Tesse Akpeki

Tessé Akpeki FCG Podcaster and Lead Governance Consultant at Bates Wells, a Senior Associate Consultant NCVO, a Chartered Secretary, Mediator, Coach and Facilitator. Tesse is founder of the Wellbeing and resilient leadership initiative.

Tessé, a governance strategist, combines cutting edge governance and leadership approaches with pragmatic wisdom, curiosity, cultural approaches and behavioral strategies. Tessé served as an Equal Opportunities Commissioner, a Non-Executive in the NHS (13 years), a governor of International Students House (ISH) and served as a chair of the Governance and Nominations Committee of ISH until December 2019. Tesse was an Associate of the Centre for Charity Effectiveness at CASS Business School and was a CCE Coach (2005-2017).She undertook governance work for the Association of English Cathedrals (2017-2019). She has recently been appointed as an Advisor to the Bishop of London. She has also been appointed as a supervisor for coaching trainees who are undertaking their assessment at the MOE Foundation. Tesse serves as a mentor for the Chartered Governance Institute.

An evangelist of the benefits of the impact of behaviors, values and culture, Tessé extols the impact of board dynamics from composition, effectiveness impact, effective decision making, leadership styles and tone.

Tessé judges the Charity Governance Awards sponsored by Clothworkers and the BOND diversity awards. In 2019 she was invited to Parliament to speak about diversity leadership at the APPG meeting on charities and volunteering. She is author of “Emotional Board” published by the Donors Experience, Crafted for Performance: The Place of Behaviors in Shaping High Performance Governance and Coach Your Way to Better Governance published by Charity Channel (You and Your Nonprofit Board, Advice and Practical Tips for the Field ‘s Top Practitioners, Researchers, and Provocateurs). She is a member of the Buzz launch team convened by Weaving Influence, a book reviewer for the Chartered Governance Institute (CGI) and a reviewer for NetGalley publishers. Her book club TesseRead is a place of learning and sharing of ideas and concepts on leadership.