About us

Creative Creatures is a result of team work, the sort of team work that lifts you up and makes anything possible

Hanne Kristiansen

Hanne spent the first half of her career working in marketing for three multi-nationals: United Biscuits, Diageo and latterly Kellogg’s where she was Head of European Innovation.

It was during these years she discovered the pivotal role people play in making ideas happen. And as this realisation manifested itself, her Stimulator side kept wondering why it was that most companies seemed to rely on processes to deliver solutions. She was convinced there must be a different way.

So when Hanne left corporate life in 2008 to pursue a new path as an independent consultant, the Sculptor in her stepped to the fore and the development of the Creative Creatures tool became her focal point and passion project.

In addition to Creative Creatures, Hanne continues to flex her marketing and innovation muscles by helping clients such as Bel, PepsiCo, Nespresso and Brown Forman develop future-forward strategies and fresh consumer-focused solutions.

Dr.Kamal Birdi

Kamal is a Chartered Occupational Psychologist and a Senior Lecturer in Occupational Psychology at Sheffield University Management School. One of his passions is creativity, and he has been researching and applying psychology-based approaches to organisational innovation, learning and performance for over twenty years.

Since 2008, Kamal has been Mark and Hanne’s continuous Supporter feeding them with his invaluable academic know-how; he has been a driving force in ensuring the proprietary psychometric tool that underpins the Creative Creatures methodology is reliable, robust and valid.

As a strong Sculptor, Kamal belongs to the breed of academics who want to add value by developing solutions that work in real life. Amongst other things, he has developed the Clear Ideas framework and complementary app, both used to generate and implement new ideas more effectively.

Kamal is always keen to ensure that employee training and development interventions have an impact beyond the classroom itself, which is why he created the TOTADO training evaluation model.

Our Global Network

Tony Franco

Tony is a Stimulator at heart. He loves playing with new ideas and is at his happiest when encouraging teams to push the boundaries of their own creativity whilst seeking out new possibilities for their brands.

Tony is a real foodie who feels truly lucky to have worked with several food and drink clients over the years. More often than not, you will find him in the kitchen perfecting new dishes and unleashing his Sculpting skills – whether at home in Tooting or at the family hideout in Tuscany.

Richard Oldham

Richard is a true Spotter who gets a buzz out of taking things apart to see how they work before putting them back together again in new and different ways.

To the benefit of his clients, Richard’s philosophy is to seek out the thorniest challenges and then solve them with rigour, diplomacy and elegance. His trademark approach combines both the gentleman and the Sculptor in him.

Whenever Richard isn’t traveling for business or pleasure, you can often find him and his family on Wimbledon Common walking their rescue dog Elsie.

Mark Steele-Mortimer

Since leaving his native Canada, Mark has built brands on three different continents. These experiences, combined with his innate Supporter mindset, have developed his deep interest in building winning corporate cultures.

Mark recently made a leap from a corporate career to becoming an entrepreneur when he set up his own consultancy. Right now you will find Mark in Colombia, one of the dozen countries he has lived in over the last 25 years. And the Stimulator in him plans to live in a couple more before he is done!

Sarah Burgess

For almost twenty years Sarah has used her strong Spotter skills to help companies leverage insights to drive consumer-centric strategy, innovation and marketing programmes.

Sarah really enjoys the front end of the innovation process, as this is where she can let her natural Stimulator loose and imagine the unimaginable.

Originally from London, Chicago is now the city Sarah calls home. But most likely you will find her walking in the great outdoors with her very own fireman and their dog named Blue.

Claudia Ante Hencker

Claudia’s background as an industrial engineer could explain her strengths as a Selector.

Having completed her engineering degree with an MBA, she has spent most of her career in local, regional and global marketing roles leading to an intrinsic understanding of the strategic and operational challenges businesses face.

Her Spotter mindset has enabled Claudia to untangle the complexities of the business world in order to create transformative commercial capability programmes for her clients.

Nick Fenn

With a strategic planning background working across a plethora of brands for various advertising agencies in London, Brazil and Barcelona, Nick is a great Spotter who is used to connecting the dots between seemingly unrelated topics.

The Stimulator in him makes it hard to sit still, and Nick is pretty much always on the move. In fact, travel is one of his passions and he has a recently set up a consultancy focusing purely on the travel industry. And when Nick is not on a plane, his other passion is yoga.

Mike Barrett

Mike found his spiritual home in learning and development nearly 20 years ago. He skilfully creates experiential training programmes that lead to real impact. As a Spotter, he is good at identifying people with potential – and those who need a helping hand.

The Stimulator in him enjoys the many overseas trips that come with the job; they top up his fuel tank of inspiration and are a great way to discover the gins of the world!

When not working, Mike runs with his energetic dog, Caz. In fact, he completed his first, and possibly last marathon this year!

Ernesto Suzán Reed

With the innate curiosity of a Stimulator, Ernesto is always looking to learn new things. He is certified in Creative Leadership and Facilitation for Innovation and is the author of the book ORGANIC: Navigating business turbulence with an integrated approach.

Ernesto gets a real thrill out of using his Spotter instincts to point out peoples’ hidden potential so they discover sides of themselves they didn’t see before.

As a lover of music and a passionate aficionado of cinema and filmmaking, Ernesto happily admits that he often gets moved to the point of tears!