Meet the shoal, a dedicated global team with world-class Challenger expertise

Adam’s seminal work, the global bestseller Eating the Big Fish, popularised the concept of Challenger Brands and, alongside subsequent works The Pirate Inside, A Beautiful Constraint, and Overthrow, provides marketers with the framework to fuel success with a Challenger approach. He founded eatbigfish to challenge conventional thinking, and has spent over 25 years working with clients to overcome strategic brand problems with a Challenger Mindset. 

His latest project The Extraordinary Cost of Dull has ignited a crucial conversation in the industry. Alongside collaborating with with marketing effectiveness experts Peter Field, Dr Karen Nelson-Field and Jon Evans, among others, to quantify the cost of mediocrity in communications, his podcast, Let’s Make This More Interesting, delves into diverse fields from beyond the marketing industry to uncover fresh perspectives. By exploring how to make mundane topics captivating, Adam aims to inspire marketers everywhere, offering innovative solutions to combat the pervasive stagnation that none of us can afford to ignore.

Having studied Psychology at Edinburgh, Tara has always been interested in what makes people tick. She began her career as a planner in advertising where she quickly realised she enjoyed solving the juicier strategic issues for clients. This led her to joining the consultancy world and eatbigfish in 2022.

Outside of work she enjoys being active (she is learning to surf…somewhat slowly) or seeing where her TikTok algorithm takes her.

Based in Toronto but so often in the U.S. she’s on a first-name basis with customs, Anne Marie helps lead our work with clients on both sides of the border. She is also Head of People & Culture, where she applies the same mix of rigor and playfulness to the way we work together as she does to her clients’ toughest challenges.

Anne Marie started her career client-side, marketing some of the world’s most beloved brands, from toothpaste to cereal to beer. That experience taught her what it feels like to make moves that change the game, and how to help teams navigate both the thrill and the pressure that come with them. Since then, she’s challenged the status quo to create new opportunities in categories as diverse as beverages to banking, and hospitality to health care.

Beyond the workshop, Anne Marie is most likely chasing the buzz of live music, finding fun ways to fuel her competitive spirit, and trying to keep up with her Gen Z kids – without too many eye rolls being sent her way.

Liston is a brand strategist based in Austin, TX. He’s built a career around making brands useful for the whole of companies – not just inspiration for communications, but a lens through which broader business problems are solved and opportunities seized.  

He’s worked on brand, advertising, and design for organizations big and small across a range of verticals everything from rideshare to retail, off-price goods to premium spirits. He’s also been a schoolteacher and sold medical insurance for cats and dogs.  

Outside of work, you’ll generally find Liston in a record or bookstore or supporting a handful of consistently mediocre sports teams.

Originally from the beautiful state of Colorado, Sarah has worked in New York City, Boston, London and even a tiny town outside Cologne, Germany (ask her about furniture fittings – it’s actually pretty interesting). Although her degree is in history and German literature, her career has always been focused on advertising and media insights. She’s fascinated by other people and loves to do research, whether that’s quantitative or qualitative.

Alongside the work she does for clients and internal initiatives, Sarah runs the Challenger Project research. When she’s not ferreting out interesting companies to speak to, you can find her going on long walks with friends through the English countryside or doing The New York Times crossword puzzles with her husband at the pub.

Originally a creative Toby joined the strategy team at eatbigfish over 10 years ago. Now, as Strategy Director and Head of Offer, whether it’s digging deeper into a category he’s already familiar with or one he’s never previously given a moment’s thought to, Toby is fascinated by helping teams reignite their sense of ambition and passion for their brand.

Texan-turned-Londoner (with a childhood spent at the rodeo), Jamie is now happily at home in London. A proud alum of the University of Colorado Boulder’s Journalism School, Jamie has built her career across fast-paced, creative environments, from marketing start-up Challenger brands to working behind the scenes in comedy and entertainment. That mix of storytelling, production, and hands-on hustle has shaped her approach to brand building, and made eatbigfish a natural next step.

Jamie is also a published photographer and rarely one to sit still: she’s either hopping on a spontaneous Jet2 holiday or soaking up London’s live entertainment scene – sometimes from the audience, sometimes from the stage trying stand-up herself.

Hugh is one of the Managing Partners. His career has mainly been in marketing and advertising – although forays into the word of skiing, commodity broking, and tennis instruction have made it interesting along the way.  

‘Schooled’ in marketing at Unilever, he then worked in in the US and the UK in brilliant advertising agencies like AMV-BBDO and Goodby Silverstein, before a stint as MD of Wieden and Kennedy, London. In that period, he worked on many iconic campaigns including the famous Guinness ‘Surfer’ commercial and the much loved (and parodied) ‘got milk? campaign.  

At eatbigfish, there are few categories that he hasn’t worked in. The diversity of clients includes a dairy in Saudi Arabia, the launch of the first injectable HIV drug, planning a new whisky distillery and visitor experience, making ETFs understandable, and articulating the next chapter of the GLP-1 phenomenon. (All while learning new acronyms!).

He loves to facilitate and despite a reputation for occasionally playing ‘bad cop’ in a workshop, he is really quite approachable. Trained as a qualified executive coach, he uses this skill to support and mentor senior individuals and teams. He wishes he was Harvey Specter but is more like Bill Bailey.

Susie joined eatbigfish in 2021 from the world of media planning with an eclectic mix of experience working with brands from pies and chips to banking and luxury retail. As Strategy Director and Head of Consultancy, she loves nothing more than a good problem to solve, and especially loves working with brands that are somewhat overlooked.

Outside of work she is often found pretending to be a chef, or more likely leaving it to the experts and doing her bit to get London’s restaurant industry back on its feet. 

Peter is a qualified chartered accountant and has looked after the numbers at eatbigfish since 2013. Before he joined the company, Peter specialised in finance in the music industry, working at various music businesses, including the famous London nightclub Ministry of Sound.

In his spare time, Peter’s obsession with music continues as he regularly DJs at his own club night and on some of London’s biggest underground radio stations.

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Kirstin joined eatbigfish in 2019, and spends her time helping organisations of all shapes and sizes look at their challenges differently and achieve more than they thought possible – from helping a global bank rekindle their Challenger mojo, to changing the way the pharmaceutical industry sees antibiotics. She believes that strategic and cultural change make the perfect bedfellows, and that one cannot happen (successfully!) without the other. She’s particularly interested in helping teams unearth what’s really stopping them from being successful, then working with them to unlock their potential through the transformative power of the Challenger Mindset.

Outside of work, Kirstin channels her competitive spirit into triathlon training, and will talk to anyone who will listen about why the romantic comedy is culture’s greatest art form.

Rosie first stepped through the doors of eatbigfish over 13 years ago in search of a bit of work experience. What she discovered instead was her true calling – organisation in all its glorious forms – and she’s been thriving at eatbigfish ever since. Over the years, Rosie has worn many hats, from Project Coordinator to EA, Office Manager to her current role as Operations Manager, gaining a deep understanding of every corner of the company along the way.

Affectionately known as The Beloved, Rosie’s superpower is staying calm in the face of chaos – a skill that’s proved invaluable in both high-stakes poker games and the daily circus of office life. She lives for lists, logistics, and throwing a cracking party. And when she’s not at work, you’ll find her wrangling two small children and a spirited Dalmatian through the leafy wilds of SW London.

Sam has spent the past 14 years at eatbigfish, where she’s now Head of Operations...the person who thrives on solving tricky problems and keeping things running smoothly, no matter how fast they change. With a background in both Finance and Art, she brings a rare mix of structure and creativity to everything she does.  

Originally from London and now happily settled in Connecticut, Sam’s life outside of work is just as full...whether she’s taxiing her 8-year-old son Finley to his many sporting events or heading out on long walks with Pepper, her amazing dog.

Meg supports our strategy team out of Austin to ensure our North American projects run smoothly and brilliantly.

She has a Blue Heeler nameed Huck who has ‘the world's best smile’ (and we have to agree).

Ellie isn’t a typical strategist. With a background in product design, she brings creativity into the way we work at eatbigfish. Her role focuses on helping the team navigate the fast-changing world of AI while uncovering new approaches to try across projects – from beauty brands to tequila. When not wrangling Post-its, Ellie can be found losing her voice at festivals, learning new recipes, negotiating with her 6ft cheese plant, or getting cosy and watching a zombie film.

As EA to Partners Adam and Hugh, Tamika manages their jam-packed schedules and client commitments with a firm hand and a friendly smile. A graduate of Surface Design and Printed Textiles at the University of Northampton, outside of work she loves to design, print and draw - creating her own range of t-shirts for friends and family. 

Jono (rhymes with Bono) has crammed quite a lot of weird and wonderful experience into the last decade, having worked and lived in London, New York, LA and Manchester alongside PR people, event producers, advertising bods, and design studio folk. He’s loved advertising since he was a little boy, so he’s basically doing his dream job and would probably do it for free (though don’t tell the eatbigfish Partners that). He works across categories but has a particular focus on CPG food brands in the US and Europe.

Oh, and he’s raising six kids in Cheshire, UK with his spectacular wife Siân.

With a calm, structured approach and a knack for keeping things running smoothly, Emily helps teams stay focused and aligned. She works in the ops team as Project Manager at eatbigfish, where she’s known for being reliable, detail-oriented, and thoughtful in how she supports strategy teams and manages logistics. Her strengths—Woo, Communication, Responsibility, Consistency, and Empathy—shine through in her collaborative style and ability to build trust across teams.

After a 7-month sabbatical exploring the world (with New Zealand as a standout), she’s returned with fresh perspective and energy. Outside of work, she’s passionate about hybrid training at the gym and brings that same discipline and drive to every project she touches.

Joining eatbigfish in 2021, Kate has quickly become an invaluable member of the team as project coordinator. Kate is responsible for organising logistics and ensuring our workshops run smoothly. A fan of Romanian techno, dancing and the hula hoop, Kate’s dream is to buy a camper van and travel across Europe.

Ruth leads the research for the Let's Make This More Interesting podcast, and has previously been lead researcher on much of the research into Challenger Brands included in our publications. She is also an ardent proofreader for eatbigfish output.

Outside of work, she’s very keen on jazz, history of art, the Rambert School of Dance and…cats.

Based in Austin, Jenna is a strategist who believes strategic thinking has the power to help the right brands end up in the right hands and does the buyer just as much good as the business. 

She loves the New York Times Crossword but can’t make it past Thursday’s. When she’s not being humbled by a word game, you can find her walking her dog Ollie around Lady Bird Lake, on a yoga mat or eating Nutella.

Liv was the first employee to join eatbigfish in a broom cupboard back in 2000. Starting out as a researcher she spent her early days on the road interviewing iconic noughties founders for our second book The Pirate Inside. She then established The Challenger Project as an online resource before beginning her career facilitating workshops and running brand projects as an eatbigfish strategist and freelance brand consultant.

While Liv works with a wide range of global clients she specialises in startups, scale-ups and businesses at crucial points of transition where team building, bold marketing and compelling creative are essential to support change, reach new audiences and drive rapid growth. When not growing brands Liv likes growing vegetables. She also loves Victorian literature, slow fashion, fast horses, cheap crisps and good shoes.

Tony is an expert in innovation, brand strategy and consumer insight with over 25 years of industry experience.

As an associate of eatbigfish, he mostly works with the principles of A Beautiful Constraint, equipping teams with the practical tools to put the theories into practice.

Veronica is thrilled to bring her energy to the eatbigfish team as Project Coordinator. With an educational background in marketing, she has a fierce curiosity for brand strategy. Whether it’s scheduling weekly calls or scouting out top-notch workshop venues, she is dedicated to ensuring her team has an exceptional project experience from start to finish.

When she is not booking travel for workshops, it’s not unlikely she is planning her next trip and doing the same for herself! In addition to her wanderlust, Veronica enjoys reading, seeing her favorite artists in concert, and sunning herself on the beach.

As Commercial Manging Partner Teresa is the lynchpin of the business and all of our operations. She makes sure we’re profitable, on time, in the right place, and have everything we need to do good work.

She lives in between London and Brighton, and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the most fabulous places to eat in both cities.

With over 20 years under her belt at eatbigfish, Helen works across the business bringing our thinking and approach to life. As well as being well-versed in all things Challenger, creative and production, she has a masters degree in Brands, Culture & Communication, so spends a lot of time thinking about contemporary consumer culture, discourses of identity and belonging, and whether she should do a PhD on the TV show 'The Repair Shop'.

Based in Folkestone but regularly in the London office, if she isn’t plotting a new project or wrestling a to-do list, you will find her staring at the sea or eating crisps in a pub.

Joining eatbigfish from the world of advertising in 2010, Nick has worked with clients on five continents and in international waters. He now works as an independent consultant and Challenger associate on strategic projects.

Ben helps our clients apply a Challenger Mindset to their brand and beyond. He has a soft spot for working with food and drinks brands but for him, there is nothing tastier than a brief to work with a large established brand looking to make the leap into the world of Challenger.