About

I am a Professional Development Coach helping experienced professionals get unstuck, make better career decisions and move forward with confidence.

I work with people who are questioning their direction, struggling with confidence or motivation, facing a difficult career decision, or simply know that something needs to change.

My coaching helps clients step back from the immediate problem, untangle complicated thinking, examine assumptions and understand what's really going on. I listen carefully, challenge where appropriate, and help people find their own answers and practical ways forward.

My professional background

Before becoming a coach, I spent more than three decades working in IT within the payment-card industry.

I worked as a Technical Business Analyst, Subject Matter Expert and, later, Product Owner, including freelance assignments with organisations such as Visa Europe, Barclaycard, HSBC, MBNA and First Data.

My specialist experience was in payment networks, Visa Authorisations, and the operation of acquiring and issuing banks.

More importantly for my coaching, I spent those decades working in complex corporate environments where accountability, change, competing priorities, stakeholders and professional pressure were part of everyday life.

That experience gives me genuine empathy with the realities my clients face. I understand how confidence can erode quietly, how overthinking can replace action, and how capable people can lose momentum.

How I became a coach

Coaching wasn't originally part of my career plan.

For around fifteen years I've also volunteered as an athletics coach, working with children and young people aged 8 to 18.

I found that the skills I developed through athletics coaching — particularly listening, questioning, encouraging and creating a safe environment for someone to develop — were increasingly useful in my professional life too.

I was already mentoring graduates, supporting colleagues and creating space for people to talk through difficult situations. I became increasingly interested in what was happening beneath the surface of those conversations and began formally training as a coach.

That eventually led to a new professional direction.

I now coach adults in their working lives while continuing to coach athletics. The two roles complement each other surprisingly well.

Outside coaching

I'm a husband and parent of adult children, and I've been involved in athletics for many years — first as a distance runner and now as a coach.

I still volunteer as an athletics coach, working with young athletes aged 8 to 18.

Coaching young people and coaching experienced professionals are very different activities, but both have reinforced the same thing for me: people tend to achieve more when they have someone who listens, challenges them appropriately and believes in their ability to find a way forward.

If any of this resonates with you, I'd be happy to have a conversation.

Patrick Read.

My coaching training and accreditation

I trained as a Transformative Coach with the Animas School of Coaching, qualifying in September 2024.

I subsequently gained my Associate Certified Coach qualification in October 2025 from the International Coach Federation (ICF), after completing my required coaching experience and assessment.

I work in line with the ICF Code of Ethics and professional standards.