Our People

The heart of innovation

We exist to help clients commercialise new ideas and have done for the past 15 years. Based in Lancashire, we focus on sustainable product innovation, service improvement, and place-based innovation in the North West and beyond. We have been a Northern Powerhouse Partner since 2019.

Clients come back to us time after time, because our multi-disciplinary project teams achieve impactful results within a short timeframe.

Our projects are all run by people with depth of experience. Groundswell’s deliberately small team brings together experts in different fields who collectively, draw out real breadth of perspective.

It’s about looking at a problem through a series of different lenses.

About reframing it.

This combination of views allows for creative collision and ultimately, more robust answers.

Get in touch with our team to discuss how we can support you.

Jane Dalton, Creative Catalyst

Having attained a first-class MBA from Cambridge University, Jane has managed brand strategy and innovation projects for companies with global brand reach for the past 20 years. Her experience covers strategic planning, value proposition development, qualitative and quantitative market research and brand management. 

Jane set up Groundswell Innovation in 2008 as an independent agency specialising in the commercialisation of new ideas.

Until early 2020, she was a Lancashire Board member for the Institute of Directors. She has now taken up a new voluntary post on Lancashire LEP’s Innovation Board and sits on the Dean's Council of Lancaster University Management school.

Jane also supports Northern Power Women, a not-for-profit campaign working to increase gender diversity in the workplace from the North of England. 

Email Jane

Kate Vogelsang, Behaviour Hacker

Kate has 25 years’ experience in communications, digital, marketing and PR.

Her background includes a stint as Head of Communications for a local authority in London, managing a multi-disciplinary team and leading on engagement for a multi-million-pound regeneration scheme in the area, working closely with politicians, partners and associate businesses.

Kate’s experience covers strategic planning, design and management of mass media communications campaigns, internal / employee communications, digital services and media management.

She is a behaviour change campaign specialist and has hands-on experience across the tactical elements of communications, as well as an eye for strategic planning.

Now working directly within NHS communications as well as in the private sector, Kate’s breadth of experience is a strong bridge between communication best practice in public and private sector settings.

Email Kate

Maia Broadley, Driven Linguist

With an Undergraduate Diploma in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford, Maia’s talent for storytelling is indisputable.

Since her diploma, Maia has gone on to gain a Distinction in her MA in Professional Writing at Falmouth University, where she solidified her passion for creative writing and literature.

Over the past two years, Maia has been instrumental to new business development through her creation of compelling blog posts and articles. Her natural skill to seek out connections between ideas that others miss, allows for a seamless translation of hard-hitting research into beautiful stories and blog posts.

Maia’s creative and visionary pieces channel a lifelong love of writing into innovative and transformative ways to engage global change makers. With a passion for wellbeing and Sustainable Development Goal 3 (Good Health and Wellbeing) through her personal connection to de-stigmatise mental health, Maia channels her writing abilities as a therapeutic and educational tool.

Email Maia

Claire Ebrey, Conscious Collaborator

Claire has over 15 years experience in business development, ethical business strategy and sustainability for the Co-op Group, the Institute of Directors and the Institute of Physics.

Responsible for substantially building the reach of the IOD brand in the North-West region, Claire then moved on, to develop an ambitious strategy and change programme for IOP.

At the Co-op Group, Claire devised nationwide member engagement campaigns on issues including trade justice, climate change and human rights, where she used innovative channels such as movies, theatre and photography to drive member interest and action.

She was on the Board of a film academy for young people and led a £1.3m cross-sectoral business advice programmes for co-ops, managing over 135 business advisors across the UK.
She is a trustee for Forever Manchester, the community foundation for Greater Manchester, and an adviser for The Blair Project, a trailblazing social enterprise that provides opportunities for young people to participate in the green tech revolution.

She also runs a network for LGBT Directors and Leaders.

Email Claire

Nigel Beevers, Manufacturing Magician

Having got a first taste for the magic of manufacturing whilst designing a new self-priming centrifugal pump, Nigel spent his early years in the trade turning spreadsheets in to the first system for synthesising tyre manufacture production times.

This was followed by in-depth involvement in the UK’s first laser toner cartridge remanufacturing facility and 6 years as Operations Director at Ultraframe PLC where he turned a £30m operation into £100m in three years.

Most of Nigel’s recent roles have been in OEM Automotive, OEM engineered products and US multinational printing consumables, along with an extended consulting role within Manchester Airport Group.

Nigel regularly applies the principles of process management to help SMEs find ways to increase their product portfolio, within the constraints of existing capital plant. His in-depth experience of Process Engineering and Sales & Operational Planning means he is regularly deployed to act as an outsourced Board member for manufacturing SMEs across the North.

Email Nigel