Matthew Rich-Tolsma is an experienced and internationally respected coach, consultant, and mediator who has worked with senior leaders and their teams from a wide range of geographies and industries. Originally trained as an educator he worked with children and teachers in Africa and Asia, before moving to the Netherlands where - after a brief stint in academia - he turned his attention to working with organisational leaders. During that time he has amassed hundreds of hours of coaching experience with individuals and groups, and served for six years as an Executive Director of a UK based consulting firm which he helped to found.

Matthew's present interests involve bringing insights from applied theatre, psychoanalysis, and complex responsive processes of relating to his work supporting leaders in negotiating their most messy, complex, and paradoxical conversations. In particular he is interested in working with themes around diversity and inclusion, conflict and collaboration, and power, position, and privilege in organisations. He is a passionate improvisor and a facilitator of the Theatre of the Oppressed, and has had immense fortune to be mentored by some of the world's leading practitioners in these fields.

Matthew has published widely in the fields of transformative leadership, transformative learning, and human development, and has held a number of academic appointments including serving as a Research Fellow at the Faculty of Philosophy at Palacky University (Czech Republic) and as Carnegie Visiting Scholar at the Global Change Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa). 

Matthew has been practicing Nonviolent Communication (NVC) for the last fifteen years. He has taught NVC in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America, and has been a globally certified trainer since 2012. He is an active member of the Dutch NVC community. NVC is an integrated part of Matthew's eclectic approach to working with individuals and groups. 

Matthew coaches both remotely and in person and divides his time between homes in The Netherlands, Czech Republic, and South Africa.

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