Primeast

Our Story

People have always been at the heart of what we do. From the very beginning, Primeast was a pioneer in corporate experiential learning, and has worked globally, supporting household names such as Unilever, Esso and SC Johnson to develop managers using innovative methods and testing environments. Our early focus on transformational leadership development underpins our approach to training and development today. What makes us different is the proactive management of the learning experience to apply each and every learning exchange directly back to the workplace situation. This results in real, measurable behavior change which has had a huge impact on the organizations we've worked with, whether that's significant revenue increases, dramatic cost savings or the creation of high performing, highly productive, innovative and effective teams.

1987

Early partnership between Stephen Doughty, WEST (Wilderness Expedition Skills Training) based in northwest Scotland and John Campbell. They incorporate and form EAST (Executive And Staff Training Ltd) and move the HQ to Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

exon mobile site

1990

The company begins working with Exxon Chemical to deliver an expansive experiential course to explore the importance of core values in business, and pioneers links with schools and community based projects as part of experiential learning.

1991

We establish our own company values that have remained almost unchanged to the present day. Merger with People Systems International, team extends to 10+ facilitators and support staff.

British Gas Logo

1990-95

Client portfolio extends to BP, Unilever, British Gas, Transco and Speedo. UK associate faculty grows to accommodate.

1993-96

Project with Boots in Nottingham and Airdrie training 1,800 participants in self-managing teams to win a National Training Award in 1996.

asia ability logo

1997

Global faculty expanding with links to our partner Asia Ability in Malaysia. The start of developing a global faculty to deliver training in Asia Pacific, Europe and the Americas.

ISO 9001 Accreditation

1998

Attained ISO9001 quality registration for design and delivery. Making us the first management development company in the UK to receive this mark, thus ensuring quality among existing and prospective clients.

Primeast Global

1999

Work with SC Johnson allows us to begin delivering at a global scale through a graduate leadership program in China, Brazil, America and Africa.

Primeast Challenging Change

2000

Rebrand to Primeast, the name based on taking organizations and individuals to their prime and retaining the heritage of EAST.

our work globally

2002

Contract to deliver ‘Working In Teams’ experiential course globally to 1,000’s of ExxonMobil staff in dozens of countries including Africa, USA, Apac and South America.

PrimeFocus - a model for strategic alignment in teams

2002

Clive Wilson joins brings the fledgling concept of PrimeFocus and further develops it.

communication towers

2004-10

New clients include The British Council, Arqiva, Cape and a large project in Fujian China

cars parked

2005

Simon Tarver joins, bringing our first automotive client Honda UK Manufacturing to Primeast. Russell Evans joins in 2006.

Primeast Logo

2007

Adopted new brand and logo based on the Fibonacci principles and moved to newbuild offices on Cardale Park in Harrogate.
PrimeFocus although already established begins to be used as a consulting tool for OD and leadership.

Barrett Values Centre Logo

2008

Key staff are trained in the Barrett Values Center techniques reinforcing Primeast's growing organizational development capabilities.

2009

Martin Carver and Sarah Cave join Primeast bringing financial services industry experience and strengthening the consulting and facilitation team.

Globe Smart Logo

2010

Primeast forms a formal partnership with Aperian Global allowing access to the GlobeSmart tools, and a partnership with Vantage Partners to share faculty delivering their negotiation programs.

Basf Logo

2010-15

Significant new clients include Novartis, Lloyds Register, BASF and Celgene.

2012

Emma Booth joins Primeast upskilling our design and delivery team as our global program coordination grows with course delivery on all continents except Antarctica.

Primeast logo

2013

Beth Williams comes onboard to run Primeast sales and delivery in New Jersey, ahead of merging her Forward Focus consultancy in 2016.

Primeast in Texas

2014

Primeast LLC company formed in Houston giving us representation in both in Texas and New Jersey

Designing the Purposeful Organisation book cover

2015

First Primeast book ‘Designing the Purposeful Organisation’ by Clive Wilson is published by Kogan Page.
Primeast receives our first highly respected Queen’s Award for International Trade at Buckingham Palace.

2016

Forward Focus officially merges with Primeast LLC to cement our relationship with Beth bringing onboard some important NJ clients.
Arrow Electronics arrive as a client after we meet them at their nearby Harrogate office, our global faculty a useful addition to their sophisticated global L&D function.

2017

Merger with The Blue Water Partnership adds Honda UK and Europe, Kia UK and Volvo UK to our automotive client portfolio. This enables Gordon Roscoe to retire and his staff and associate coaches to find a new home at Primeast.

laptop on desk

2018

We design new programs at Group 1, our automotive retail dealership client, to fast track high potential staff to be new leaders and heads of business
Arrow Electronics programs expand their reach and range with Primeast delivery in USA, Europe and Asia Pacific.

beth-williams

2019

Beth Williams joined the company in June of 2019. As head of the NA division of Primeast group of companies, Beth leads a core team of 30 associate consultants, facilitators and coaches in NA and leverage another 75 across the globe and based in 24 countries when working on international projects.

Microsoft Teams Logo

2020

COVID hit, homeworking trial day and we didn’t come back! Primeast had already moved to MS Teams two years earlier as a replacement for Skype this allowed quick adaptation to safe, effective homeworking and moving our clients to virtual classrooms, coaching and training using Zoom and Teams.

Queens award logo

2021

Our international clients and our global associate network enables us to apply and win a second Queen’s Award for International Trade. Another proud moment and a visit to Windsor Castle.
Blended learning programs are now the norm with live virtual training, eLearning packages, face to face experiential events and 1:1 coaching with automated calendar booking now making up almost all of our multi-module programs.

2022

Leadership and culture change program for our long term client Arqiva for 130 tier two managers.
Volvo launch a large training intervention delivered by Primeast to support their move to an ‘agency model’ in UK automotive retail.

Learning design studio logo

2023

Launch of our Learning Design Studio to support clients developing innovative training design across the full blended range.
A major NHS hospital, a community NHS service and Bedford College use Primeast consultants and Barrett Values Assessment tools to get their cultures back on track.
New clients this year…

How we do it

Our approach

Our background in experiential learning has evolved into an approach which combines three main areas of adult development: mindset, practice and challenge. This approach balances the development of mental resilience with the development of new skills and a learning experience that tests and challenges with the care and support of highly-skilled coaches and consultants.

Immersive

Deep learning is affected through the use of innovative and proven experiential development techniques, relevant to the learner's reality and in support of the strategic objective.

Empowering

Our coaches are experienced in empowering leaders to share their knowledge, skills and learning with their peers, colleagues and teams for a long term impact on results.

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Exciting

The impact of the learning experience has proven to inject energy and excitement into an organization having a direct impact on performance and results.

Energizing

Our highly-skilled, accredited coaches are experienced in testing and challenging individuals and teams to unlock and embrace their personal and professional potential.