Former Yorkshire Post editorial director and JPI and Archant editor-in-chief Jeremy Clifford is going it alone with his new consultancy Chrysalis, and he’s bringing out the big guns to join him.
Clifford will be counting former Reach plc regional editorial director and Newcastle Chronicle editor Neil Benson among his team of associate consultants, alongside Mike Sassi, who brings 20 years of experience editing regional news titles across the Midlands to the table and is currently a visiting professor at Nottingham Trent University.
All three men currently do their bit to ensure the next generation of journalists come through – Clifford is a mentor for the Google-funded Journalism, Innovation and Leadership programme at the University of Central Lancashire, while Benson serves as visiting professor at Huddersfield University and is an advisory board member at the University of Central Lancashire’s Journalism, Innovation and Leadership course.
Despite the strong links to journalism, Clifford insists the new consultancy will be about much more than publishing. Indeed, he insists that, although he may initially offer his services mainly to media clients given the nature of his expertise, his long-term plans are much broader.
He said: “Qualifying as a professional coach has helped me to coach in a professional way, so my view is to broaden outside the media industry. My passion is to help develop the leaders of today and tomorrow. That’s what I’ve been doing throughout my career, and that doesn’t have to stay within the media industry. Working with the up and coming talent and helping them to develop their careers is what really excites me at this stage.”
Clifford describes his mission with Chrysalis as “Designing Your Tomorrow Together,” and says that it is dedicated to developing talent, building leadership muscle and helping businesses to change and adapt to the challenges we face today.
Chrysalis will primarily offer change and transformation consultancy services, leadership training and coaching and strategy labs to develop vision and strategy, and deliver the necessary results.
Clifford can really on some solid references as he heads out on his own. Martin Little, audience transformation director, Reach plc, said: “Jeremy is a leader of change, an exceptional communicator and one of the most experienced journalists and editors in the UK media industry. He transformed JPIMedia’s editorial function into a digital organisation. His professionalism, skill and drive would be an asset to any business.”
