The Mid-Western Mentoring program is an 8-month leadership program that is framed by sessions focused on Business Strategy, Marketing, Finance, HR and Legal aspects of operating a small business – delivered by local specialists. The associated 1:1 Mentoring conversations happen monthly (April-November) as well a host of opportunities to collaborate and network in the form of ‘Fireside Chats’ and ‘Learning Circles’. A Graduation Ceremony wraps the program.
All participants will also receive 1:1 Coaching from Founder / Program Manager and certified Coach, Dr Pearl Daly-Swords.
Alina Azar
Director
Alina Azar is a strategic thinker, marketer, mentor, entrepreneur and highly motivated leader. She has a career which has spanned over 20 years in business management, leadership, marketing and teaching roles. Throughout her career, Alina has provided marketing and business strategic advice across multiple industries, including but not limited to; banking and finance, FMCG, travel, tourism, alcohol, telecommunications, fast food, franchise businesses, small business and start-ups.
Having started her professional working life in the marketing team for a large bank, Alina took the challenge to switch to the strategic and creative side of consulting by working in marketing agencies across Australia and the UK. Alina was Chief Executive Officer for Brass Tacks (a Creative & Promotional Marketing agency, part of the publicly listed Photon Group of companies) gaining significant experience in leadership, board reporting and managing ASX requirements. Alina led the Brass Tacks team from 2002 to 2010, and was responsible for all aspects of business operations from finance and board reporting, through to human resource management, business development and ultimately ensuring clients’ business and marketing objectives were met, with $10m turnover and 38 staff.
Alina joined IMB Bank in 2010, as Senior Manager Marketing, Products and Alliances, managing marketing and product teams across retail banking, business banking and wealth. IMB Bank is a mutual financial institution operating in the highly competitive banking industry.
In a tree-change move to the beautiful Mudgee Region, Alina joined Mid-Western Regional Council in November 2016 as Manager of Economic Development.
Alina undertakes a variety of other roles in her spare time to continue to grow her skill sets including being employed as an Online Learning Facilitator for the Australian Institute of Business (AIB) teaching Marketing Management to MBA students across Australia and the globe. She is a qualified Company Director through Australian Institute of Company Directors and has held a Director position for a range of Not-for-profit organisations. In addition, Alina created a start-up company to develop mobile phone apps for those with big ideas requiring support to bring them to life, has a family farm business and a busy household of three sporty children.
Alina’s areas of expertise: Leadership, Management, Marketing, Communications- traditional and digital, Social Media, Product Management, Entrepreneurship, Business, Finance & Banking, Charity & Cause related work, and Mentoring.
Pearl Daly-Swords
Founder / Program Manager
Pearl is the Managing Director of the Centre for Executive Development (CED) and Founder / Program Manager of Mid-Western Mentoring Ltd. With over 20 years’ HR experience in supporting other leaders and organisations to be the very best that they can be, Pearl is driven to help leaders and their teams to explore and maximise their potential.
Having Coached leaders from across Australia, the UK, Ireland, America, China, Singapore and India, Pearl has worked across diverse industries such as professional services, retail, real estate, mining and construction, biotechnology and also within local education and government sectors.
Pearl has a flair for the design, development and delivery of leadership development programs underpinned by neuroscience and evidence-based research.
Pearl holds doctorate and undergraduate degrees in Chemistry with additional certifications in the Neuroscience of Coaching from the Neuroleadership Institute. She is accredited in Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and is a PRISM brain mapping practitioner.
In November 2016, Pearl moved to Mudgee with her Mudgee-born husband Adam and their boys Rian and Charlie. As well as Coaching intrastate, nationally and internationally, she regards herself as lucky to partner with local business owners and leaders in the Mid-Western Regional community. Pearl is also an active member of The Rotary Club of Mudgee Sunrise and sits on the Board of local community organisation Lifeskills Plus.
You can find out more about Pearl’s background on LinkedIn:
Ed Turner
Director
As an investor, mentor and professional EOS implementer, Ed Turner has a 20+ year history of building companies and is obsessed in helping entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial led organisations to clarify, simplify and achieve their visions.
Ed was plucked from a budding banking & finance career in London by his father to return home to fulfil a promise and help build the family wine business, Frog Rock Wines. After 10 years he witnessed the rise and fall of the Australian wine industry going from selling wine out of a tent in a paddock on the weekends to 5 years later selling wine on 4 continents with annual production going from 500 cases to 60,000 cases at its peak. Amid all this he also setup a vineyard contract services business, a commercial composting business and established a contract vegetable growing operation supplying the likes of McDonalds, KFC & Subway as well as building and running a carwash on the side for himself in his spare time.
He has been a founder, owner and leader in nine successful companies in varying industries having scaled & successfully transitioned to exit a number of them.
Ed has invested most of his life into business creation and growth, building teams, and understanding how to make businesses work. He is a skilled teacher and facilitator, continually drawing on his decades of real-world experience as a Business Owner and Professional EOS Implementer.
He is passionate about building independence by helping business owners and their leadership teams get what they want from their lives and make a dent in their respective universes.
In his spare time Ed enjoys spending it with family and friends, reading, exercising, and racing cars.