The Alternative Board
Derby and East Midlands

Liz is a Partner, Facilitator and Business Coach for The Alternative Board in Derby and East Midlands Central. 

With a background in sales and marketing leadership, Liz has a broad spectrum of experience gained during her 30-year career to date. This includes corporate marketing roles within Bass/Coors and launching Thorntons products across the grocery sector, generating sales of £120m+.   

10 years ago, she decided to strike out on her own after feeling frustrated and unfulfilled within the corporate world. Liz has since experienced the highs and lows of being a business owner herself, as a marketing consultant, retail outlet owner, and now running her own coaching practice.   

As a result, Liz has a wealth of expertise, advice and ideas to bring to a range of business opportunities and challenges.  She is passionate about helping fellow business owners gain clarity around their personal and business visions and helping them achieve those dreams while maintaining a balanced and enjoyable life.   

As part of creating her own high quality of life, Liz is a nature and dog-lover, a lifelong learner, including through travel, plus board trustee and treasurer for the Derbyshire-based me&dee charity. 

Phil Dobson is a Partner, Facilitator and Business Coach for The Alternative Board in Derby and East Midlands.

Phil’s background is in management within SMEs, and continues as a Director of a local business.

He has over thirty years of sales and business management experience along with strong leadership, organisation, planning and people skills developed during time spent working in the manufacturing and distribution sectors both as a senior manager and shareholder positions.

Phil spent 5 years as a TAB member, working towards his business and personal vision. Phil has experienced all of the highs and lows faced when starting and growing a new business and knows how difficult it can be to achieve balance and personal fulfilment alongside success.

As a longstanding member of The Alternative Board, Phil sees the support, advice and guidance from his coach and peers as critical to the progress of his business and personal development and is now eager to be able to offer that same support to other business owners in his community.

Phil also supports local charities in the area with 10 years in the Round Table, helping to raise over 100K for good causes.  His newfound work/life balance allows him to enjoy more time with his family and to indulge in his love of outdoor pursuits.

Max is the owner of The Alternative Board in Derby and East Midlands Central. He is an experienced executive, having spent 25 years running a variety of different companies ranging in size from £8m to £50m and from 40 people to 400. With a background in Marketing and Sales with Brands such as Pretty Polly and Hush Puppies, he moved into General Management with Mattel Toys in Amsterdam, responsible for Eastern Europe, The Middle East and Africa.

Deciding it was time to move back to the UK in time for the important schooling years for his boys and to leave the big Corporate world behind, Max took over as CEO of Maclaren pushchairs in Northamptonshire before spending time as MD/CEO of manufacturing companies in Housewares, Decorating Products and latterly Furniture, for a number of Private Equity owners.

In 15 years of running SMEs, Max has experienced nearly everything that the business world can throw at you, including acquisitions and disposals; people challenges; factory relocations and closures; more people challenges; cash flow dramas; opening new channels of distribution; yet more people challenges; managing rapid growth, and finally, more people challenges! He learned the hard way that running SMEs can be a very lonely experience, and being able to “swap notes” with fellow business owners was a massive benefit. He formed his own unofficial Peer Board with a number of contemporaries in non-competing businesses within the DIY products sector, and that experience is ultimately what attracted him to The Alternative Board.

Now firmly established as a business coach and advisor, Max has a passion for helping business owners get to the heart of their challenges and calmly put in place solutions to help them achieve their objectives. If all of this can be achieved whilst walking his dogs or hitting a golf ball, then even better!

Julian is a Facilitator and Coach for The Alternative Board Derby in Derby and East Midlands Central.

Julian joined TAB in March 2010, developed his business extremely well, and in line with his personal vision, successfully concluded a sale of his franchise to Max Crosby-Browne at the end of 2019. Julian developed 5 Peer Boards in Derby with members from a broad cross-section of industries, including retail, marketing, manufacturing, and accountancy and training companies.

Julian remains involved with TAB and supports members in Max’s territory.

He has an extensive breadth of knowledge gained from working with large Corporate PLCs as well as a number of SMEs. His 35 years of experience includes significant commercial, general management, and overseas roles.

Julian’s career has involved time spent in the textiles, print, creative design, consultancy, and packaging industries, and his particular skill and knowledge base relates to sales and marketing, brand development, strategic planning, and change management. He has an eye on the ‘big picture' and leads and managed business units of multi-discipline teams with up to £100m turnover with 3000 employees as well as a team of less than 10 in an SME.

Julian’s career started with the Coats Viyella Group, where he worked his way through the management ranks to become a Managing Director by the age of 29. 15 years ago, Julian decided on a career change and worked with SMEs across a number of industries, successfully developing sales teams and winning strategies for business development.

Julian’s engaging style, leadership acumen, and ability to challenge the status quo have ensured success for all the teams he has worked in and are what triggered his focus and commitment towards business coaching.

Julian has a passion for people and the improvement of their personal and business lives and believes that The Alternative Board provides a unique, dynamic and challenging environment supported by a number of outstanding business development tools to ensure a business can fulfil its potential and deliver the rewards for the owner that he or she deserves.

Jimi is a Facilitator and Coach for The Alternative Board in Derby and East Midlands Central.

He has over 20 years of leadership and management experience gained within the private and third sectors.

Jimi has an established record of leading and delivering strategic projects in the print & packaging industry and leading and influencing change in the third sector. Following his career change from IT Manager for a large global print business to strategic lead for Leadership Development in a large national charity, Jimi coached and supported CEOs, Chairs and Senior Leaders in multi-million-pound charities across the UK.

He has also led a regional charity through a time of significant change, leading the business through strategic development, cultural change and process improvements leading to growth and sustainability.

Jimi has run a successful consultancy business for the past four years, working with private and large third-sector businesses. He has been running TAB boards for three years – in line with his personal vision to enable others to achieve their full potential. This, combined with his leadership and business skills, brings lasting benefits to TAB members and business owners in the East Midlands.