Interim Executive Leadership

Leading Businesses Through Growth, Turnaround & Transformation

I work with founders, CEO’s and boards when a business has reached an inflection point – rapid growth, operational complexity, under-performance or fundamental change – and experienced leadership is needed to move the organisation forward.

Sometimes the business that got you here, isn’t the business that will take you where you need to go next.

I combine hands-on commercial leadership with an understanding of the people, systems and behaviours required to make effective change actually happen.

Built, scaled and exited multiple businesses. (£10m+turnover)

Led organisations employing 500+ people.

Experience accross healthcare, technology and professional services.

Growth, restructuring, operational improvement and organisational change.

Founder, board and investor-level experience.

WHEN CHANGE CAN’T WAIT

Your Business May Have Reached an Inflection Point

The company may be successful, but the way it’s operated to date, is no longer enough.

Growth has outpased systems, controls or leadership capacity
The founder or CEO has become a bottleneck
Margins, cashflow or operational performance needs attention
Accountability and decision-making have become unclear
Technology, AI or changing customer behaviour is challenging the existing model
The organisation needs to professionalise before its next stage of growth
A turnaround, integration or significant transformation needs experienced leadership

What I do:

I step into businesses during periods of significant change, identify what is preventing progress, establish clear priorities and lead the organisation through the transition.

I don’t simply advise from the sidelines: I actively engage in implementing the change.

Interim Managing Director/COO
Business and operating-model transformation
Growth and scale-up
Turnaround and performance improvement
Organisational structure and accountability
Systems, control and operational discipline
Founder / CEO support through major change

WHEN THE BUSINESS NEEDS EXPERIENCED LEADERSHIP

Interim Transformation Assignments

Some challenges require more than advice. They require someone inside the business with the authority and experience to lead the change.

I work on focused interim assignments where there is a clear commercial or organisational mandate and a deefined outcome to deliver.

Typical Mandates:

Stabilising an underperforming operation
Professionalising a rapidly growing founder-led business
Redesigning an operating or business model
Improving margins, controls and accountability
Leading organisational restructuring or integration
Preparing a business for its next stage of growth, investment or exit
Responding to disruption created by technology, automation or changing markets

Format:

Dorian Stoodley

I’m an entrepreneur, former Managing Director and transformation leader with first-hand experience of building, scaling and exiting businesses.

I’ve established, scaled and exited multiple businesses, lead companies with over 500 people, across multiple locations.

That experience taught me what happens when businesses grow faster than their systems, when founders become stretched, when controls need to catch up with ambition and when the organisation itself has to adapt in order to move forward.

More recently, my work studying human behaviour and decision-making has added another dimension to that experience: transformation is rarely only about stragegy, systems and structure. Ultimately, people have to learn to accept, embrace, adapt and change in order to thrive in the new economy!

Today I bring these two perspectives together – commercial and human – when helping businesses navigate significant change.

I know what it feels like when things start to drift —
when clarity drops, pressure builds and execution slows.

Alongside this, I’ve worked extensively in understanding human behaviour, decision-making, and what really drives (or blocks) performance.

“The real question is rarely how to preseve the existing business. It is what the buiness now needs to become in order to flourish.”

Discuss an Interim Assignment

If your organisation is facing rapid growth, under-performance, structural change or a significant transformation, I’d be pleased to have an initial confidential conversation.
Whether you already know the mandate or simply recognise that the current model needs to change, we can start by undertanding the situation and what is required.