PARTNERING WITH CLIENTS TO FIND CLARITY
Hello and thank you for visiting our site. We are Meg Mann and Mark Brown, two Americans loving life in Lisbon. Often when we meet people for the first time they ask us, “What in the world are you doing here?” So we tell them this story…
We both grew up in central Florida, but we didn’t know each other then. By the time we met in Dallas, Texas in 1993 we were well into our careers, getting tired of stressful lives and looking for an international adventure. Meg was a successful attorney and HR executive, and Mark served in the military and then worked for a large oil company. Two important things we had in common were living abroad and a love of languages: Meg had studied in Guatemala and Italy, and Mark had spent several years in Argentina and Brazil.
Destiny took us to eastern Slovakia in 1994, where we worked as English teachers at a local high school. Those were interesting times in central Europe: just five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and Slovakia had just completed the ‘Velvet Divorce’ with the Czech Republic. Lots of culture shock, lots of learning, lots of stories…
We decided to stay longer in Slovakia so we moved to the capital Bratislava, where Meg worked for a year with the American Bar Association and Mark taught at an international school. Destiny stepped in again in 1995 when Meg was invited to design and deliver a brand-new training program for young professionals at KPMG, one of the Big Four accounting firms operating in Slovakia.
This engagement for KPMG was the genesis of our work in executive education, leadership development, and coaching. The program expanded quickly and we ended up working across central Europe and Russia for the next six years. We eventually moved to Brussels to study for our MBAs, and since then we have enjoyed working with a wide range of multinational clients in 25 countries, with executives and leaders of more than 70 different nationalities.
One last detail: how did we land in Portugal? Well to be honest, those Slovak winters were very hard on two thin-blooded Floridians, so in 1997 we began spending the winters in northern Portugal, within walking distance of the Atlantic Ocean. We fell in love with the country and finally settled here for good in 2005. Life is good and the adventures continue!
Margaret ‘Meg’ Mann, JD, MSA, MCC
AREAS OF EXPERTISE:
Transformational Leadership
Mastering Your Personal Energy
Positive Intelligence
Meg is passionate about inspiring her clients to lead a purpose-driven life, with greater clarity, purpose and energy. Her approach is that of a compassionate thought partner, provocateur, and champion of her client’s inner strengths and resources, always with the eye on the bottom line practical way to get there.
Meg’s diverse experience includes an award winning global transformational leadership program for Zurich Insurance, leadership development for the global leaders in management consulting, and innovative programs on managing your energy budget for leaders and coaches. She has also devoted time and energy to training and mentoring professional coaches on the path to greater mastery. She has worked with leaders from more than 70 different countries, on 5 different continents.
After a successful career as an attorney, Meg moved into the field of executive education and coaching in 1995. She is credentialed as a Master Certified Coach (ICF), and she has been a coach trainer and supervisor in several accredited coach training programs as well as an assessor for the ICF. She holds a Juris Doctorate, a Masters in Business and a Bachelor’s Degree. In addition to her extensive credentials, Meg is qualified in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI®) Steps I and II, EQi 2.0, Positive Intelligence (PQ) and the Conflict Dynamic Profile.
Meg is fluent in English and Portuguese and has studied Spanish, Italian, French and Slovak. She has lived in six countries on three continents, and currently resides with her husband, Mark in Portugal.
Mark A. Brown, MA, MBA, PCC
AREAS OF EXPERTISE:
Leadership Development
Corporate Strategy
Empathy in the Workplace
Mark Brown works with executives who are striving to become more effective and innovative leaders. An American based in Europe since 1994, he has worked extensively as a facilitator, leadership consultant, and executive coach across Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the Americas, with individuals of 75 nationalities. In addition to his work with multinational firms Mark has enjoyed a range of teaching and public sector opportunities, teaching international economics and graduate business courses at Solvay Business School (Université Libre de Bruxelles) and Boston University Graduate Center in Brussels. During his six years in Belgium Mark also led many skills and leadership workshops for the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Court of Justice in Brussels and Luxembourg.
Mark holds an MBA from Solvay Business School (ULB) in Brussels, an MA from SAIS / Johns Hopkins, a diploma in Latin American politics and economics from Universidad de Belgrano in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and a BA from the University of Florida. A highly experienced executive coach and mentor, he holds a PCC from the International Coach Federation (ICF). He has published articles on executive coaching, leadership development, and strategy and published his first book in 2016, The Empathic Enterprise: Winning By Staying Human in A Digital Age. Mark works comfortably in English, Spanish and Portuguese. He resides with his wife, Meg, in Lisbon, Portugal.