Scinta

Most organisational problems don't arrive neatly labelled.

I help leaders work out what's really going on, make sense of the choices in front of them, and leave with a realistic plan for what happens next.

I work with boards, executive teams and founders at moments that matter: a strategy that has stopped working, a structure that cannot carry growth, a leadership team stuck in friction instead of alignment. I'm usually most useful when things aren't straightforward, when there are competing priorities, different views around the table, or a nagging sense that the obvious answer isn't quite the right one. Two decades leading, advising and transforming organisations sit behind that, most recently as CEO of a grantmaking NGO.

Book a conversationSee how I can help
What I do

Three ways to work together

You don't need to know exactly what you need before we talk. Sometimes the brief is clear. Sometimes what starts as a strategy question turns out to be about structure, leadership, income, governance or how the organisation actually works day to day. That's fine, part of my job is helping you work that out.

Strategic Advisory

For boards and executive teams

When you're facing an important decision or something isn't working as it should, I bring an experienced outside perspective to help you work out what's really going on and what to do next. A strategic reset, a governance review, a growth plan that needs a realistic route to delivery, or a leadership transition that needs careful handling.

Exec Strategy Session

A 90-minute deep dive on one specific decision, with written actions afterwards.

Strategic Thinking Partner

A series of focused sessions for a CEO, executive team or board working through a significant strategic or organisational challenge.

Project and retainer based work

Interim and fractional leadership, reviews, transformation, governance, organisational design, strategic reset, income & growth review, etc.

Strategic advisory work is agreed as a fixed fee, priced according to the scope of each engagement.

Enquire about advisory→

Organisational AI

AI readiness and governance

Your organisation is experimenting with AI, but nobody is quite sure whether the strategy, systems, skills and governance are ready for it. Your Organisational AI Readiness and Governance Assessment: helping organisations understand where AI can improve effectiveness, where the foundations need fixing first, and how to move forward responsibly. The output is a clear, prioritised action plan and roadmap.

Assessment→priorities→action plan→governance roadmap
"As a charity working across tech and media, our engagement with AI was already embedded but without a clear strategy. Alex designed an assessment that was tailored to us and gave us a much clearer picture of where we really are with AI, as well as some wider organisational opportunities we hadn't fully recognised. The report was comprehensive but also very practical, giving us clear priorities and actions we could start taking immediately. I'd recommend the review to any organisation wanting to understand where they really are with AI and how to move forward effectively."Rachel Nelken, CEO, Raw Material Music and Media
Enquire about the assessment→

Coaching & Mentoring

For individual CEOs and executives

I have coached and mentored leaders on business and personal challenges for many years alongside my strategic work. This is coaching grounded in the realities of running an organisation, delivered by someone who has actually run, transformed and grown one.

1:1 Executive Coaching & Mentoring

Working on specific goals and challenges, helping you gain clarity. Focused and solution-oriented. A 30-minute discovery session, followed by a series of 1hr coaching and mentoring sessions.

Exec RoomWinter cohort now formingRegister your interest →

A small cohort of senior leaders from different organisations, creating space to work through change and challenges together. Includes a 1:1 session with me, four facilitated cohort sessions over eight weeks, shared challenge and accountability, and practical resources to support the work between sessions.

CEO Room

Coming soon.

Enquire about coaching→
When Scinta can help
  • Your strategy no longer matches the organisation you've become.
  • Growth has exposed weaknesses in structure or leadership.
  • The board and executive team need to make a difficult decision.
  • You're trying to work out what AI should actually mean for your organisation.
  • You're leading through change and need an experienced thinking partner.
How I work

I ask the question underneath the question

The problem you arrive with isn't always the problem we end up solving.

I look at the whole picture

Strategy, people, money, governance and operations rarely behave as separate problems in real life.

I'll challenge your thinking

An outside perspective is only useful if it's honest, not simply agreeable.

I'll make it practical

I'm interested in what you can actually do next, not producing something impressive that sits on a shelf.

About
Alex Ritchie

Alex Ritchie

I've spent my career helping organisations work out what comes next, then helping make it happen.

I built and led my own strategic advisory consultancy for ten years, working with non-profit, government and corporate clients. That took me into board and governance work, and eventually into six years as CEO of GlobalGiving UK.

I'm now co-chair of a Brixton-based music and arts charity and have held board and advisory roles across purpose-led and commercial organisations. I've also coached and mentored leaders for many years, having trained in Personal, Corporate and Executive Coaching and received a qualification in Transformational Coaching from the University of Edinburgh. I'm a published author with HarperCollins.

More recently, leading an Organisational AI Readiness and Governance Assessment convinced me this needed to become an offer in its own right. Organisations are experimenting with AI faster than their governance can keep up. Scinta brings strategy, organisational AI readiness and coaching together for leaders navigating change.

Outside work, I've coached and mentored young people around careers, employability and entrepreneurship, from school through to graduates entering the workplace. You'll also often find me exploring the parks and woodland of South London with Bess, my very entertaining Parson Russell Terrier.

  • Six years as CEO, GlobalGiving UK
  • Founder, The ARC Agency & Venn Street
  • Charity co-chair, with wider board and advisory experience
  • Executive and transformational coach
  • Currently completing a Level 5 Diploma in Nutrition & Health Coaching
  • Published author, HarperCollins

I've been a CEO, built my own businesses and sat on the other side of the table as a board member, so I know that leadership rarely looks as tidy from the inside as it does in the strategy deck. I like complicated questions, straight conversations and making things useful. And I believe the best advice leaves you clearer and more capable, not more dependent on the adviser.

Track record

Selected experience

Founder, communications and strategic advisory consultancy

Built and led the business over ten years for non-profit, government and corporate clients, including the national strategy for Global Entrepreneurship Week UK, which grew public reach from 220,000 to 370,000 people.

GlobalGiving UK

Chief executive for six years, delivering threefold income growth through market expansion, new partnerships and income diversification.

Foyer Federation and Changemakers

Advised both organisations on their future commercial models and strategic options, work that directly led to a merger between them.

A grant-making trust

Strategic review at a point of critical financial transition, diversifying income streams and repositioning the organisation within its sector.

Small charity working across tech and media

Delivered a full Organisational AI Readiness and Governance Assessment, followed by a commissioned AI Governance Framework engagement.

Get in touch

Got something you're trying to work out?

You don't need a perfectly formed brief. Tell me what's going on and we can have a conversation about whether I can help.

Book a conversation[email protected]

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