Kate Smyth (Davis) works with founders and senior leaders who are asking why good people and good intentions aren't producing the results the business needs.

She specialises in organisational design and development, at senior level, finding the structural reasons growth stalls, teams misalign, or board dynamics and decision making break down, and working with the people who have the power to change it.

With over 25 years across Magic Circle law, operations leadership, change management and organisational design, she brings commercial rigour and structural thinking in equal measure. As founder of Meraki People, she advises boards and leadership teams in founder-led businesses - across creative, tech, construction, and recruitment - at the point where the organisation needs to evolve to match the ambition.

As a mentor, she's most useful to leaders navigating growth, succession, board or team dynamics, or the shift from founder-led to professionally managed. She is an ICF ACC-accredited coach and 5 Voices Master Practitioner, which means the mentoring relationship is structured, perceptive, and grounded in how people actually work.

Kate is Chair of the IoD's Special Interest Group on People and Organisational Design, Vice Chair of IoD Surrey and Berkshire, a Non-Executive Director with the ABM, a guest lecturer at Royal Holloway University of London, and a facilitator for Business Leader's CEO peer forum. She is a keynote and panel speaker on leadership, culture, and organisational design, and author. Clients call her "The Board Whisperer."