Welcome to the Manufacturers' Alliance Community
We’re delighted to have you as part of the community! By joining the Aspiring Directors Peer Group, you’re now connected with like-minded peers who share the same commitment to growth, learning, and collaboration.
The peer group provides a space to share challenges, exchange ideas, and gain insight from peers who understand the same challenges and ambitions. We can’t wait to see you grow and develop as a leader and break through the boundaries of possibility.
Overview of Your Membership Package
Full Day Meetings – 9 per year
Meet with like-minded people to share business best practice in; leadership, business growth, employee engagement & change management. No meetings during August & December.
360 Leadership - 1 Profile Per Year
Receive 360 feedback on your leadership style based on the Manufacturers’ Alliance behavioural assessment tool.
1-2-1 Online Support
Gain online support from an experienced business coach & mentor to help you through the challenges that are holding you back.
Annual Conference Attendance – 1 per year
Listen and discuss with other business leaders how they are managing growth and achieving their stretching aspirations.
Access to all webinars & roundtable discussions
Attend online and face to face thought leadership events covering the burning topics affecting the Manufacturers’ Alliance members.
Meeting Dates
BCA Group
Central Group
Host TBC
Host TBC
Manufacturers' Alliance Annual Conference 2026
Host TBC
Host TBC
Host TBC
Host TBC
Host TBC
The Emerging Leaders Peer Group Members
Business Manager Drives and Electronics
Central Group
Service Operations Manager
Closomat
Manufacturing Process Engineer
BCA Group
Head of Engineering
Auto Marine Cables
Maintenance Manager
Arden Dies
Meet the Facilitator
Catherine is one of the Manufacturers’ Alliance experts and facilitates the Aspiring Leaders Peer Group. With a career spanning multiple leading manufacturing organisations, including Kimberly Clark, Black & Decker, and Britax, Catherine brings a wealth of practical experience, commercial insight, and coaching expertise to her work with aspiring senior leaders. Beginning in operational and product-focused roles, she developed a deep understanding of manufacturing dynamics, which now underpins her ability to support leaders and teams to perform at their best.
An experienced leadership coach and facilitator, Catherine is passionate about helping leaders and their teams unlock potential, clarify vision and strategy, and build purposeful, high-performing cultures. Her approach is both supportive and challenging, creating a safe space for honest conversations, encouraging curiosity, and removing complexity to foster clarity, focus, and decisive action. Catherine’s coaching and facilitation style combines her commercial experience with a natural ability to build trust, enabling teams to navigate change, strengthen relationships, and achieve sustainable results.
Throughout her career, Catherine has helped transform organisational cultures, working with senior and extended leadership teams to establish values-based, high-trust environments that drive growth and engagement. She is particularly skilled at supporting leaders to focus on what matters, align their teams, and create workplaces where people want to come and stay. Known for her curiosity, warmth, and ability to foster genuine connections, Catherine inspires leaders to think strategically, act purposefully, and lead with confidence.
Outside of work, Catherine enjoys fresh air, blue skies, mountains and coastlines, good food, and sharing love and laughter with those around her. Driven by passion and purpose, she thrives on collaborating with like-minded people to make the world of work a great place for all, bringing authenticity, insight, and energy to every interaction.
Members of the Manufacturers Alliance Logo
Download your Members of the Manufacturers' Alliance logo below and showcase your membership across your materials, website, and communications.
Upcoming Events
Coming Soon....
We’re currently scheduling our upcoming events and look forward to welcoming you soon. This section will feature workshops, thought leadership events, and other opportunities to support your leadership journey in manufacturing. Stay tuned for details.
Meet the Office Team
Rebecca Chapman
Marketing Manager
Contact Rebecca with all your good news stories to share in our newsletter and socials.
Email: rebecca.chapman@manufacturersalliance.co.uk
Gary Sheader
Founder & MD
Contact Gary for any support whether it's personal challenge or business.
Email: gary.sheader@manufacturersalliance.co.uk
Fiona Chan
Events Coordinator
If you have any queries on events or peer group meetings Fiona will be able to help.
Email: fiona.chan@manufacturersalliance.co.uk
Trish Sheader
Office Manager
Trish is on hand to answer any questions you have on membership or the Academy.
Email: trish.sheader@manufacturersalliance.co.uk
Our Pillars of Support
Peer Groups
Meet with like-minded peers from the manufacturing sector, with similar challenges and aspirations. They will learn and share with you, hold you accountable, and help you to break through the boundaries that are holding you back.
The Academy
Invest in your team and develop the leadership and management skills needed for the future of manufacturing. Develop emotionally intelligent and forward thinking managers who are confident and competent to make an impact in their role.
Thought Leadership Events
Our carefully constructed online and in person events help ambitious manufacturing owners and managers understand what it takes to run a great business, providing inspiration with a constant stream of new ideas.
Hands-on Support
Our Hands-on Support team are experienced business leaders with wide-ranging skills gained from decades of experience in the manufacturing sector. They are high achievers in their areas of expertise and work collaboratively with our customers and each other.
Meet the Facilitators
Aspiring Director Peer Group / 1-2-1 Coaching
Sweet Spot - Supporting and challenging leaders and their teams to lead, build great cultures, purposeful missions and business models that are sustainable.
Nicki Campbell
HR Leaders Peer Group / Academy / 1-2-1 Coaching / Hands on Support
Sweet Spot - Providing a supportive space in which individuals can recognise & achieve their untapped potential, ensuring actions & objectives are achieved.
JulietteYardley
HR Leaders Peer Group / Academy / 1-2-1 Coaching / Hands on Support
Sweet Spot - Challenging people & teams to understand what is 'really' going on in the room, & supporting individuals & teams through effective behavioural & cultural change.
Jonathan Wurr
Academy / 1-2-1 Coaching
Sweet Spot - Supporting and challenging leaders and their teams to lead, build great cultures, purposeful missions and business models that are sustainable.
Emerging Leaders Peer Group / 1-2-1 Coaching
Sweet Spot - Supporting leaders that need to get themselves & their teams unstuck, & start to make brave steps to move themselves & the business forward.
Lancashire & Cheshire Senior Leadership Peer Groups / 1-2-1 Coaching
Sweet Spot - Supporting leaders that require a leadership & management capability assessment at pace, & support them to transition through the required changes.
Operational Excellence Peer Group / 1-2-1 Coaching
Sweet Spot - Supporting change & improvements in complex environments, that need a systems thinker, with the capacity to introduce the best tools for each change effort.
Academy / 1-2-1 Coaching
Sweet Spot - Creating a safe space for individuals & teams, so they can take a deep dive into their challenges, & identify & work towards a desired outcome.
West Manchester Senior Leadership Peer Group / 1-2-1 Coaching / Hands on Support
Sweet Spot - Facilitating ambitious teams through the transition of becoming collectively aligned behind a common purpose, vision, strategy & set of shared values.
1-2-1 Coaching / Hands on Support
Sweet Spot - Working alongside leaders that are on a learning journey & helping them to grow
at the same pace as the business & the rest of the team.
1-2-1 Coaching / Hands on Support
Sweet Spot - Providing
leadership & strategic direction that drives business transformation,
operational efficiency, & long-term value creation.
About the Manufacturers' Alliance
Established in 2013, the Manufacturers' Alliance is an independently owned business, with an overarching passion to support the manufacturing community at the heart of our economy.
We are the go to organisation for business leaders in the manufacturing sector that want to develop modern leadership skills, lead a high performing team and be a force for good in the world.
Business owners and leaders that join the Manufacturers’ Alliance are lifelong learners that want to continue to develop themselves in order to remain effective. They are progressive and have a strong desire to continue to improve. They love be around like-minded manufacturers, and share challenges and ideas with each other. And most importantly, they don’t have big egos. They are humble, supportive and open to doing things differently.
When you join the Manufacturers’ Alliance, you are joining a like-minded community that will support and encourage you on your journey towards sustainable business growth and leadership excellence. You will be part of a cause that makes a positive difference in the world.
"The MA has helped me to feel more confident and ready to take on the world. I'm trying to steer the company and when you see others doing it well, that's very valuable"
Rachael Baker, Managing Director, JJ Smith
"You feel you are a part of something where everyone cares about your business. I always take away a piece of gold."
Alex Grace, Managing Director, Banana Moon Clothing
