Who We Are
Jenny Ibison is the most central figure for Eye Contact Consulting. Here is some background information on where Jenny has come from and come to work with Eye Contact Consulting
Jenny Ibison
A graduate from the University of London in English and Drama, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Commerce and a Member of the Institute of Directors, Jenny began her career working in the advertisement department of the Yorkshire Post before moving into the Leeds advertising agency world.
In 1993 Jenny moved to Euro RSCG Riley which was then owned by the UK listed Plc, Lopex, running an embryonic Leeds office. Over the subsequent twelve years she rose to take on wider responsibilities including Regional and Divisional Managing Directorships before taking over as CEO in 2003. Riley is one of the UK’s largest specialist marketing and communications agencies, with offices in 10 locations and a turnover in excess of £100 million, focusing on HR communications, resourcing solutions and public sector marketing. Riley is owned by Havas SA, which is joint listed on the Paris Bourse and the US NASDAQ; Jenny sat on the UK board of Euro RSCG Worldwide. Jenny was also CEO of Riley’s sister company, Heist, which provides specialist marketing services for Higher Education.
Jenny’s keen interest in business success through people came in 1997, when she took on responsibility for people development within the Riley group, in conjunction with her role as MD in Leeds and Manchester. In 1999 she took Riley through its first IIP assessment and the company has remained recognised ever since.
Jenny has worked at a strategic and senior level across a broad client base covering commercial clients and the public sector. Jenny joined a consulting firm in March 2006 to learn more about the theory and research of leadership, performance management and organisational development and worked with a range of clients to help them to develop their capability in the areas of Change Leadership, Talent Management and Organisational Development.
In January 2007, Jenny realised her ambition to set up her own consulting company, Eye Contact Consulting, which specialises in Leadership Development, Performance Management and Strategic Communications.
A specialist in change leadership, talent management, HR communications and education marketing, Jenny is a regular speaker and trainer working with organisations such as PPMA (Chief Personnel Officers in Local Government), UPA (University Personnel Association), UKCGE (UK Council for Graduate Education), CIPD, AUA (Association of University Administrators) and HEERA (Higher Education External Relations Association).
Jenny is an Executive Board member of Investors in People and is currently chairing a national working party jointly sponsored by IIP and the DfES looking at ‘New Ways of Working’ for employers and skills providers following the publication of the Leitch Review into UK skills. She is also a non executive director of a leading northern recruitment consultancy.
In her spare time Jenny enjoys distance running, film, theatre and travel.