Sam Gilpin

Sam Gilpin

Managing Director, Global Head of Culture & Sustainability

Sam is a member of the Global Leadership Team of YSC in the role of Managing Director, Global Head of Culture & Sustainability, based in London. Prior to this he held leadership roles as Head of Europe and Middle East, Global Head for Client Development and Head of YSC Asia. He has a broad range of expertise as a leadership consultant, with depth of exposure across Europe and Asia. He works with CEOs, boards, and top teams on leadership strategy, CEO succession, team and board effectiveness, and culture and sustainability, with broad sector experience across FTSE-100 and 250 listed companies and PE backed portfolio companies. He is passionate about supporting leaders to increase the positive impact they have on the world around them, with a particular emphasis on helping them face into the opportunities and challenges they face in their sector with clarity and courage.

His areas of coaching expertise include:

  • Supporting Chief Executives and other C-Level leaders as they engage their organisations around transformational change, with a particular focus on culture and sustainability
  • Enabling Chief Executives and other C-Level leaders to maximise their effectiveness during key personal, professional and business transitions
  • Helping aspiring Chief Executives to make transformational shifts in their approach to leadership in order to realise their full potential

The Chief Executive of a digital start-up describes Sam’s coaching approach as: “supportive when needed, challenging, straightforward but above all focused on changing you and your life for the better.”

He has Masters Degrees from Oxford University, UCL and Birkbeck in English Literature, Anglo-American Literary Relations, and Organizational Behavior respectively. He has an EMCC accredited diploma in Coaching Supervision from Bath Consultancy Group, and a diploma in Board Level Dynamics from the Tavistock Institute.

He is married and lives in North London with a sixteen year old son and a sleek black cat. His interests have become increasingly domestic since Covid – much less global travelling and much more cooking, reading, running, and listening to podcasts, radio comedy, and obscure music.

“I first met Sam when he assessed me as part of a CEO succession process, and I found his approach probing, challenging and not entirely comfortable. Since then I’ve grown to enjoy partnering with him as a coach, consultant and facilitator on my own evolution as a CEO as well as on the Purpose, Culture and Leadership of the organisation. He’s thoughtful, curious, and insightful, and he balances lightness and humour with a willingness to explore and work through the difficult issues.”

Chief Executive,

FTSE-250 Global Company

“Sam is a master at his craft. His easy and intelligent style quickly won over a sceptical management group and helped them to confront important issues, in particular to work through what it means to be a team in a highly matrixed management structure. He was able to guide the process in a way that was both thoughtfully prepared and responsive to the dynamics of the session as they emerged.”

Chief Executive,

Global Top 20 Ranked University

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