About
Sometimes having a new perspective can make all the difference.
We’re a diverse and flexible team of change-makers and problem-solvers: business, sustainability, and non-profit strategy, advisory, and communications consultants with broad, lived experience gleaned from careers in a range of sectors. We’re united by our passion to help business and society work better, smarter, and faster together through transformative Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategies, thoughtful collaboration, and effective cross-sector partnerships.
Decades of experience
C&E Advisory has decades-long experience of helping purposeful businesses, non-profits, foundations, and philanthropists to navigate business, social and environmental risks, challenges, and opportunities – and come out more resilient and relevant. We challenge and support organisations to put purpose firmly at the heart of what they do, and design intelligent strategies and programmes to deliver inclusive, sustainable impact and value for all stakeholders.
We believe
- People always come first
and that our health is inextricably linked with the health of our planet - In the principle of cause and effect
all actions and inactions have consequences and that when an issue becomes a cause it can better galvanise sustainable action and greater impact - Being a good business is good business
- Having a compelling purpose
or mission is necessary, but not in itself sufficient: a purpose, mission, or cause should deliver sustainable, high-impact change & effect - In the creative power of diverse perspectives
when individuals, organisations or sectors come together to solve problems at scale - Solutions with depth
integrity, authenticity, and transparency are our holy grail - Curiosity is essential
and we must never stop learning!
Manny Amadi, MVO
Building on a diverse career spanning the corporate, non-profit sectors, and cross-sector consulting, Manny founded C&E fuelled by his determination to help place societal consideration at the heart of business purpose and practice – and to help speed the mission of non-profits to greater impact. Manny advises, coaches, writes about, and catalyses effective action on a wide variety of ‘business and society’ issues including sustainable business, transformation strategy, stakeholder engagement, diversity & inclusion, social innovation, and levelling up communities.
He is skilled in convening and scaling peer collaborations to enhance collective impact and facilitating valuable dialogue between previously antagonistic companies and NGOs. He has worked with some of the world's foremost businesses, NGOs, Trusts, Foundations, and high impact philanthropists.
As an enthusiastic supporter of young people, Manny has served on the boards of several leading youth organisations; was the Lead Founder of The Charter School, East Dulwich, and a driving force behind the establishment and growth of The Charter Schools Educational Trust (the Trust educates nearly 5,000 pupils across six highly respected inclusive, non-selective community state schools, drawing on its Teacher Training School and Research School hubs to strengthen diverse local communities across south London). He is a Founding Trustee of Mission Beyond – a charity focused on addressing the UK’s social mobility challenge by connecting 1 million underrepresented young people to real jobs via Open Doors, a national digital infrastructure.
A Fellow of the RSA, Manny was awarded an MVO (Member of the Royal Victorian Order) in 1999 by the Queen, for services to the community in support of disadvantaged young people. He is married and feels lucky to have four much beloved sons.
Meet the team
Simone Marquis
A highly experienced HR leader, Simone is a strategic talent consultant specialising in bringing the leadership, culture and diversity and inclusion agendas together to deliver superior outcomes for organisations - and an engaging employee experience. She is particularly adept at engaging and influencing c-suite and senior leadership teams to shape and deliver on their culture change agendas. With over 15 years of consultancy and large organisation senior level experience, including at BT and EE, Simone balances the need for best practice and market leading solutions with a strong understanding of the operational realities of making change within large, complex organisations.
Simone is passionate about helping organisations to create and sustain greater value through more diverse workforces. Waking up in a diverse household everyday has provided her with deep experience and insights on issues of D&I and on intersectionality. An accredited executive and team coach, she is skilled at creating the environment for authentic dialogue in order to shape strategic D&I ambitions that are inspiring, inclusive, realistic and measurable - and embedded in the broader organisation’s people strategy. Simone is dedicated to creating value and making change that sticks.
David Holding
David is an economics graduate and spent the first part of his career in commercial marketing communications. Having worked for various companies including Pilkington PLC, David moved to the charity sector where he held a range of senior roles in research, marketing and fundraising at SCOPE and Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.
David thrives on the challenges and opportunities that come from collaborating with clients across different sectors and has worked on a variety of research, marketing and fundraising projects including for the International Federation of Red Cross and UNICEF, BBC, the NHS, Barclays, Boots, the Government of Jersey, and academic and voluntary sector organizations. David is a freelance journalist and investment writer and writes regularly for The Motley Fool — the financial investment website.
Dr. William Derban
William has over 15 years banking experience providing sustainable, market-based financial services to the unbanked and under-banked in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. His experience includes financial inclusion, microfinance, digital financial services, sustainability and corporate responsibility. He was the Director for Inclusive Banking and CR at Fidelity Bank Ghana, where he set up the country's first agency banking programme. Prior to that, he spent 10 years at Barclays in various senior positions in the global community investment and financial inclusion departments in Barclays London and as Head of Community Relations with Barclays Africa and Emerging Markets.
He has established various award-winning projects on youth entrepreneurship, preventative health, clean energy solutions, women's empowerment and integrated rural development, and is on the boards of Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (Nigeria) and Junior Achievement Africa. He lectures on sustainability and financial inclusion and is also a passionate speaker at conferences on development across Africa, Middle East and Europe. William is Co-Founder and Chairman of Financial Inclusion Forum, Africa.
Bella Vuillermoz
Bella is a business leader with over 25 years of experience, specialising in change and transformation. She spent 15 years at Sky, where she held key leadership positions spanning strategy, commercial, operations, ESG and communications. Bella was Deputy Chair of Sky’s Crisis Committee and a Trustee of the £1bn Sky Pension Scheme. Key experience included transforming their ESG approach and establishing a leadership position in gender diversity; heading up the design and embedding of Sky’s data strategy as the organisation pivoted to data-first; managing commercial negotiations and strategic partnerships for a £650m advertising airtime portfolio; steering a 1,000 strong team to transform Sky’s property portfolio and workplace experience; and leading financial communications for the FTSE 50 organisation.
Prior to Sky, Bella specialised in corporate and financial communications, both in-house at Marks & Spencer and at a leading City consultancy. Bella is a member of the RSA and of Women in Advertising & Communications Leadership (WACL), where she is Deputy Chair of the Festival of Talent and a member of the WACL mentor scheme. She has sat on Advisory Boards for the Royal Television Society; the Chartered Institute of Management; Step Up to Serve; and Doink. She was named Businesswoman of the Year by TMT News in 2017.