Our Team

Yvon Golbach

Founder & CEO | Expert on Labor Market Innovation | Corporate Trainer | ICF Certified Coach

Yvon Golbach, CEO and founder of Zest for Work, is a leading expert on contemporary careers, sustainable performance, and the well-being of human capital in organisations. Her work helps leaders and organisations navigate the growing pressure, complexity, and pace of modern work through a more human-centred, science-based approach to resilience, change, and performance.

Caroline Thomas

Professional Resilience and Adaptability Expert | Sustainable Careers Expert | Workforce Development Expert | Master Trainer | Certified Co-Active Coach

Caroline Thomas is an expert in professional resilience and sustainable careers. She draws on 18 years’ experience in human resources and talent development, gained in international and multicultural environments. As a partner and trainer at Zest for Work since 2020, she supports organisations in developing sustainable performance by building resilience and adaptability.

Jenn Callaway

Regional Business Lead – North America | Global Head of Operations & Sales | Resilience and Adaptability Expert

Jenn Callaway helps organisations improve performance, adaptability, and transformation outcomes by building human capacity. With 20+ years of experience across consulting, leadership development, communications, and business leadership, she challenges conventional thinking by showing how resilience, cognitive capacity, and recovery drive sustainable business results.

Joanna Wrzesińska

Client Delivery Manager

Joanna is an experienced L&D and enablement professional with over a decade of international experience delivering and coordinating training programs across EMEA. 
Known for her attention to detail, strong process orientation, and collaborative mindset, she ensures smooth end-to-end program delivery, high-quality participant experiences, and continuous improvement of learning initiatives in online, onsite, and hybrid environments.

Throughout her career, Joanna has led training initiatives, onboarded and mentored facilitators, and coordinated complex multi-stakeholder programs across cultures and time zones. She combines operational excellence with a genuine enthusiasm for people development, supporting teams and partners in building capability, confidence, and sustainable learning practices.

Joanna holds a degree in English Studies and is completing a postgraduate certificate in Learning & Development Management. Before joining Zest for Work, she worked at ETS EMEA, bringing a global outlook shaped by extensive experience in international learning environments.

Outside of work, Joanna enjoys reading crime stories, traveling, spending time in nature, and sharing her life between Warsaw, Poland, and the Greek island of Kos.

Natascha Gresse

Marketing Manager

Natascha brings a unique blend of creativity, strategy, and analytical thinking to her work in marketing, communications, and design. With a background in sustainable development and more than five years of experience across industries including FinTech, real estate, art, education, and wellness, she has built a versatile skill set that bridges storytelling, structure, and impact. Her career reflects a passion for connecting ideas and people through thoughtful communication and systems that make work more human and effective.

At Zest for Work, Natascha combines marketing strategy, design, and operations to bring the brand’s voice and programmes to life. She leads the creation of digital campaigns and branded materials, manages marketing operations, and ensures seamless coordination of client and training experiences across markets. Blending creativity with data-driven insight, she turns complex ideas about human energy, behaviour, and performance into stories that inspire understanding and action.

Curious, courageous, and guided by authenticity, Natascha is passionate about meaningful work that creates lasting positive change. Outside of work, she loves exploring new places, reading historical fiction and cultural narratives, and baking for the people she loves. She believes that creativity, curiosity, and care are the foundations of both great storytelling and a purposeful life.

Mila

Chief Happiness Officer | Energizer | Cuddle expert

Our Chief Happiness Officer, Mila, brings playfulness, positive emotions and energy to the team.  

Her street dog roots fits perfectly well with our non-conventional approach to work. Why follow the road when you can actually explore the side ways?

Bas Bredenoord

Leadership Development Partner

Bas Bredenoord is a leadership coach and facilitator who helps senior leaders and teams thrive in demanding environments. He is passionate about creating workplaces where people stay resilient, adaptable and healthy - because when leaders lead by example, their teams follow. With deep expertise in High Performing Team Development and cross-cultural management, Bas acts as a guide and coach to shift and embed mindsets, building the capabilities leaders need to create greater impact on both business outcomes and workplace culture. Over the past two decades he has worked with organizations such as Mars, Reckitt, Covestro and several international tech companies, supporting leaders and teams through transformation, complexity and change. Guided by his values of authenticity, inclusivity, courage and genuine care, Bas creates the conditions for leaders to grow, connect and deliver results that last. He lives in ’s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands, is a proud father of two daughters, engaged, and recharges his own energy outdoors - on a mountain bike or out on the water.

Prof. Beatrice van der Heijden PhD

Academy Associate

Professor Beatrice van der Heijden PhD is trained as a Work- and Organizational psychologist (Radboud University) and received a PhD in Human Resource Management at Twente University. She is specialized in sustainable careers, employability, and aging at work. She is Head of the Department Strategic HRM at Radboud University, the Netherlands. Moreover, she occupies a Chair in Strategic HRM at the Open Universiteit Nederland, at Ghent University, Belgium, at Hubei University, Wuhan, China and at Kingston University, London, UK. She is also Associate Editor for the European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, Co-Editor for the German Journal of Human Resource Management and Editorial Board member for several other journals. In 2019, Beatrice has been appointed as a member of the Academy of Europe, and in 2022 as a member of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities. She is a Knight in the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands since 2021. 

In her role as Zest for Work’s Academy Associate, Beatrice brings evidence-based academic advice on our products and services, especially regarding our learning content and assessments. She actively contributes to knowledge dissemination for our community as well. In her free time, she loves to travel and to see as many countries in the world as possible, to spent time in the nature, reading, dancing and cooking. 

Throughout her career, Beatrice has adopted a psychological approach within business administration research. Together with Ans de Vos she has launched the notion of Sustainable Careers in 2015 and created the Process Model of Sustainable Careers in 2020 together with Ans and Jos Akkermans, which is set apart from existing career models through its multiple-stakeholder approach, and wherein they posit that the dynamic interplay between the person and their context, together with attention for changes over time, form the foundation for (un)sustainable careers. The three indicators for sustainable careers, that is, happiness, health, and productivity, that Beatrice introduced in the career literature in 2005 imply that careers are sustainable when both the individual employee’s goals and those from their employer are carefully aligned over time. In doing so, Beatrice stresses the need to integrate the well-being and performance-oriented streams in the literature. 

Next to this, she also shaped international career research in two other key ways. She has developed two domain-independent and psychometrically sound (i.e., valid and reliable) measurement instruments: on occupational expertise and on employability. Second, she has uncovered the predictive value of several individual, job-related, and organizational determinants (e.g., HRM policies and activities) for the achievement of expert behavior, employability, successful ageing at work versus premature retirement, and objective/subjective career success across several occupational domains. 

Her work has been published in, among others, Journal of Vocational Behavior, HRM, HRDQ, Human Relations, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Career Development International, Personnel Psychology, and Academy of Management Annals. She is Co-Editor of the Handbook of Research on Sustainable Careers (EE Publishing). 

Ilkin Elbirler

Zest Associate Partner UK ⏐ Workplace Wellbeing Consultant

Ilkin Elbirler is a Workplace Wellbeing Consultant with global Health, Wellbeing and Safety leadership experience across over 12 years, delivering large-scale behavioural and cultural transformation programmes for multinational organisations. She specialises in translating wellbeing strategy into measurable leadership capability, resilience and healthy sustainable high performance.

Ilkin designs and delivers global high-impact programmes for individuals, managers and leaders across office, manufacturing, laboratory and field-based environments, including within GSK. Her work spans more than 20 countries across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. She has extensive expertise in strengthening engagement, energy management and healthy workplace practices at scale. 

Using evidence-based facilitation and coaching approaches, Ilkin creates psychologically safe learning environments where participants reflect, commit to action and build healthier habits. She delivers workshops, webinars and leadership programmes both virtually and in person, partnering with senior stakeholders to align wellbeing initiatives with business priorities and organisational goals.

Ilkin holds a BA in Chemistry and an Executive MBA, alongside a Postgraduate Diploma in Workplace Health & Wellbeing (Distinction) from the University of Nottingham and a NEBOSH National General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety.

Based in London, Ilkin is passionate about helping organisations build resilient, high-performing cultures where people can thrive. Outside work, she enjoys tennis, running and yoga, and volunteers at a primary school supporting children’s reading. As a mother of two, she brings the same commitment to wellbeing, growth and lifelong learning to both her professional and personal life.

Jeannie Jones

Zest Associate Partner US ⏐ Resilience and Adaptability Expert

Leveraging a 32 year career including award winning corporate experience, Jeannie started her own consulting business in 2022. As an Independent Consultant, Performance Coach, and Facilitator, she specializes in inspiring and empowering healthy high performance for individuals, leaders, and teams. 

An accomplished professional with a passion for ongoing development, she rounded out her experience by earning the following certifications/certificates between 2022-2024:

* 5 Behaviors® Practitioner
* Wellness Practitioner (National Wellness Institute) 
* Mental Health First Aider (National Council for Mental Wellbeing) 
* DiSC® Practitioner 
* Certificate in the “Science of Happiness” (Berkeley) 

She also became an Authorized Partner with Coaching on the Go and completed the Positive Intelligence® Coaching Grant Program. 

Working in HR, adjacent to Organizational Development, Benefits, Procurement and Governance/Assurance, she’s garnered a 360 view of employee health & wellbeing. 

She recharges by spending time with family and friends, playing tennis, saltwater fishing and taking long walks with her black lab, Skynyrd.

Jon Hill

Programmes Design Partner ⏐ Resilience and Adaptability Expert, ICF Coach, MSc Psychology

Jon is an experienced corporate trainer and executive coach, specialized in working with groups and individuals around leadership, well-being and resilience. With a background in health and social care, Jon now works with a range of clients within the corporate and the public sector. 

Within his work with his clients, he specializes in helping people to maximize their impact, and to thrive in an increasingly complex and demanding world by focusing on developing habits that increase energy and maintain resilience. 

Jon holds a BSc in Psychology and an MSc in Forensic Psychology. He is also an accredited Co-Active Coach, certified with the International Coaching Federation. 

In recent years he has developed a focus on mindfulness and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Jon has co-authored two books – popular self-help title ‘ACTivate Your Life’ (2015) and 2019’s Acceptance and Commitment Coaching: Distinctive Features.

Tamer Abbas

Zest Associate Partner MEA ⏐ Resilience and Adaptability Expert

Tamer is a seasoned commercial and business leader with over 27 years of experience across Sales, Marketing, Business Development, and Talent Development in the pharmaceutical, consumer, and medical devices industries. He’s held senior local and regional roles across multinational organizations in the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa.

Since transitioning into a portfolio career, Tamer has combined his strategic mindset with a passion for human development — designing and delivering programmes on leadership, communication, and personal growth. Tamer is signified as Learning leader who is an expert in Human psychology.

As a certified Energy & Resilience trainer based in Dubai, Tamer delivers our programmes across Middle East and Africa.

Tamsin Bennée

Zest Associate Partner UK ⏐ Resilience and Adaptability Expert, BSc (Hons), PGCE

Tamsin has over 20 years’ experience in mentoring, coaching, and training across an eclectic career portfolio.  After studying Astronomy and Physics at University she went on to join the military.  After which she moved into the fitness industry and then on into education. She is a certified fitness trainer, holds a Science Post Graduate Certificate in Education, and is a master trainer for Energy for Performance courses.  For the last 6 years, she has been a corporate trainer focusing on Wellbeing and Energy Management for multinational companies, as well as supporting the implementation of such courses for Johnson & Johnson across the whole of the EMEA region.  She is presently going deeper into the realms of Positive Psychology in coaching by studying for a Master’s, exploring the impacts of this on individuals and within teams.  Her real passion is wanting to support others not to just survive through life but to flourish and thrive within it.  

Tamsin loves to travel and has spent the last 4 years in Rome.  Now she is based in the UK spending much of her time enjoying the change of the seasons by walking and being outdoors and is always on the lookout for good coffee. 

Wouter van Bockhaven

Academy Partner TalentLogiQs

As a scientist and product developer, I’m fascinated by evidence-based career and talent management analytics that make the difference for organizations and individuals. After seeing the Career Fitness Profiler grow into the market-leading analytical tool for career coaching and development in Flanders, Belgium, my ambition is to also let other markets take advantage of these tools and to continue to build a new generation of evidence-based career and talent management analytics. 

At TalentLogiQs I am responsible for technology, new product development and strategic supervision. In the end we strive to be the catalyst of the emancipated career dialogues, for people and organizations in flow. The tools that we create support this goal through a shared vocabulary and in-depth understanding offering behavioral predictions to our business customers and their talented people. From TalentLogiQs we love to work closely with our Dutch Acedemy partner Zest for Work, to work together on a joint mission to translate and transfer scientific knowledge about sustainable and integrated talent and career management into proven effective solutions for organizations and their employees.

Wouter is also Assistant Professor at de Antwerp Management School next to TalentLogiQs.

Arturo Figar

Resilience and Adaptability Expert | BSc (Hons), PGCE

Arturo is based in Madrid, Spain, and has 20 years of work experience. Most of his professional life has been in the finance industry, in New York and London.

He has been teaching corporate health and wellness courses since 2018. Trained by the Human Performance Institute, Arturo worked as an Energy Management coach for a large Fortune 500 company across EMEA. ​As of December 2021, he has coached more than 50 energy management courses to more than 600 people. 

At Zest for Work, Arturo works as a coach for the Energy for Life course, primarily but not only focused on the Spain market. 

In addition, Arturo is a leadership development trainer and consultant for mid and large-sized companies in the EMEA region. He also facilitates digitalization fundamentals workshops from the IMD in Lausanne.  

In his spare time, Arturo enjoys cycling, reading, nature, eating out, and traveling. ​He has two daughters, 19 nieces and nephews, and 51 first cousins!

Bill Spreitzer

Resilience and Adaptability Expert

Bill worked for over 26 years in corporate America with Fortune 500 and privately-held companies.  During his first 8 years of his career with Hewlett Packard, Bill managed and led teams and organizations in such functions as supply chain management, production planning and control, global transportation & distribution, and human resources.  Bill spent 15 years of his career with high tech manufacturing services companies in the areas of international business development, sales, marketing, and global account management. 

In 2007, Bill became a senior partner with Excellerate Solutions, a business coaching and training practice.  He focuses his expertise in the areas of leadership and team development, employee engagement, and organizational development based on linking people’s passions and purpose to the organization’s mission for mutual success.  Bill continues to work extensively in the field of energy management and resilience for large corporate clients. 

Services include: one-on-one and group coaching for emerging and experienced leaders; virtual and in-person training/development programs; use of validated assessment tools with individuals and teams; keynote talks.

Bill holds a B.A. degree in business from Michigan State University. Bill became a certified business coach through Resource Associates Corporation’s Coaching Academy in 2009 and graduated from North Carolina State University’s 10-month Business Coaching program in 2015.  

He lives in Belmont, NC with his wife Michelle and has two adult children, Krista and Bryan. His hobbies and interests include: reading, golfing, hiking, exercising, watching movies, music, and all sports. 

Cathy Zhao

Resilience and Adaptability Expert

Cathy has more than 25 years of experience working as senior HR leader in several Fortune 500 companies including GM, NIKE and Johnson & Johnson. Due to her great passion on human wellbeing, she transitioned herself to be a performance coach to focus on helping individuals and organizations maximize energy, unleash full potential and inspire purposeful living.

Cathy earned her MBA degree from McGill University. She is a certified professional executive coach by ICF, and a certified nutritionist.  ​ 

As Certified Energy for Life trainer based in Shanghai, Cathy is part of our Trainer’s Community, delivering our trainings in the China region.

Fábio Soares

Resilience and Adaptability Expert

Based in São Paulo, Brazil, Fábio has  over 10 years of experience in mental health and well-being, he specialize in training and coaching individuals and organizations to optimize their emotional and psychological wellness. 

Since 2018, he have served as a Coach for Energy for Performance, Energy for Life and Resilience programs, having trained over 1500 individuals to enhance their performance and overall well-being. He brings extensive expertise in corporate training, having served as a program coordinator for employee assistance and mental health events within a multinational company. During this time, he developed and facilitated programs aimed at enhancing employee resilience, stress management, and overall mental wellness.

Psychologist, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and with a background in Positive Psychology, his approach integrates evidence-based strategies to empower individuals to thrive in challenging work environments. He is dedicated to fostering a supportive and proactive culture of mental wellness within organizations.

Outside of work, he is happily married with a two-year-old son. He enjoys exploring nature through hiking trails, cooking delicious meals, and diving into enriching books.

Hartmut Kretschmer

Resilience and Adaptability Expert

Hartmut looks back on more than 25 years of leadership experience in large international corporations. He discovered his passion for the development of organisations, teams, and people early on and as an HR Executive, Hartmut initiated and led various local and regional change processes.

Since 2016, Hartmut has been working as an independent consultant, trainer, and coach. He and his business partner specialise in leadership development, career development, and executive coaching. In Johnson & Johnson’s Energy for Performance programme, he has, as a certified HPI coach, accompanied over 100 groups on their way to more energy and joy in life. Hartmut has a special interest in the integration of energy management and leadership. He is a certified NLP Master Practitioner (BSO) and Career Fitness Profiler (TALENTLOGIQS). 

 At Zest for Work, he has been active as a trainer in German-speaking countries since the beginning of 2021. 

Hartmut is fascinated by the beauty and magic of nature. When he is not out and about with his dog Vasco in the Lucerne area, he can be found on his yoga mat, on hiking or ski tours in the Swiss Grisons mountains, picking herbs and mushrooms, or sailing in the Mediterranean. In addition, he is involved in the local scout organisation and has been a mentor at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences for many years.

Heike Mischler

Resilience and Adaptability Expert | Health and Fitness Coach

Heike Mischler Pera is German and lives in Lugano, Switzerland. She is a business economist with a background in business development and corporate health management. 

Her professional competence in holistic health is her passion. She likes to inspire people to achieve their goals starting with small changes which bring a big positive impact. Implementing a health management system in the corporate world to create a win-win situation for both employer and employees is her motivation and objective.

Heike is a certified fitness instructor (SAFS / AFAA) with 20 years of fitness coaching experience facilitating all different kinds of fitness classes on company site as well as personal training. She has been working since 2017 as an Energy for Performance (E4P) coach within Johnson & Johnson across EMEA regions, mainly in Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. 

When Heike is not helping others ignite their own energy, she spends time with her daughter and husband, not to forget her little Kooiker Hundje dog, which keeps her active and energized as well as different sports like hiking, fitness, swimming, and tennis.

John Grocott

Resilience and Adaptability Expert

John Grocott is based in Inverness, Scotland and has a background in the petrochemical and medical device industries. He has over 25 years of experience in coaching, and has been teaching corporate health and wellness courses since 2014, working as an Energy for Performance (E4P) coach within Johnson & Johnson across the US and EMEA regions. He also acts as a Corporate Athlete energy management facilitator in other multinational companies.

John delivers our Energy For Life program at Zest as well as impactful keynotes. He also works closely with us to support the qualification of new Energy Management Trainers.

John is the founder of ENERJ and enjoys working with a variety of companies and charities, both internationally and locally, across the Scottish Highlands. 

In his spare time he enjoys open swimming, road cycling, teaching Tai Chi and building/playing his own guitars.

Mirka Kolmaga

Resilience and Adaptability Expert | EMCC Professional Coach and Trainer

Mirka lives on the outskirts of Warsaw, Poland. She has a 27-year of experience in managing and developing people in the corporate environment.

For the last 25 years, she designed people management programs and projects, worked as a facilitator, developed other facilitators, coached executive managers. She has been teaching corporate health and wellness courses since 2013. Certified as a gestalt psychotherapist and mindfulness teacher Mirka run personal resilience and energy management programs for international pharmaceutical companies, banks, and small enterprises. At Zest for Work Mirka works as a facilitator.

Next to this, Mirka continues to provide certified mindfulness programs on the regular basis and run her psychotherapy practice. She is also a member of EAMBA – an international organisation associating mindfulness teachers’ national organisations, where, as a member of the EAMBA EXCHANGE team, she is responsible for organising regular experience and knowledge exchange meetings for European teachers.

In her spare time, she enjoys traditional and recumbent road cycling, fusion cooking, gardening, and spending time with her grandchildren. 

She is happily married, has one daughter, one son, five grandchildren, and two cats.

Rochelle Barreto

Resilience and Adaptability Expert

With over 20 years of experience in advertising and CPG marketing, Rochelle is a seasoned brand-building leader recognized for transforming and driving growth for some of the world’s most iconic global brands. At Johnson & Johnson, she led high-impact strategies, managed multi-million-dollar P&Ls, and led high-performing teams to deliver consumer-centric experiences across diverse markets. Recognized as a results-driven and empathetic people leader, she placed a strong emphasis on developing talent and fostering high-performing, engaged teams. During her time at J&J, she also became a certified Energy Management Trainer —deepening her passion for helping individuals sustain their energy and performance.

Today, as the founder of Fractional Fusion, Rochelle partners with ambitious founders and CEOs to help them scale with clarity, pace, and purpose.

As a certified Energy Management & Resilience Trainer, Rochelle delivers our training programmes across Middle East and Africa.  

Rochelle is a passionate yogi and loves to travel and immerse herself in new cultural experiences. 

Tom Spittaels

Resilience and Adaptability Expert

Tom is a charismatic and passionate trainer-coach, skilled in development and motivation of people and building powerful and driven teams. 

Forging a group of people into an effective and enthusiastic team is what gives him energy and will never bore him. 

Sustainable, effective collaboration can be a real challenge, especially when the interests are high and characters differ. 

In a successful team, all forces work in the same direction in a functional way. To make a real difference, the team members must be willing to give their best energy to the team with full dedication. This is only possible if they are convinced that energy from the team will flow back to themselves. Finally, an important key to strengthening the team is to strengthen the various members. A team must therefore be a place where individual and personal growth is fully made possible, stimulated and valued.

Within Zest for Work, Tom brings an extensive experience through a combined career of 15 years of volleyball coaching of an A-league team, Corporate Athlete energy management training in business and a 20-year active career in the business world. In addition, he individually coached a varied group of sport and business professionals.