Our Team
Greenhouse is a collaboration of senior business professionals with experience across strategic, organisational, commercial and operational leadership. We work flexibly, bringing together the most appropriate mix of skills and experience for each assignment.
Our clients value the fact that they work directly with experienced people who combine strategic perspective with practical judgement, insight and delivery focus.
Jan Sowa
Jan is the founder and Managing Director of Greenhouse and specialises in organisational and business strategy, particularly within the charity and education sectors. His career has included turning around underperforming divisions and functions within Whitbread plc, and he has held directorships and trusteeship roles in the leisure and social sectors. Before founding Greenhouse in 2008, Jan also built and led a successful leisure retail business for nine years. He brings strategic clarity, commercial judgement and practical support to organisations and senior leaders navigating change, challenge and development.
Pat Griffin
Pat is a highly experienced leader with extensive professional expertise across both the commercial and education sectors. She held senior marketing roles including Marketing Director for Burger King UK & Spain within Diageo, was a Board Director in a leading brand strategy consultancy, and founded her own consultancy working with blue-chip clients. She later moved into education, becoming Head Teacher of a primary school which she led to an Ofsted rating of “Outstanding in all areas”. Pat brings particular strengths in strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, innovation, culture change, communication and coaching high performers. She coaches senior leaders in education, and is a regular keynote speaker on leadership and mental wellbeing.
Sally Holme
Sally has extensive senior leadership experience in retail and catering. She spent over 20 years at Bettys and Taylors, covering all operational areas before becoming Managing Director. During her eleven years as MD, group sales grew to £90m, employee numbers increased to 1,200, and the business achieved consistently strong trading results. Sally has achieved several industry awards including Sunday Times Best Companies to work for, and two Queen’s Awards for sustainability. She later became Chair of Bagel Nash and has a particular interest in ethical trading, customer experience and operational performance.
Steve Swayne
Steve is the founder and Chair of Greenhouse’s collaborative partner, Kingsgate, which has been helping organisations deliver successful change in difficult and complex situations for over 20 years. He is a former Chair of The Institute for Turnaround and a regular contributor to thought leadership in the field.
Steve has a strong track record in turnaround, transformation and organisational change at CEO and Managing Director level in listed companies, privately owned enterprises and the public sector. He brings particular sector knowledge in health and social care, technology, distribution and logistics.
