With 20+ years in hospitality, from bakeries to dive bars in Mexico and New York, and 13 years with Hawksmoor ultimately as UK&I Ops Director, Stevie is a founder, advisor and NED. Now Head of Food and Beverage at Mollies, he is passionate about helping businesses grow and championing the development of their people.
Emma grew up in Parsons Restaurant on Fulham Road, and later went into ownership of The Stag in North London. From there she went on to be GM, Ops Manager, L&D Manager, Head of People at Private Members Clubs, Restaurant & Hotel Groups. Since qualifying as an L7 Executive Coach, she has freelanced as a facilitator, executive & leadership coach for Watershed and others and is currently Head of Culture at Hawksmoor.
Chantal is a practising Chief People Officer at Ecosurety with 20 years’ experience leading people at Nando’s, McDonald’s, wagamama and Honest Burgers. She has founded her own tech company and partnered with Meta on workplace productivity, so she approaches technology as a builder, not just a buyer. Co-founder of Ask Tilly, she is passionate about how AI is reshaping work, and why human leadership matters more, not less, as it does.
Philip co-founded Honest Burgers in Brighton in 2010, now with 40 restaurants nationwide. His current project is Breadstall Pizza alongside working as an NED, advisor and angel investor for a variety of businesses. Passionate about human development, culture and behavioural science, currently taking a Masters in the latter at LSE.
James worked as a bartender whilst studying Engineering at Uni, but quickly abandoned studies when he realised Hospitality was where his heart was. After a restaurant management career including TRG, Shake Shack, and Honest Burgers, he made the move into L&D and recruitment about 10 years ago. He spent 3 years as Head of Talent at The Ned, before moving on to TalentMapper as Customer Success Director. His passion topics include human centred leadership and management psychology.
Drew has 20 years experience in bars & restaurants with Fez, Match and has spent the last ten years at Hawksmoor.
He currently runs Hawksmoor Wood Wharf with 140 in the team.
Melissa has 4+ years of experience cooking in restaurants such as St. John Bread and Wine, and Kiln. She is currently junior sous chef at Apricity in Mayfair. Melissa is passionate about growing the next generation of kitchen leaders.
Victoria has worked in the hospitality industry for 20 years, across both front and back of house operations and is now a Chief Ambassador for The Burnt Chef Project focussing on management psychology and championing positive mental health within this demanding sector.
Victoria also works as a consultant to support hospitality businesses, and is the Watershed Brand Design Partner.
Tricia works internationally with organisations to translate the science of learning into everyday practice. Founder and Director of TailoredPractice, she helps leaders—especially those working with younger, fast-moving teams—thrive by understanding how learning works and putting it into action every day.
Tricia brings her extensive expertise to Watershed as our Workshop Design Partner.
Tom has spent his career in hospitality, running bars and clubs before spending 15 years at Hawksmoor as Group General Manager, alongside a range of project-based roles. He’s now Lead AI Labour Intelligence Consultant at Harri.
Jonathan has 20 years of hospitality experience and has spent the last 10 as Head of Operations at Riddle & Finns in Brighton.
His passion lies in leadership and operations, and in helping managers bring out the best in their teams.
Alison is a hospitality CFO who has sat on every side of the table. A chartered accountant with 15+ years’ experience, she started at Deloitte advising PE-backed hospitality & leisure businesses. From there, she worked across Virgin Limited Edition’s hotels around the world, scaled a bar/restaurant group, became a Director at boutique PE investor Imbiba, and was most recently CFO of boutique hotel group House of Gods.
She loves demystifying finance for operators, and believes the people who really move profit are the ones making decisions on the floor.
Tom is a former restaurateur turned accountant and tax advisor, and founder of Williams, Stanley & Co., the hospitality-only finance firm he built over the last 18 years which now works across London, Manchester, Dubai and New York.
He believes numbers should shape a business, not just report on it, and is passionate about helping managers use them to make better decisions every week.
Phoebe has spent the last 12 years working in hospitality, starting out in cocktail bars and pubs where her passion for service excellence and team development first began.
Over the past 7 years, she has built her restaurant experience with brands including TGI Fridays and Pho. She is currently Regional Training Manager at Bill’s, while also completing her People Professional Level 5 apprenticeship.
Zoë is co-founder and Managing Director of Studio Paskin, an award-winning hospitality studio behind some of London’s most distinctive restaurants and bars, including The Palomar, The Barbary and Michelin-starred Evelyn’s Table.
Zoë will be hosting the Hosted by Watershed series throughout 2026.
Helen has over 20 years of experience working in both the education and hospitality sector in administration and office manager roles. She started working at Watershed in 2022 as Bookings Manager.
Our Founder – Stephen Waters – passed away suddenly in 2025 after nearly 20 years of running Watershed. He delivered development courses to over 4000 bar & restaurant managers.
Watershed was underpinned by his staunch belief in the power of coaching, and that the best leaders know how to skilfully use it.
