Meet our team
Vicky Hayhurst
Vicky is Hayhurst & Co’s Founder and CEO. Vicky is fully accountable for all elements of how we get things done at Hayhurst & Co. An accomplished strategist and company director with 25 years of marketing project management experience, Vicky is also a skilled and experienced facilitator, and a qualified workplace coach.
Vicky has worked in the private and public sectors, including 21 years in both the client and supplier sides of Higher Education and has been a senior lead in change management programmes at two universities. Having worked as a supplier with over 100 universities, Vicky is well known and trusted within the sector. She has a passion for helping our clients to strive for excellence whilst also setting realistic goals and taking a pragmatic approach to overcoming challenges faced by those working in university external relations teams.
Outside of work, Vicky likes to watch stand-up comedy and loves all genres of music (apart from Country & Western - sorry, Dolly). Vicky also plays tennis for her local club where she captains the ladies’ doubles team; however, her organisational and team-building skills far outweigh her ability to play, which is a constant battle for her and a great source of amusement for her teammates!
Connect with Vicky
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Steve is Hayhurst & Co’s Operations Manager.
We’re sure you’ve noticed both the shared surname and the family resemblance and have correctly realised that H&Co’s new team member is also our CEO, Vicky’s, father!
In a complete role reversal from the late 90s when Vicky used to work for her dad in a weekend job, Steve now works alongside Vicky. Having run his own successful micro businesses for the last 55 years, and as someone who taught Vicky from a very young age the importance of delivering the needs of your customer whilst also balancing the books, we could not have asked for anyone more qualified to support the development of the business.
When he’s not in the office, having retired from playing squash many years ago, Steve uses his “new” knees to help him keep up with his granddaughter, Scarlett. He is also a doting father and husband who loves hosting friends and family and enjoying sunny holidays with his wife, Anne.
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Sophie is Hayhurst & Co’s Client Services Manager, playing a central role in ensuring every client experience is seamless, impactful, and highly personalised.
With over 10 years’ experience across a range of sectors, Sophie brings a depth of understanding, calm assurance, and exceptional organisation to everything she does.
In a broad, hands-on role, Sophie works closely with clients to shape proposals around their specific needs and challenges. She oversees project logistics and leads on feedback - a cornerstone of the Hayhurst & Co approach. By managing mid and end-of-project reviews, Sophie gathers insights that support learning, continuous improvement, and the ongoing refinement of the company's offering.
Sophie is patient, diligent, and deeply committed to building strong, authentic relationships that drive client success. She is also a qualified ILM workplace coach, bringing a thoughtful, people-centred lens to her work.
When she’s not keeping clients on track, she is usually planning her next adventure - whether that’s a weekend getaway or long-haul trip. She enjoys playing tennis and is a lover of good food and good wine. Rarely one to sit still for long, Sophie is often out exploring country walks and running routes with her whippet, Tucci and husband, Rob.
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Sarah-Jane Spooner is Hayhurst & Co’s Director of Training & Insight.
Sarah-Jane is fully accountable for the delivery and outcomes of our training and insight products. With 11 years of marketing project management experience in the client and supplier sides of Higher Education and Further Education, Sarah-Jane is a student recruitment expert who knows exactly what prospective students need from marketing, communications and value propositions at all stages of the student recruitment cycle.
Sarah-Jane has direct experience working with GCSE and Sixth Form students, and led the marketing and student recruitment for Norfolk's first University Technical College. Before joining Hayhurst & Co, Sarah-Jane worked for two of the sector’s leading agencies, Education Cubed and Revolution Viewing (now Vepple), where she led hundreds of student recruitment content and market research projects for over 80 UK universities working with students, professional services staff and academics. Sarah-Jane is well known for helping teams to translate insight into action across the full range of marketing and communications channels.
When she's not delivering for our clients, Sarah-Jane enjoys writing and is in the early stages of developing a sitcom for TV. She also secured a charity place in the 2026 London Marathon, where she will be running for Brain Research UK. Sarah-Jane also relishes a sit down in front of a Victoria Wood repeat.
Our Associates
Our associates are experts in their field – leaders with successful track records and who are at the top of their game in their chosen discipline. This means that we can ensure that you receive a consistent level of focus, relevance and synergy from every one of our team. Not only that but we are all passionate advocates of the education sector and the societal transformation it delivers.
Between us we have a wide range of experience in many different sectors and different types of organisations, which helps to keep our thinking fresh and innovative. It also means that we can tailor best practice from multiple sectors to provide the most effective solutions for Higher Education. We are particularly skilled in the following areas:
Leadership & Management Training
Psychological Safety Implementation
Strategic & Operational Planning
Burnout Prevention Strategies
Coaching & Mentoring
Audience Journey Mapping
Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Practices
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Danielle is Hayhurst & Co’s Executive & Leadership Coach, working with leaders across organisations to help them reach their potential, drive performance and create impact.
After spending two decades as a senior leader and managing director at one of the world’s largest advertising agencies, Danielle’s approach is unique in bringing together the best of leadership and executive coaching. She combines neuroscience, psychology and transformational approaches with [deleted ‘the’] real-world strategic framing and expertise from 20 years as a business leader.
Danielle is a female leadership expert who specialises in supporting female leaders globally, across sectors including education, tech, digital, marketing and healthcare. She helps to develop the strategies, confidence and mindset that enables her clients to reach higher goals [ambitious targets?] and to thrive throughout their careers. Danielle has worked with hundreds of leaders, from emerging leaders to founders and C-suite executives, using bespoke one-to-one coaching to help them transition, elevating their skills and driving performance. She can help with navigating stakeholders and organisational intelligence, overcoming ‘imposter syndrome’, gaining confidence in public speaking and developing resilience and wellbeing.
When Danielle is not busy with her mission to support women across business to win and rise, you can find her with her Italian partner Alessandro in their cottage in Far Headingley, Leeds, cooking up a storm and enjoying an Italian red, doing a spot of yoga or learning Italian (at an excruciatingly slow rate!).
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Abigail is Hayhurst & Co’s International Student Recruitment Expert.
She is a highly experienced former senior academic leader, researcher and specialist in international education and gender equality. In her 30 + year academic career Abigail has held the role of Faculty Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor, Faculty Head of International, Associate Dean International and Associate Head Marketing and Recruitment for large multi-disciplinary units at Manchester Metropolitan and Salford Universities. In these roles she has developed and led successful international strategies, created enterprising, sustainable and impactful partnerships and generated international recruitment globally and notably in East and Southeast Asia and North America. She has been a Department of International Trade Export Champion and was awarded an MBE for Services to Export in 2019. Abigail left academia in 2022 to take up consultancy and advisory roles alongside qualifying and practising as a solutions-focused Executive Coach and Mentor. She is passionate about drawing on her deep experience in Higher Education and her core values of integrity, empathy, collaboration, EDI and continuous improvement to help individuals and organisations to thrive.
When Abigail is not working, she enjoys catching up with her three adult daughters, kettlebell training (now swinging 22 kilos!), and dabbling in gardening, a newfound hobby.
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Robbie is an experienced executive and non-executive director working across a range of industries building, developing and leading high performing teams.
His passion is delivering positive social impact through the teams he works with both in commercial and not-for-profit sectors.
He has significant experience at Board level of complex organisations, marketing to an international audience and driving awareness across a wide range of channels.
Robbie is a champion for creating and implementing people-centred strategies which engage colleagues and stakeholders across organisational silos ensuring positive engagement and results.
He works to drive equity, inclusion and belonging across all his work through meaningful and positive engagement, recognising that this drives improved results but, most importantly, it’s the right thing to do. He is committed to education and particularly the benefits this important sector has to the lives of marginalised groups in society. He has chaired school governing boards for almost a decade and is a Visiting Fellow of a university supporting its revalidation as a provider of professional qualifications.
As important as his work is, Robbie has a whole new priority. Alongside his partner Ben, they have adopted twin boys who have zero respect or tolerance for Robbie’s usual leadership style. ‘Referee’ was never listed in the various leadership books Robbie studied as part of his MBA but has now turned into his default style (at least on Saturdays and Sundays).
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Helle is Hayhurst & Co’s Burnout Prevention and Well-being at Work Researcher, Coach, and Workshop Facilitator.
With a solid foundation of over 15 years in health and wellness, she brings a unique perspective to the field of workplace well-being and personal transformation.
Helle's mission is to empower organisations in creating thriving environments through evidence-based behavioural change strategies, specialising in Burnout Prevention.
Having spent a decade and a half in the wellness industry as a personal trainer and entrepreneur, Helle has first-hand experience of the delicate balance between success and personal sacrifice. This provided her with profound insights into burnout both physically and emotionally. Through her work with clients, Helle observed a fascinating phenomenon: whilst some individuals remained resilient in the face of job stressors, others experienced burnout despite their intelligence and hard work.
Today, Helle applies her expertise to guide individuals through the nuances of well-being, translating academic insights into practical strategies for burnout prevention and overall workplace wellness. Recognising that previous success strategies may become less effective over time, she is dedicated to cultivating flourishing environments within and beyond the workplace, reshaping conversations on well-being, and promoting a harmonious and balanced approach to professional life.
Beyond her professional pursuits, Helle enjoys spending quality time with her grown-up daughter, grandson, and beloved dog Freddie. She maintains her passion for fitness by incorporating a mix of workouts, hikes, and sports for an enjoyable and fulfilling lifestyle.
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Kate is Hayhurst & Co’s Executive Coach.
She is a leader and consultant with three decades of experience working across purpose-driven organisations, leading teams, working with clients and advising boards and senior executives. Kate’s career developed from being a communications practitioner in the arts to leading membership association CASE (Europe) – Council for Advancement and Support of Education - to partnership in global executive search firm Perrett Laver, where she continues to work. With a deep knowledge of, and networks across, global higher education, advancement, communications, talent management, career development and philanthropy, Kate has recently completed a professional certificate in executive coaching at Henley Business School. Kate is a Volunteer Ambassador at the Martingale Foundation which enables and nurtures talented individuals from low socio-economic backgrounds to thrive within world-leading postgraduate study; she is also a Member of the Arbor Multi Academy Trust of four primary schools in east London.
Kate is innately curious, people-centred and driven to help others. She has a strong affinity for social mobility and working in global environments, speaking French and Spanish. With her long-suffering husband and two daughters, she recently completed walking the Camino de Santiago – a journey of resilience, renewal and a glass or two of red wine.
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Stephanie Amor is the co-founder and director of Afro Leads, a brand and consultancy that is focused on diversity and inclusion (D&I) and advancing race equality in the workplace.
Afro Leads is the recent winner of the 2022 Legacy Awards and shortlisted for this year’s National Diversity Awards 2023.
Prior to focusing on diversity and inclusion, Stephanie spent over five years supporting domestic student recruitment and D&I strategies within higher education.
She has a passion for supporting clients with a holistic understanding of D&I, impactful practices and manageable goals. Additionally, coaching inclusive management skills is an area that Stephanie has provided to both private and public sector clients.
The Afro Leads brand contributes to mainstream media, with Stephanie writing a monthly column for OK Magazine. Through a D&I lens, she promotes Black British business and culture to a wider audience – furthering the reach and audience.
Outside of work Stephanie enjoys spending time with her family and exploring the joys that are on her doorstep, Yorkshire landmarks and pubs! Who doesn’t like a ramble and a well-deserved drink!? Having studied a language degree, Stephanie also enjoys learning and experiencing different cultures. Travelling (when possible) will always be something she appreciates.
We’re well networked, so if you need help with something that we don’t specialise in, it’s likely that we will know someone who does!
Chat to us any time if you think we can connect you with other suppliers, or clients who have similar challenges to you and who may be interested in collaborating.
“It has been a pleasure working with Hayhurst & Co at the University of Dundee. Vicky has an infectious energy and attitude that drives positive thinking and outcomes across multiple teams within the directorate…”
DAVID RILEY
Head of Marketing, University of Dundee