Our Faculty
Jay Chopra PhD
Managing Director
Bio
Dr Jay Chopra has spent much of his career trying to answer one question: How do you build the leadership, behaviours and culture that allow people and organisations to perform at their best?
His perspective has been shaped by four things: leading innovation and culture change at global scale, working with senior leadership teams, building team effectiveness in complex organisations and major capital projects, and increasingly, exploring how we combine human and artificial intelligence.
After completing a PhD in science, Jay spent 13 years with Pfizer in Ireland and New York, ultimately joining the Innovation Leadership Team at Pfizer Global Supply. He helped build innovation and leadership capability across 80+ manufacturing sites and 20,000+ colleagues worldwide, including shaping Pfizer’s Behavioural Innovation Framework and scaling its global Innovation Coach model.
That experience shaped an idea at the heart of his work today: Culture is behaviour at scale.
His Culture Evolution Equation captures how he approaches it:
Culture Evolution = Key Behaviours × Leaders Walking the Talk × Change Agent Network × Embedding Behaviours in Everyday Work
Today, through Making Shift Happen and the Irish Management Institute, Jay works with senior leaders, leadership teams and major capital-project teams internationally, building team effectiveness on capital projects valued at up to $1 billion.
His work focuses on leadership, team effectiveness and culture, particularly in complex environments undergoing significant change.
AI is making this work even more important. Jay believes one of the defining organisational challenges of the next decade will be integrating artificial and human intelligence. The organisations that thrive won’t simply adopt the best technology. They’ll combine the capability of AI with distinctly human capabilities: trust, psychological safety, diverse thinking, judgement, experimentation, empowerment and adaptability.
Jay has worked in 20+ countries and partnered with organisations including Pfizer, MSD, Novo Nordisk, GSK, Zoetis, AbbVie, Tirlán, BioMarin, Irish Life, Pinterest, Mace Engineering, UCC, UCD and Trinity College Dublin.
He holds a PhD in science and is a Master Certified Whole Brain® Facilitator, with additional certifications including Hogan assessments, Insights and strengths-based leadership.
His forthcoming book, Get Your Shift Together: How Great Teams Build the Culture to Thrive in the Age of AI, brings this thinking together and explores the human capabilities organisations will need as AI reshapes work.
Christine Sutton
Business Psychologist
Bio
Christine is an expert people professional with a wealth of experience across multiple sectors. She spent several years in the financial services sector in Ireland supporting senior leadership across several jurisdictions working on local and global employee development and change initiatives.
Christine is accredited in several psychometric tools for use in personal, team and leadership coaching and development, as well as selection processes. She is an accredited coach, holds a Masters in Organisational Psychology and is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD. As a perpetual learner, she is currently undertaking a Professional Doctorate in Organisational Psychology at Birkbeck, University of London.
Christine’s areas of interest include leadership development and gender equality. This includes the experiences of women in Executive and Board level positions and how their experiences can enable a greater understanding on the impact of behaviours to inform the development and progression of women into executive roles.
Mary Clavieres
Senior Consultant
Bio
Mary Clavieres is a senior consultant specializing in change management, team effectiveness, and transformation for both individuals and global corporations. With a degree in engineering and 15 years experience in Fortune 100 companies, Mary utilizes her expertise to help leaders and teams navigate change by leveraging cognitive diversity. She is certified in the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument®. Mary is also passionate about building communities.
Mary co-hosts the FearLess Business Podcast. She has been featured in Forbes, Business Insider, Romper, Swaay, and other media outlets. In 2019, she was the recipient of NPR’s How I Built This Fellowship Program.
Aoife O’Dwyer
Client Director
Bio
Aoife is an experienced client relationship manager with 18 years’ experience in the financial sector working in both retail and corporate banking. Throughout her career she has excelled in building strong relationships with her clients across a wide variety of sectors & backgrounds. She is an experienced change agent, with extensive project management and facilitation experience including in the area of “Lean Six Sigma” in which Aoife holds a Level 9 University qualification. Aoife has extensive experience in sales and customer relationship management having led and managed direct and indirect sales teams. She is a Herrmann HBDI ® Certified Practitioner and qualified financial advisor.
Aoife is particularly interested in using her experience and skills to provide an exceptional customer experience for Making Shift Happen’s clients.
Anne Mahler PhD
Consultant & Academy Lead
Bio
Anne holds a PhD in English Literature and has extensive research experience in the international higher education environment. Anne has an international track record in teaching and public speaking on private, corporate, and university levels. Originally from Germany, she has taught at Leipzig University and University College Cork, Ireland, and presented at international conferences. Anne is MSH Academy Lead and Content Lead acting as a bridge between academia and industry in the organisational development space. Anne also delivers workshops to our blue-chip client base.
David O’Mahony
Director
Bio
David is an experienced financial professional with over 15 years’ experience in senior leadership roles within Corporate, SME and Real Estate Banking and Corporate Finance sectors.
David has significant people management and leadership skills with commercial experience in strategic planning, operations, restructuring, transaction management, and real estate.
David has led a number of major re-organisation and transformation programmes from design phase to activation and full operation. He is a change agent having had responsibility for change management and culture change initiatives within a number of teams.
David is particularly interested in helping individuals and teams unlock their potential and believes that the working environment can bring out the best in people and organisations. David’s experience coupled with his listening, questioning and grounded commercial skills helps people and organisations to make the shift needed to improve performance and increase satisfaction in life and work.
Victoria Lincoln
Thought Leadership Strategy and Operations
Bio
As Thought Leadership Strategy and Operations Specialist, Victoria enables the strategic content creation, audience engagement, and efficient operational support at Making Shift Happen. An HBDI Certified Practitioner, PMP Certified, PRINCE2 Agile Certified, and a Certified Scrum Master, Victoria combines expertise in project management and agile methodologies with a talent for impactful storytelling and streamlined processes.
Linda Leonard
HR and Organisational Development Consultant
Bio
Linda is a seasoned HR and organisational development leader with over 20 years of experience empowering people and transforming cultures across sectors including pharma, tech, food, and financial services. She specialises in strategic HR, leadership development, and building inclusive, high-performing workplaces.
With a First Class Honours degree in Psychology and a strong background in science and learning design, Linda combines analytical thinking with a deep understanding of human behaviour. She has held senior global roles across multinationals and SMEs, always focused on creating environments where people thrive.
Whether implementing large-scale change, designing leadership programmes, or embedding wellbeing and DEI initiatives, Linda brings clarity, compassion, and strategic insight to every project.