About Us

The Ideas Centre… A Brief History

The Ideas Centre Ltd was established by Dr David J Hall in 2011, created with a mission to provide organisations of all sectors with a mechanism to unleash the potential that is otherwise locked away within individuals and cultures. We all get locked within the backward-looking confines of conventional and traditional thinking, and the forward looking organisations of the future will install mechanisms to achieve breakthrough thinking, which will then drive the innovation process.

This is purpose of The Ideas Centre Ltd, changing thinking, addressing challenges, developing in-house facilitators, managing creativity and innovation, and delivering organisational transformation.


Dr David J Hall

Founder & CEO

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David left corporate comfort in 2011 to establish The Ideas Centre Ltd, to pursue his passion for business transformation through the release of individual potential. A highly engaged and inspirational speaker, he coaches businesses of all types to unblock “breakthrough thinking”, introducing an “ideas culture” that drives the innovation process. Having experienced 25 years in Board Level leadership in a range of sectors, his practical approaches to creativity and innovation are geared to embedding systematic approaches within the organisation.

Prior to the Ideas Centre, David was CEO of HFL Sport Science Ltd, a drug surveillance and contract research organisation based in Newmarket. More generally – since 1984 he has held leadership positions in a range of sectors (oil & gas, scientific instrumentation, contract electronics). Creativity, innovation, and a pursuit of the perfect culture provide a common thread throughout his career to date.

A few other points of note:


Caroline Russell

Chief Operating Officer

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A graduate chemistwith an MBA, Carolinebegan her professional career as an Analytical Chemist in the sports anti-doping industry.

Having discovered that people were in fact more intriguing than science, she moved out of the laboratory and into operational management holding senior roles within a variety of organisations (HFL Ltd, Quotient Bioresearch Ltd and LGC Ltd (latterly as Global Operations Director))leading and managing multi-disciplinary teams and projects.

Caroline became interested in the power of creative problem solving whilst at HFL Sport Science Ltd and helped to embed this into the culture of the organisation by introducing finger-painting as part of the induction process for new starters.

Her positive approach and empathic people skills are a powerful combination in project leadership, and she has a successful track record of taking creative ideas and transforming them into practical reality in order to solve business problems in an innovative way.

Having worked with Dave Hall in numerous roles since 2001, Caroline joined the Ideas Centre as COO in 2014.