“You never really know a man until you understand things from his point of view, until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. J.B. Lippincott & Co
Well, Expat Academy have done exactly that, which is what makes us so uniquely different to any other network for Global Mobility professionals.
We have an amazing team who bring many years of both in-house and consulting experience and our focus is on making your Global Mobility function better and helping you develop your Global Mobility skills and expertise.
Our aim is quite simple – to advance global mobility by setting standards, promoting best practice and facilitating a supportive community for international members to learn, connect and share.
If you want to get in contact to learn more about us then email tony@expat-academy.com.
Our team

Emma Holder
Emma trained as a consultant at both Arthur Andersen and PwC and then moved to work in-house for Goldman Sachs and Diageo plc. She facilitates many cross-industry Global Mobility forums and is at the cutting edge of the latest trends and news in the Global Mobility Industry. For fun, she loves the theatre, dancing and travelling.

James Holder
James has over 25 years of Global Mobility experience gained from both in-house and consultancy roles. He started his career with Arthur Andersen, specialising in international tax and HR. His in-house roles include EMEA lead at Goldman Sachs and Global Head of Mobility at both Diageo and BP.
James co-founded Expat Academy in 2010. He has a real passion for training and development.

Sharon Thorpe
Sharon has more than 20 years of broad HR experience. She has worked at JCDecaux and Williams Lea, where her client base was within the Financial Services Sector. Expat Academy partner with best-in class training partners and Sharon works with Expat Academy to ensure that we are always partnering with organisations who can add the most value to our members.

Laura Mayo
Laura brings with her more than 20 years’ account management experience. Over the last eight years she has worked closely with global mobility specialists from a wide range of industries. In particular, her work has focussed on intercultural training and broader corporate training for HR professionals. Laura manages all aspects of Expat Academy’s Corporate Membership.

Greg Smith
Greg has in-house Global Mobility experience spanning aerospace and defence, education, and tobacco sectors. His most recent role was leading the European region for Lockheed Martin's Global Mobility activities, designing and implementing their EU Posted Worker compliance. Outside of work Greg is married with two crazy kids and a cat who turned out to be the biggest breed of domestic cat in the world. Greg likes wine, watches, cars, and supports Southampton FC.

Chris Blair
Chris is an experienced Global Mobility professional. His most recent in-house role was at Aviva where he managed intra UK, EMEA, APAC and Americas moves as being responsible for fundamental change and development of the team and it’s processes. Prior to that Chris held roles as a HR generalist, following 8 Years of being a Youth Worker with The Salvation Army. He has a wonderful family of 5 Kids (4 girls and a boy) and a cockapoo called Oreo. In his spare time he enjoys playing in a band, supporting Liverpool FC and completing house DIY projects.

Tony Miller
Tony brings with him more than 25 years of experience within Global Mobility from a supplier perspective. His previous consultative approach to business development allows him to understand both the GM requirement of the corporate as well as the capabilities of the available supply options.

Lynda Brennam
Lynda has more than 25 years international HR experience in both not for profit and commercial environments. Her experience includes insurance, airlines, and consultancy. Most recently, Lynda worked in the charity sector for Marie Stopes International and the Lumos Foundation providing support to staff working in challenging, and sometimes dangerous, environments.

Astrid Hunton
Astrid has over 15 years of experience in marketing. She has worked in a variety of marketing and communication positions covering a broad range of industries such as retail, financial services and design agency. Astrid supports the Expat Academy team in an administration and marketing role.

Sugi Thatcroos
Sugi has 5 years experience of Account Management in the Cyber Security Sector. As Client Relationships Manager, he focusses on driving engagement to help Global Mobility professionals stay on top of the latest mobility trends. In his spare time, Sugi enjoys trying new foods and creating music with friends.

Roxanne Opas
Roxy has experience managing in-house GM functions across different sectors. Her last role was managing the UK & Ireland GM for Danone and prior to that she was leading the Global GM Team at Merlin Entertainments. Roxy has a degree in Psychology and spent a year mentoring within the UK prison system before looking for a career in the GM world. She loves anything to do with dogs, crafts or food!

Natalie Steinberg
Psychology degree educated Natalie has over a decade of experience within the global mobility sector. Natalie's career to date revolves around relationship building, consultation and learning as a trusted supplier to corporates across all sectors. Natalie has worked and travelled internationally across South East Asia, North and South America and Europe. Each international stint has contributed to her holistic understanding of diverse cultures and global business dynamics. Outside of the office you'll find Natalie gracefully contorting herself into a downward dog – a true health and wellness warrior. And if she's not mastering the art of balancing chakras, you can catch her sprinting through the enchanting Kentish countryside, absorbing the beauty of nature.

Doris
A very wise and valued member of the Expat Academy team, who will give you her full and frank opinion on any quandary you may have.
She lives by the mantra "if you don't want my opinion don't ask for it"
Membership feedback
"It’s great to share ideas and have a brainstorm with peers about what’s happening in the industry without any pressure. Hearing in practice how people get things done and what work arounds they’ve found is always useful." Victoria Christofides, Thomson Reuters
"Expat Academy is an extremely useful resource for GM professionals. It’s great to have the facility to pass questions across which members will respond to. Lots of different networking and knowledge sharing events – plenty of opportunity to discuss relevant topics which are important to you and your GM programme." Wendy Maynard, IHG
"I have been a member of the Expat Academy for a number of years and have always found it an invaluable source for information, assistance and networking in the global mobility field. Their events are a great opportunity to meet GM professionals from other industries and companies and will often be a sounding board for the ideas and work which I am applying in my day to day job. Their training courses are a great resource for those new to the field and they are extremely proactive in helping you stay on top of quickly moving trends and compliance issues." Ed Sides, Equinor
"Our Expat Academy membership has been invaluable in helping to update and refine our internal mobility policies. The roundtable benchmarking facility helps us to “sense check” our approach on specific issues very quickly and the process is always efficiently undertaken by the team. We are very pleased to be a part of the Club 100 Network!"
Suzzette Vidal, MBDA Systems
News - Featured articles

Our Best Global Mobility Annual Conference Yet
The team arrived in London on Sunday night, travelling from all ends of the country to get the stage set …

Bite Size Briefing – Exciting Global Mobility Updates
There was such a fantastic energy in the room at the global mobility Bite Size Briefing in London, my first …

Dear Doris – I feel totally conflicted
Dear Doris, As a working parent I feel totally conflicted. I constantly feel that I am not giving my all …