Arena Partners was founded and is still run by Gary Stott and Sarah Dunwell who have worked together since 2007. With over 60 years combined experience in the commercial sector, SME’s, the social enterprise and faith sectors they are a safe pair of hands, whatever the project.
For 30 years, Gary has worked across multiple sectors, finding news ways to deliver social impact. With CEO and Board level experience in the social enterprise, housing, retail and charity sectors, Gary is passionate about developing innovative solutions to society’s biggest problems. He has a particular interest in community capacity building and has developed a number of award-winning programmes aimed at building stronger individuals and confident, resourceful communities. Gary has significant experience of working across multi-stake holder environments, including commissioners, funders and policy makers. His award-winning impact evaluations will encourage improvement in policy and practice, making sure that whatever changes you make, you can be confident that they’re the right ones for your organisation in the long-term. Gary has been the Head of People Development for a high growth SME with a 1000 colleagues and is passionate about ‘taking the team with you’, in innovation and change. A gifted communicator, Gary excels at developing the relationships that count…telling your story in compelling ways that capture hearts and minds and lead to fruitful partnerships in the future. Gary spent a number of years acting as advisor with the government on the resolution of homelessness and has been awarded the Prime Minister’s Big Society Award.
Sarah is an entrepreneur through and through. Whilst running her own thriving family business, she became passionate about combining that success with positive social impact, convinced that the two went hand in hand. Challenging existing business models and creating new strategies for growth are Sarah’s forte, as well as leading the change management programme that often accompany such interventions. Sarah’s priority is always to establish space for reflecting and learning together, strengthening your organisation and its ability to handle change in the future. Sarah will add vital capacity and capability to your senior team, coaching and mentoring colleagues to stay focused and connected to their changing environment. She will bring a different perspective, facilitating changes in mind-set and creating new ways of working. An experienced CEO and Non-Executive Director, Sarah is confident working at the most senior levels and has held relationships across local and national government as well as many corporate sectors. Those networks open up to you when you engage with us. Sarah is an experienced communicator and campaigner and is able to craft and deliver your message so that it’s heard in all the right places. Relationship management is one of Sarah’s strengths and this can be useful in proving your value proposition whilst we focus on funding strategies. Sarah holds over 30 national awards, including Entrepreneur of the Year, Ethical Restauranteur of the Year and an honorary degree from Leeds Beckett University for services to the City of Leeds.
At Arena Partners, we work with a team of Associates who are specialists in fields that compliment our passion for delivering tangible outcomes for our clients.
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