Mervin Straughan has held senior communications management roles with steel giant Corus, Yorkshire Electricity and Business in the Community.

 

He began his career with eight years as an evening newspaper journalist in the North East before joining BT where he was in charge of media relations for the north of England.

 

Mervin holds a masters degree in marketing management and post-graduate diplomas in both public relations and marketing and he became one of the first life coaches to qualify under the new national occupational standards in coaching.

 

In November 2007, he pulled together 18 consultancies to establish The CSR Consortium, a one-stop shop providing business with the full-range of corporate social responsibility services.

 

Mervin is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and the Association for Coaching.

 

He is married with a daughter and lives in North Yorkshire.