About Penny
After a scientific PhD from Cambridge, Penny worked for multinational companies in the areas of project management and change. Then the 9/11 tragedy intervened, forcing her to run her first global programme virtually. It worked well and soon she became a consultant in leadership, especially in tricky environments (virtual, ambiguous, changing...). The pandemic lockdowns brought a whole new audience to her work and books, beyond business, including churches and missionary organisations. Recently, she's been contracted as Area Lead Facilitator for the Diocese of Leicester's move to Minster Communities, applying much of what she teaches at St Hild.
Penny was licensed as a Reader to All Saints, Loughborough in January 2021. Appropriately, this happened on Zoom! She completed her MA in Theology, Mission and Ministry with St Hild in 2024, with a study entitled: 'Ethics of Inclusion', which explored whether people of working age with invisible illnesses and chronic conditions feel they belong in their church communities. She's presenting this at the SST conference in 2025 and working with the Church of England disability team to share the results across the church.
Penny is particularly interested in leadership in times of change, and the intersection between leadership in church, disability (hidden and visible) and neurodiversity.
Publications
- ‘‘I Have Disappeared’: Long COVID, ME and Inclusion in Church Communities’ in Deborah Lupton Ed. Long COVID and Society: International Perspectives (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025)
- 'Church as experienced by those with invisible illnesses' (Church of England, 2025) https://www.churchofengland.org/resources/barrier-free-belonging/church-experienced-those-invisible-illnesses
- Making Risk Management Work: Engaging People to Identify, Own and Manage Risk, 2nd Edition, co-authored with Dr Ruth Murray-Webster (Routledge, 2023)
- Virtual Leadership: Practical Strategies for Success with Remote or Hybrid Work and Teams, 2nd Edition (Kogan Page, 2022)
- Making Workshops Work: Creative collaboration for our time (PIP, 2021)
- Managing Successful Programmes, 5th Edition, co-author (TSO, 2020)
- Business Analysis and Leadership: Influencing Change, co-editor (Kogan Page, 2013)