bulgarian authors in sharing their work with the world. Through a series of independently published charity anthologies and an online sci-fi/fantasy/horror magazine, she helps emerging writers gain visibility, connect with readers, and contribute to meaningful causes. Her passion for storytelling, community, and design come together in projects that inspire creativity while giving back.
Jarvis Bailey
UX/UI designer and videographer
Jarvis Bailey
UX/UI designer and videographer
Graphic design
Jarvis is a versatile Graphic Designer with a wealth of experience built from having worked for a variety of advertising and service agencies across the UK over the past 30 years.
Web design and video production
For the past 15 years, Jarvis has worked predominantly in web design/development, branding and UX/UI design for a multitude of large and small businesses in a variety of sectors across the UK, Europe and the Middle East.
He has produced numerous videos for client projects, including the last two Flutter UK&I programmes, where he helped bring user research to life through powerful visual storytelling.
His work translated deep insights from ethnographic fieldwork, in-depth interviews, and user photo journals into emotionally resonant narratives that highlighted people’s unmet needs and behaviours. These research-based films played a key role in aligning teams, building empathy, and guiding design decisions within product development for a major betting platform.
TV Pedigree
Beginning his career in TV graphics, animation and motion design, Jarvis has worked on documentary graphics for major broadcast channels such as the BBC and Channel 4, he has also collaborated on opening title sequences and graphics for major motion pictures as well as independently funded shorts.
Elevating Creativity and User Experience
Jarvis played a pivotal role in shaping the visual and interactive experience of Freudenberg 175th Anniversary: Strategic and Creative Engagement.
As a skilled graphic designer, video creator, and UX app designer, he brought the corporation’s legacy to life through compelling visuals, dynamic storytelling with video explainers and an intuitive digital experience.
His design expertise ensured that every touchpoint—from immersive video content to seamless app interactions and exhibition materials — captivated and engaged participants.
Richard McCormick
Head of Product Development
Richard McCormick
Head of Product Development
Head of Development at Treehouse Innovation
Richard is a software engineer with 20 years’ experience working with small agile development teams as well as leading large multi-site customer implementations.
He is currently leading the team responsible for the development of Treehouse Innovation application suite including Sprintbase and Facilitation Mastery.
Customer-focused solutions
Alongside his role for developing and maintaining Treehouse Innovation’s technical offerings, Richard also works directly with Treehouse Innovation’s consultants and customers to deliver software solutions as part of their projects.
For Freudenberg, Richard developed a bespoke web app to be used by 450 delegates on iPads over 3 days to run gamified challenges and produce AI-synthesized results: Freudenberg 175th Anniversary – Strategic and Creative Engagement
For InnoDays, Richard worked with the customer to build a set of custom templates and flows in the Sprintbase application. This enabled the team to deliver a remote hackathon during the global pandemic: InnoDays international virtual hackathon.
Previous roles
Before becoming a member of the Treehouse Innovation team, Richard worked as a consultant for over 10 years and has helped design, develop and implement many Microsoft-based solutions for large corporate customers.
Prior to that he worked for a number of years developing real-time servo-hydraulic control systems used by Formula 1 race teams and Earthquake simulations.
Slow the pace down
When not tinkering with computers, Richard can often be found engaging in his hobby – maintaining his 1923 steam traction engine.
During the summer he can often be found at the weekends with his steam engine, either working on it in its shed, at a local rally field or trundling slowly around the country lanes to a pub for lunch.
Kirsty McPherson
Event design
Kirsty McPherson
Event design
Kirsty is core member of the Treehouse Innovation team, and brings a strong background in the fields of digital user experience, social media strategy and large scale event design. She is passionate about helping groups tap into and unleash their creative potential.
Before joining the Treehouse team, Kirsty worked for leading digital agencies including AKQA and LBI on a diverse set of client projects in sectors ranking from banking to automotive.
Prior to this, she worked as an event manager for a major corporate accounting regulatory body where she organised large-scale events in the UK, Europe and Asia.
Associates
Jo Rhoden
Senior Advisor
Jo Rhoden
Senior Advisor
Jo works with senior leaders to explore how emerging trends intersect with their current business challenges, and to imagine what a better future could look like. She is a strategic thinker and a skilled convenor of people bringing together multi-disciplinary teams—often mixing organisational levels—to challenge assumptions, unlock fresh thinking, and design practical ways forward. Her experience spans strategic workshop design, high-level facilitation, and navigating complex stakeholder landscapes.
With a background in transforming professional services, Jo was part of the founding team at Deloitte Australia that reshaped how audits are conducted—integrating innovation, data, digital, and design thinking to improve both the process and client experience. She went on to lead global brand, client experience, and governance initiatives, creating frameworks and programs adopted worldwide. Today, her research focuses on how design can drive better governance outcomes, and she brings this expertise to her role as Audit, Risk and Assurance Committee Chair for the University of Bath.
Now an independent consultant, Jo combines strategy, design, and innovation with a curiosity about new ways of working. Outside of work, she’s a qualified mountain leader, keen swimmer, and occasional rock climber, finding inspiration in the outdoors and sometimes blending it with business strategy design to spark lasting team and organisational change.
Paul Rushforth
Executive coach and facilitator
Paul Rushforth
Executive coach and facilitator
Paul Rushforth is an executive coach and facilitator with a background in leading innovation and transformation across global media and technology businesses.
He brings a unique blend of strategic insight and emotional intelligence, developed over a decade in senior leadership roles — including six years heading up the international innovation team at NBCUniversal. Paul’s work has spanned strategy design, the development of B2B and B2C tools and products, and sponsorship of global diversity initiatives — always with a focus on helping people adapt, grow, and lead through change.
With deep experience at the intersection of technology, creativity, and business, Paul helps leaders navigate complexity and enables multi-disciplinary teams to communicate and collaborate more effectively. Originally trained as a broadcast engineer, he began his career solving technical challenges — but over time, his passion has evolved into helping people solve their most human challenges: leading well, embracing change, and working better together.
Nathan Waterhouse
Strategy Consultant & Designer
Nathan Waterhouse
Strategy Consultant & Designer
Helping business leaders transform, innovate and align for impact
Nathan helps business leaders and teams grow their businesses through innovation and creativity. Whether it’s advising a highly experienced firm scale their innovation efforts or helping organisations new to the space to figure out how to get started.
In his past life, he set up and ran four new businesses at world-renowned design and innovation firm IDEO, including co-founding OpenIDEO.com a global platform of over 300,000 innovators.
AI thought leader
An AI enthusiast and human-centred designer, Nathan is deeply engaged in exploring how generative AI is reshaping leadership, collaboration, and the nature of work. Through his weekly LinkedIn newsletter, The Adaptive Edge, he shares insights, tools, and provocations to help leaders adapt and thrive in an AI-augmented world.
Innovation Expert
He is an experienced public speaker and has delivered keynotes at TEDx, The Economist events, and the White House on topics such as the role of Design, Innovation, Collaboration, Leadership & Organisational Culture
Innovating at scale
Nathan has partnered with senior leaders across a range of industries to help shape the future of their organisations. Highlights include:
Freudenberg – Led a strategic engagement for 450 senior leaders across 11 business units, combining research, facilitation, and immersive experiences to celebrate and align on Freudenberg’s 175th Anniversary and future direction.
He has also supported clients including HP, IKEA, T-Mobile, VISA, AstraZeneca, Generali, DFID, and Oxfam, and was instrumental in the creation of HackFWD, a pan-European startup incubator.
Certifications & Trainings
ExperiencePoint
Aspen Fellow
Sonja Dahl
Senior Design Associate
Sonja Dahl
Senior Design Associate
Sonja is an experienced design practitioner with 20+ years in the field of design management, research, strategy and innovation. She has held a number of senior level positions in the public, private and charitable sectors.
Previous roles include the Director of Innovation Skills at Nesta where she oversaw the design and delivery of several global innovation learning and capability building programmes including States of Change. Before joining Nesta Sonja was the Head of Design Programmes at Design Council where she helped establish the Design Council’s original Design Associates Network, a national team responsible for providing design and business support to SME’s, Start-ups and Public Sector teams through a range of programmes and interventions.
Sonja’s ethos is to build strong partnerships and lasting relationships with clients and collaborators. She works openly with teams to embed design principles at the beginning of projects and uses design approaches to help people become more able to identify and respond to new challenges, redefine their problems and create more strategic and impactful work. Recent clients include RNIB, Satellite Applications Catapult, Landscape Institute, Connected Places Catapult, Digital Catapult. Sonja is also a Senior Associate with Innovation Unit.
Jana Blount
Lead Designer
Jana Blount
Lead Designer
Starting her career as a litigator in Miami Jana then segued into the world of innovation as the Changemaker for DLA Piper. There she created the firm’s strategy and team of Radical Change. Housed within her team, she led the firm’s data scientists and is well versed in AI and technology solutions. She has years of experience in innovation strategy, stakeholder management, change management, product creation, and culture change. She has designed and facilitated workshops for ten to 200 participants, is a confident speaker, and has advised dozens of in-house legal teams at FTSE 100 corporations on innovation projects or strategy.
Jana enjoys working with diverse teams on turning human led insights into tangible and impactful change.
Lisa Tilley
Lisa Tilley
I am a multi-skilled business consultant with experience in organisational transformation. This typically includes leadership coaching, innovation, strategy, and organisational design.
I enjoy working with executives and their teams as a business partner, facilitator, coach and trainer. My goal is to help individuals and teams across the business to not just solve complex problems, but to develop new ways of working and skills to thrive.
My passion and skills are dedicated to eliciting positive change that impacts individuals and organisations. This dedication is what fuels my work and inspires me to continue. I particularly enjoy coaching, teaching, and developing people. I have been fortunate enough to work with companies worldwide, allowing me to gain experience across multiple industries, cultures, and organisations.
Through this work, I have had the pleasure of collaborating with some inspiring and diverse individuals. I particularly enjoy drawing out our human passion for creativity, connection, and progress. I apply a human-centred approach and positive psychology to my leadership and team collaborations. This ensures that psychological safety, integrity, and creativity are not just words, but the core values that make everyone feel secure and valued in the work we do.
Mark Riley
Innovation & AI Specialist
Mark Riley
Innovation & AI Specialist
Mark is a veteran design thinker, facilitator, and a former innovation leader at Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal. An early adopter of design thinking, Mark helped colleagues identify new AI-powered business opportunities, prototype them, and take them to market. This led to successful launches including mansionglobal.com – a high-end property portal. Mark also ran his own corporate venturing consultancy in London, which helped launch new ventures for British Telecom, eBay and Amazon, and drove rapid growth for Yougov, the now global public opinion and data company . Mark also served as an infantry officer in the British Army for seven years.
Karen Hold
Facilitator & Author in Residence
Karen Hold
Facilitator & Author in Residence
Founder and CEO, Experience Labs; Director, DT:DC | Author, Experiencing Design – The Innovator’s Journey
Karen Hold is the founder and CEO of innovation strategy consulting firm, Experience Labs. A Procter & Gamble-trained brand marketer, Karen saw firsthand how P&G drove revenue and profit growth with innovation. With over 25 years of experience, Karen has consulted for dozens of Fortune 500 companies including AARP, AT&T, Alcatel-Lucent, Audi, Chick-fil-A, Cisco, John Hancock, Mercedes, Nokia, NEC, and Porsche. She is passionate about building creative capacity in individuals, organizations and cities.
Prior to forming Experience Labs, Karen was co-founder of Broadband Publishing, where she built sales through innovative marketing partnerships with Forbes and BusinessWeek magazines. Karen’s first book, written with Jeanne Liedtka and Jessica Eldridge, Experiencing Design – The Innovator’s Journey, was published by Columbia Business School Publishing in July 2021.
Karen is a graduate of Duke University and Georgetown’s McDonough Graduate School of Business. She is the Director of DT:DC, a 5,100 member MeetUp group in Washington, DC. She is a Visiting Executive Lecturer at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business and a Visiting Professor at Ecole des Ponts in Paris, France and Casablanca, Morocco.
Angela Tang
Legal designer
Angela Tang
Legal designer
Angela is a seasoned legal designer with a broad base of design thinking and innovation experience. A lawyer by training, Angela is passionate about making the law more accessible. She has supported Magic Circle, Silver Circle and international law firms, alternative legal service providers, in house legal teams, start up founders, charitable / social enterprise organisations, government and intergovernmental bodies in using design principles, processes and tools in their legal projects. Angela is also a regular speaker on legal design as part of Oxford University’s AI4Law programme.
Anton Drachuk
Service Designer
Anton Drachuk
Service Designer
Anton has a range of skills in innovation, with Service Design at the core. From deep customer understanding, through journeys to complex innovation and accessible presentation.
With over a decade of agency experience, Anton led private and public initiatives with Adidas, Ford, Nivea, NHS and >20 more organizations.
Anton’s abilities, from design to AI, are finely honed to craft innovative solutions tailored to your needs, with advanced prototyping and management to make ideas real.
Linton Chalmers
Facilitator and consultant
Linton Chalmers
Facilitator and consultant
Linton is a highly experienced facilitator and consultant, having spent thousands of hours on his feet in front of groups, and successfully led client engagements in over 20 countries.
He is passionate about assisting organisations in bridging the gap between strategy and execution, through innovation, new capabilities, and cultural change. Linton has seen first hand the power of Human Centered Design to transform organisations, and loves working to create top-down and bottom-up enthusiasm for its application.
He has experience across industry and sector, having worked with clients including Microsoft, Samsung, HSBC, Boston Consulting Group, Novartis, American Express and BMW.
Originally from Queenstown New Zealand, Linton has lived and worked around the world, and now focuses primarily on the APAC region, basing himself out of Sydney Australia.
Advisory board
Judith Cardenas, PhD
Judith Cardenas, PhD
Judith is CEO of Strategies By Design, a boutique consulting firm helping organizations across the globe to innovate and design successful solutions and experiences for their clients.
Judith specializes in helping leaders transform their businesses using AI. Her area of expertise is at the intersection of human-centered design and AI Strategy, creating unique experiences for your customers or employees that will help you succeed faster than ever before.
She has created and delivered training to organizations such as the World Bank, United Nations, QVC, Inc., Philips Semiconductor, U. S. Navy, U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Agency, U.S. Army, and BioWorks.
Michael Hartmann
Michael Hartmann
Michael Hartmann is a jointly appointed Professor of Medicine and Management at McMaster University, Co-Director of the University’s Health Leadership Academy and Principal of The Directors College – Canada’s founding professional development program for board directors (2003-2021). He also serves as the founding Executive Director of an EMBA program in Digital Transformation teaching courses on Corporate Innovation and Digital Entrepreneurship. Dr. Hartmann has held senior leadership roles with universities in the UK and Canada. He previously served as Deputy Dean and CXO, Manchester Business School (2007-2012), and Assistant Dean, Rotman School of Management (1998-2007) where he established a globally ranked executive education business (Top 20 Business Week and Top 50 Financial Times). He is also the Founder and Principal of the educational consultancy, The Leadership Portfolio. Dr. Hartmann has over 25 years experience as an educational consultant, facilitator and trainer to organizations around the world. A sample of his client assignments include work for Novartis (Switzerland), Ziraat Bank (Turkey), Thales Group (France), JCB (USA), Omantel (Oman), Al-Futtaim Group (Dubai), Manchester Airport Groups, British Sky Broadcasting, NBCUniversal (UK), Dentsu Aegis Network (Singapore, New York, London), BDO, SOCAN and OMERS (Canada). His current research interests focus on the topics of disruptive innovation and governance. He leads an annual course on innovation for board directors and is an advisory member of Stanford’s Digital Cities Consortium and the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) Technology, Governance and Innovation Panel. Dr. Hartmann holds graduate degrees from the University of Toronto (MA) and York University (MBA) and a doctoral degree from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. He also holds professional accreditation with The Directors College (C.Dir.) and le Collège des administrateurs de sociétés (ASC). His work on corporate governance and executive and directors education has been published in academic journals as well as the professional press. He also hosts a regular podcast series called The Collaboratorium.
Jenny Whitener
Jenny Whitener
Jenny Whitener serves as the Chief Executive of our sister company, BridgeInnovate in the U.S. With more than 25 years of experience working with top business leaders around the world in the executive leadership and learning space, Jenny thrives on turning the greatest challenges into successful ventures. An expert in her field, she is known for accelerating business transformation by maximising the power of leadership, creativity and collaboration
Prior to her time at Bridge, Jenny served as National Director of the Prudential Healthcare Leadership Institute, Chief Learning Officer for Ernst & Young, and Global Director of Learning for Cap Gemini.
Ruth Berry
Ruth Berry
Ruth is the CEO of RMB Learning. She specialises in leadership development and helping individuals to achieve their full potential. Her work involves liaising closely with senior leaders as a consultant and executive coach on change management, personal effectiveness and leadership issues.
Previously, Ruth was the Director of Executive Education at the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge, a post she held for three years.
Ruth is a partner of the Moller PSF Group, which specialises in consulting support, executive education within Professional Service Businesses, based at the Møller Centre at the University of Cambridge.
Scott Underwood
Scott Underwood
IDEO alum and co-founder of Palo Alto-based Innovationship, Scott is a champion of design thinking and innovation through projects, events, presentations, and mentoring. Using workshops, long-term engagements, and ongoing support, he has helped thousands of people around the world learn to apply collaboration and creativity to real-world projects, including products, services, and organizational programs such as employee engagement and leadership development.
Scott works with all types of organisations included startups, midsize companies, multinational firms, nonprofits, colleges and high schools. He’s a trusted advisor for Treehouse, and a fine bass player.
Ilian Iliev
Ilian Iliev
Ilian is CEO and founder of EcoMachines Ventures, a London-based accelerator that supports innovative solutions to global problems by investing in promising technology companies and actively supporting their growth into world class high-growth enterprises. Prior to EcoMachines Ventures, Ilian founded and was CEO of CambridgeIP Ltd, a leading technology and IP strategy company. In that role, he led multiple technology and IP strategy engagements with corporate, SME and investor clients around the world in a range of sectors including energy, healthcare and telecoms. Ilian is a long-time friend, advisor and collaborator.
Kevin Poole
Kevin Poole
Kevin Poole is a high-impact senior executive with 29 years of experience in developing and delivering consulting services and technology-based solutions to Fortune 500 and Mid-Market companies.
He has held top senior leadership positions at General Electric, Ernst & Young Consulting, and later Cap Gemini where he served as West Area Director and then National Sales Leader for the United States. He is a widely respected turnaround expert – highly skilled in the areas of strategy, leadership, team development, and complex problem solving, with deep expertise in the Professional Services and High-Tech sectors.
Keith Fairhurst
Keith Fairhurst
Keith is a seasoned senior executive, with more than 30 years’ experience at organisations inclding Microsoft and KPMG where he served as a Partner. He is known for “connecting the dots” and is an independent thinker with the capability to see the bigger picture. In recent years he has coupled this with his analytical approach on continual improvement and business turnarounds
He, with a partner founded Unleash Consulting, a low touch high impact consulting service in 2010. They specialise in helping companies achieve sustainable growth and particularly they assist companies that are experiencing decline, to turnaround and become competitive in their markets. Keith is also a Professional Associate of the Gordon Institute of Business Science, the Number 1 business school in Africa.
Keith has worked with Treehouse for many years and is a leader in the effort to introduce design thinking in Southern Africa.
Mark Smith
Mark Smith
Mark has over 20 years experience in the world of technology and professional services. With a portfolio career, Mark is the Market Development Director at a FTSE100 information and technology business, a senior advisor with Judge Business School’s professional services faculty, and an executive coach and consultant to large law firms. Mark spent the first ten years of his career as a technology and outsourcing lawyer before completing his MBA at Henley Business School and moving into a commercial role with a global outsourcing company. Seeing how critical change was becoming as a business issue, Mark then completed an MSc in Behavioural Change (also at Henley) to broaden his skills and help law firm leaders transform their businesses. Mark loves learning and remains constantly curious about how people and organisations can become more effective.
Our extended family
Strategies By Design
Strategies By Design
https://www.strategiesbydesigngroup.com/
Strategies By Design Group is a Consultancy Agency offering award-winning Innovation Training and Consulting Services to corporations and clients worldwide. They are based in the Eastern United States, and specialize in Behavior Design, Leadership and Learning Strategies.
Tinqer
Tinqer
Tinqer is an independent strategic design consultancy that aims to bring good design to all sectors of industry, so that we all might work together to build a better society and world, where people have empathy for each other and things just work.
Unleash
Unleash
http://www.unleashconsult.com/
Based in Johannesburg South Africa, Unleash consulting specialises in leadership, business resuce and performance improvement. The Unleash team has partnered with Treehouse Innovation to bring Design Thinking to industries including mining, insurance, financial services, as well as to local communities in the Johannesburg area.
ExperiencePoint
ExperiencePoint
http://www.experiencepoint.com/
ExperiencePoint is an award winning training company that develops business simulations for leadership development in the areas of change management and innovation. Members of the Treehouse Innovation team are certified in the ExperienceChange™Simulation, as well as master-certified in the Design Thinker™ Simulation, co-developed with IDEO.
Moller Institute
Moller Institute
http://www.mollercentre.co.uk/
Located within Churchill College in Cambridge University, the Møller Institute brings together the worlds of academia and industry in an environment conducive to learning, providing the very highest standard of education and customer service – a “Centre of Excellence”. Møller Institute executive education programmes in Cambridge provide customised training and leadership development to senior executives from organisations around the world under the Royal Charter of Churchill College, University of Cambridge. The Treehouse team works closely with Møller in the design and delivery of its executive programmes.
RMB Learning
RMB Learning
Founded by Ruth Berry, RMB Learning specialises in leadership development and helping individuals to achieve their full potential. Ruth’s work involves liaising closely with senior leaders as a consultant and executive coach on change management, personal effectiveness and leadership issues. Ruth and her team at RMB are close collaborators with Treehouse Innovation.
Bridge Innovate
Bridge Innovate
http://www.bridgeinnovate.com/
Founded by Jenny Whitener, BridgeInnovate is the sister company of Treehouse Innovation in the USA. They are a global team of business innovation consultants, analysts and strategists with a single focus: to help business leaders remove obstacles to growth, and so prosper. In a time of unrelenting change and increasing complexity, they help business executives build the muscles to produce seismic, sustainable change that will grow their companies and transform industries. Treehouse is proud to be a member of the BridgeInnovate Group.
