JCI UK is delighted to announce our trainers for this year’s LEAP Academy! As many of you will know, LEAP is our flagship academy designed to help you dig deep to find out what kind of leader you are - and give you the skills to unleash that power.

This year, Head Trainer Johnny Damtoft is joined by Emma Kerrywood, Hannah Woodcock, James Lambert, Lucy Collins and Ruthie Pinion. You can find out more about your trainers below!

Johnny Damtoft

Johnny joined JCI in 2010, quicky found a passion for Personal Development and within his first year of membership, he had planned, executed and participated in JCI Presenter and JCI Trainer courses, which continues to inspire him. He enjoys giving back through the same methods, and in 2015 Johnny was a co-founder of a new local chamber, he's been local training director and also local president. Johnny is always ready to take on new challenges in any aspect. Outside of JCI, Johnny owns a small business delivering Consulting Services, and in his limited spare time, he's working towards creating a Mental Trainer Program, with BigBlue Academy, a free and simple to use framework using basic principles for personal development for young athletes. Johnny is married, father of two girls, ages 12 and 14, and they all enjoy experiencing new things.

Emma Kerrywood

Emma has had an illustrious career since she joined JCI in 2006. Local President of JCI Leeds in 2009, JCI UK Training Director in 2012 and National President in 2013, it’s no surprise that Emma was part of the original LEAP team. As many of her friends can attest, she certainly has the gift of the gab: she is a previous JCI World Debating Champion and has delivered training on extempore, debating and public speaking across the UK. With this much expertise, we are very excited for Emma to be joining the LEAP Training Team once again. Emma is now a senator, enjoying the finer aspects of JCI life: wine, gin, and prosecco.

Hannah Woodcock

Hannah’s JCI roles include Events & Training Director (JCI Sheffield, 2014), Local President (JCI Leeds, 2017) and Community Action Director (JCI UK, 2019). Most recently Hannah implemented the national Step Up January campaign and coordinated the Mindful Matters conference.

A 2016 LEAP alum, Hannah has also graduated from JCI UK’s National Training Academy (2017) and JCI Facilitator (2019). Thanks to these insightful academies, Hannah was inspired to develop her own training sessions; she has since delivered ‘Writing Creative Copy’ and ‘Perfect Your Proofreading’ to local chambers and Leeds Beckett University.

Outside of JCI, Hannah is a Content Editor and Writer for Hallmark Cards. She has delivered internal workshops for the company, with topics ranging from blogging to ghost story writing. Hannah has directed plays for The Lantern Theatre (Sheffield) and staged a murder mystery in support of Pancreatic Cancer Action. In October she will lead a session at Ilkley Literature Festival Fringe.

James Lambert

James joined JCI in 2012 and attended the second LEAP in 2013 - and has been involved in the organising and training of LEAP every year since. James is the 2019 JCI UK Deputy National President and has held a wide variety of roles both on a National level (including Finance and Personal Development Director) and on the local board in Southampton.

JCI gives a wide variety of opportunities to develop your leadership skills and James firmly believes that LEAP remains the academy that has given him the most skills and knowledge in his career to date and that is why he can’t wait to be part of the team again this year.

Outside of JCI, James is the Tax Manager for an independent firm of accountants in Colchester during the day and recently has started attending BootCamps.

Lucy Collins

Lucy attended LEAP Academy in 2017.  LEAP Academy was the first major step towards becoming JCI Sheffield’s Local President in 2019.  Lucy returns to LEAP as part of the 2019 National Training Team to help others understand themselves, as well as the way they interact with others, so that they can increase their personal and leadership effectiveness.

LEAP Academy was also the ideal preparation for when Lucy attended 2018 JCI European Leadership Academy in Sweden.  Lucy has attended JCI training and workshops around the UK and the world and is committed to personal development, both within JCI and out.  In her professional life, Lucy works in HR and has created learning and development materials for a company that employs over 130,000 people.

Ruthie Pinion

Ruthie’s first ever JCI event was LEAP back in 2016, and since then she has been in love with the Academy. Since then she has sat on Local and National Boards, using her marketing skills to support the organisation. She is delighted to finally join the training team to help provide the same experience to a whole new cohort of LEAP graduates. Outside of JCI, Ruthie works for a prominent digital advertising agency in central London during the day, and does yoga and Dungeons and Dragons at night.

Tickets are still available for LEAP here. Spots are limited, so book now to avoid disappointment.