Laura Ashley-Timms

Global Coaching Expert, Co-Founder & COO of Notion, Co-Creator of STAR® Model, Executive Leadership Speaker

Laura Ashley-Timms’s Biography:

Laura Ashley-Timms is a Global Coaching Expert, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Notion, and co-author of the multi-award-winning, number one bestselling book ‘The Answer is a Question’. Recognised as one of the UK’s top executive coaches, Laura is best known as the Co-Creator of the STAR® model and the STAR® Manager programme, frameworks that are transforming how organisations develop leaders and drive measurable performance. As a keynote speaker, Laura is direct, practical and evidence-led, equipping audiences with tools that immediately improve engagement, productivity and retention.

Laura’s belief in coaching as a catalyst for performance began in her early life as an international athlete. She went on to study at Oriel College, Oxford, where she achieved an MA Oxon in Geography and was awarded an Extraordinary Full Blue, captaining her university team and winning a national championship. Entering corporate life, Laura held senior roles at Marks and Spencer, Adams Childrenswear, and Ragdoll Productions, working across the UK, USA, Europe and Asia. These commercial roles exposed her to the realities of management pressure, giving Laura first-hand insight into the challenges facing line managers and shaping her pragmatic, results-focused approach.

In 2000, Laura became Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Notion, building a global performance improvement consultancy that works with FTSE and Fortune 500 organisations. She co-created the STAR® model in 2010, followed by the multi-award-winning STAR® Manager programme in 2017, designed to embed Operational Coaching® behaviours at scale. The programme has been independently evaluated and proven to deliver an average 74x return on investment. In 2021, Notion was named L&D Supplier of the Year at the Personnel Today Awards, recognising its measurable impact on engagement and productivity. In 2025, the STAR® Manager programme was adopted by the University of Warwick, alongside the launch of STAR® qualifications with the University of Westminster Business School, further strengthening Laura’s influence in both academic and corporate leadership development.

Why Hire Laura Ashley-Timms?

Organisations hire Laura because she combines academic rigour with commercial realism. Her keynotes focus on Operational Coaching®, building sustainable coaching cultures, transforming accidental managers into confident leaders, and reclaiming time through smarter management practices. Laura delivers clear frameworks leaders can apply immediately, helping them stop firefighting and start building accountable, high-performing teams. For organisations seeking tangible performance gains rather than theory alone, Laura offers a proven blueprint that reshapes leadership from the inside out.

Laura Ashley-Timms’s Career Highlights:

Here are some of the key milestones that define Laura Ashley-Timms’s remarkable career in high performance:

• 2025 – STAR® Manager programme adopted by University of Warwick
• 2025 – Launched STAR® Coach Practitioner and Certified STAR® Manager Practitioner qualifications with University of Westminster Business School
• 2021 – L&D Supplier of the Year, Personnel Today Awards
• 2021 – Co-Author of ‘The Answer is a Question’, multi-award-winning #1 bestseller
• 2017 – Co-Creator of the multi-award-winning STAR® Manager programme
• 2010 – Co-Creator of the STAR® model
• 1988 – Awarded Extraordinary Full Blue, University of Oxford