About

About Knowledge Connections

Knowledge Connections was born in 2014 out of decades of friendship and shared history. We share a common passion for individuals to thrive in their working environment, for Teams to grow and develop and for Leaders to overcome challenges, in a way that makes a lasting difference to them and their organisation.

We each bring our own experience, strengths, styles and skills and that makes us a great team. Using our experience we partner with you to identify the right approach that will deliver the best results for your situation.

Our Values

We are down-to-earth individuals working together

We are focussed on mutual long-term relationships

We encourage you to think and do differently

Everything we do is customised for you

We are ‘all in’

Meet The Core Team

Kirsty Lightfoot

Kirsty has worked across the custodial sector, NHS, third sector and private organisations, supporting teams through change and complexity. She is a qualified Change Management Practitioner and Person-Centred Counsellor, combining practical project skills with a deep understanding of people.

Kirsty’s strength is listening closely and creating inclusive spaces where individuals and teams can thrive. She draws on specialist experience in neurodiversity to help people feel understood and supported as they grow.

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Brian Gatt

Brian helps people make sense of complex situations and uncover new ways forward. As a facilitator, coach and consultant, he worksalongside teams and individuals to explore different perspectives and findclarity.

With over 20 years’ experience in multinational organisations across consulting, HR, IT and transformation, Brian brings grounded insight and a calm, reflective style that helps clients discover their own solutions.

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Sam Twomey

For Sam, everything starts with people. She believes strong performance — in projects or day-to-day work — comes from creating the right conditions for people to succeed.

She is skilled at building safe, focused spaces for discussion, helping teams reframe challenges and explore new ideas. Sam is a qualified Coach, NLP Practitioner, Change Management Practitioner and Facilitator, drawing on 30 years’ experience in a global FMCG organisation to guide people thoughtfully forward.

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Alison Roper

Alison is a facilitator and coach who believes everyone can do their best work when they understand their strengths and motivations. She designs sessions that invite reflection, encourage new thinking, and support teams to work together effectively.

Her inclusive approach ensures every voice is heard,balancing thoughtful exploration with practical action. Alison’s experience helps people uncover meaningful insights and move forward with confidence.

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Nick Denholm

Nick helps organisations build learning into the way they work, so insights are practical, shared, and lasting. He works alongside teams to identify real challenges and co-create solutions that fit their context.

He is skilled at guiding reflection, asking thoughtful questions, and using interactive approaches to turn experience into actionable learning — helping organisations grow in ways that stick.

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Andy Zielinski

Andy works with leadership teams to develop strategy and strengthen how they work together. He is an experienced facilitator who helps organisations capture and retain knowledge, so learning stays within the business.

His approach is calm, practical, and collaborative, supporting teams to make considered decisions and move forward with confidence.

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the Benefits of Working With Us

At Knowledge Connections we like to position ourselves as your Partners.

We stand alongside you and /or your team and ensure that together, we understand the full extent of your opportunity or get to the root cause of your challenge.

Critically we like to build a relationship with you and truly understand the culture of your business and always aim to propose approaches or solutions, endure the test of time.

Brian has worked with all business segments and functions during his time as an internal consultant in Mars. He has an amazing ability to get people to look at the world from a different angle, allowing clients to pause, (re)think and ultimately unlock new opportunities.
He is an excellent facilitator and is passionate about personal development, being a coach to many Associates in the company.
The combination of these skills mean that Brian builds strong relationships with those he interacts with and is especially sought after when there is a significant challenge or opportunity being faced.

Andy, director at mars university

I worked with Sam to co-create a programme that will help drive change across our organisation. Sam has really helped by bringing a strong blend of change and project leadership knowledge coupled with a really insightful understanding of the people effected by the change, the group has been really receptive to the proposed changes, and we have some great measures in place to track progress. Thanks for your help and support.

SUE, RESEARCH QUALITY AND GOVERNANCE TECHNICAL LEADER

Alison is probably the most positive person I've met for years.
She is wonderfully warm and empathetic, and full of encouragement.
She takes time to really listen and understand you, and gets you to think differently through useful exercises and challenging questions. I recommend her highly.

catherine, Ceo

Brian was instrumental in facilitating crucial alignment for a global team of technical experts: his steering and alignment framework ensured the team landed key decisions, clarified intent and achieved results that progressed the strategy execution and deployment.
I would engage Brian again for any conversations requiring multidisciplinary alignment, strategy implementation and divergent stakeholder management with high stakes business impact.”

Paola, Director, R&D Strategy

I have worked closely with the Knowledge Connections team on upskilling our associates in Project Leadership skills, taking a Change Management approach. Sam leveraged her great partnering skills and has worked tirelessly to ensure the change management process and training material is tailored to our needs to set this initiative up for success. As a result of her professional and friendly style, she has engaged our Senior Leaders, Line Managers and Associates in making the changes needed to move the needle on Project Leadership

Graham, Senior Research Manager, Capabilitites

Alison was born to be a coach. Her passion for helping people succeed and natural ability to put anyone at ease in her company are skills made her an absolute pleasure to work with.
Areas of excellence I noticed while collaborating were; Designing and facilitating brilliant visioning and coaching sessions using a variety of techniques (virtual and face to face). No two workshops with Ali are the same!
Crafting fantastic questions that really help you shift the way you think and help to unlock potential.
Building rapport with a variety of clients and coaches in a number of different settings.

Karmel, Consultant

I worked with Brian on a complex behaviour change project. He brought amazing expertise in observing and understanding human behaviour, and an ability to generate ideas for driving change.
He is a thoughtful and insightful consultant, with great facilitation skills, and an amazing ability to step into highly complex and ambiguous situations, and find ways to cut through without getting lost. Definitely someone to have on your team.

Rob, global organisation design & change Director

I have had the pleasure of working with Sam for the past year and it has been an absolute pleasure. From the first meeting to the end result, she always kept the customer and learner in mind. She brought great ideas to the table in regards to content design, learning best practices, and project management. Partnering with Sam really enabled us to deliver a engaging and educational session for our associates during capability week. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Sam and look forward to building upon the success of our last program to deliver additional learning opportunities in the future.

DAVID, COMMERCIAL EXCELLENCE MANAGER