SIETAR UK Board

President, SIETAR UK

Cathy Wellings

About Cathy

Cathy has lived and worked in France and Spain and managed training projects in many other countries. Her intercultural career has been divided between working as a senior manager in training consultancies and as an independent trainer working with individuals and teams within corporate and higher education organisations. She has been a member of SIETAR for nearly 20 years and particularly enjoys being a mentor on the BOOST programme.

Communications Director

Vanessa Paisley

About Vanessa

Vanessa has worked for approx. 30 years in the field of international communication, as a trainer, consultant, commissioned writer of articles and co-creator of cross-cultural field trip called XPlore India. She was born in Tanzania, grew up in the UK, lived in Austria for 25 years and is now a repat. She loves combining language with intercultural communication training and helps new intercultural trainers similarly carve a space for themselves in this industry, assisting them with their online presence and marketing. She delivers training in English and German.

Professional Development Director

Robert Johnson

About Robert

Robert Johnson is a consultant and lecturer in intercultural communication based in London. He has lived and worked in several countries including France, Germany and Japan. As a cross-cultural trainer, he has worked with a wide range of organisations to embed cultural awareness in diverse teams. Selected clients include Deloitte, Nomura, Toyota, Dyson, Twinings and Gucci Group. In his academic work he leads courses in cross-cultural management and transcultural leadership, as well as encouraging intercultural and environmental sustainability.

Treasurer

Adrian Pilbeam

About Adrian

Adrian has worked for over 30 years in the area of international communication, as a trainer, consultant, writer of training materials and trainer trainer. He has lived and worked in France, Portugal, Belgium and Spain, and runs his own training and consulting company LTS training and Consulting, based in Bath. Adrian sees his primary role at SIETAR UK as an ambassador to convince trainers and would-be trainers of the benefits of being part of the SIETAR network both in terms of what they can learn and what they can share with others.

Community Relations Director & SIETAR EUROPA Rep

Dr Katharina Addington-Lefringhausen

About Katharina

Katharina is an Assistant Professor at the Heriot-Watt University in the Department of Psychology with experience in intercultural training and development. She worked previously at the University of Warwick as an Associate Professor. Her research interests focus on the acculturation of host community nationals towards multicultural societies, Universities and workplaces. She has an MSc and PhD in Cross-Cultural Psychology and has worked in the USA, Belgium, Germany and the UK.

Academic & Research Director

May Owen

About May

May is a lecturer in Human Resource Management Her research interest is related to Cross-Cultural Management. May is a Chartered Fellow CIPD. Her FCIPD role is to hold a strategic position and to demonstrate expertise in the key areas of HR to promote and achieve organisation success. She has completed the Cross-Cultural Management program, Tokyo and completed the Master Class for Global Cross-Cultural Management provided by Prof. Hofstede and the team. She is an accredited lecturer and trainer in Intercultural Management by Hofstede Insights, Helsinki, Finland. Her main research interests are related to Cultural Competencies.

Systems Director

Dr Zhaohui (Clytie) Tian

About Clytie

Clytie holds a PhD and an MSc in Intercultural Communication from the University of Warwick. Her PhD research focuses on intercultural working experiences between Chinese and Kenyan employees in Chinese companies based in Kenya. She previously worked as an intercultural training facilitator at Warwick, helping students across various departments develop intercultural competence. She is currently a lecturer in Global Business Communication at the University of Aberdeen’s Qatar campus and has extensive experience in intercultural collaboration across Europe, China, Africa, and the Middle East. Her interests are always centered on real-life intercultural issues.