I joined the Mastered Programme and found my love of learning return.

After a successful career spanning multiple sectors and organisational types, Kevin Hogarth (2024 Mastered graduate) shares how he prepared for his ‘encore’ career. Read on to discover the steps he took to pursue a second coaching programme with Meyler Campbell—and how he’s thriving in this next chapter.

I first trained as a coach more than 20 years ago, as part of planning my ‘encore’ career. I’ve always been intentional about my career—ambitious, yes, but also keen to gain breadth of experience across sectors (retail, financial services, accounting, law) and organisational types (UK domestic, international, UK-listed, US-listed, partnerships). By my late 30s, I was already thinking about the career I wanted in my late 50s and 60s. That’s why I trained as a coach and took on non-executive roles. I had always envisaged a time when I would step away from an executive role to focus on advisory work, executive coaching, and expanding my NED portfolio.

That time came just before the pandemic. I began planning the next stage of my career and thinking about how to become a better coach. Coaching had always been part of my executive roles. As many Chief People Officers know, the CPO often acts as a coach to the executive team—both individually and collectively. The trust built through business discussions often extends to personal challenges: a difficult direct report, a strained peer relationship, or even issues with the CEO. I also coached my own team daily, asking questions like:

“What do you want to do about that?”
“What else could you try?”
“What might get in the way?”
“What have you learned that you can apply in the future?”

But I knew I needed to stretch myself and wanted to do another coaching programme. Many in my network recommended the Mastered Programme, which I knew well. Then the pandemic hit. My portfolio plans were put on hold as I navigated unprecedented challenges. It was stressful but also deeply fulfilling. HR professionals were at the centre of organisational decision-making with no playbook and every challenge demanding innovation.

Then, unexpectedly, I was approached about a new role: UK Chief People Officer at KPMG. The opportunity was too good to ignore. I decided that I had one more gig in me and I joined KPMG in the middle of the pandemic.

As the world shifted to a post-pandemic reality, I realised it was time for something different. I’m not sure my colleagues at KPMG saw the best of me. I was tired after Covid and found the return to ‘business as usual’ less energising. I stepped down in October 2022, took a break, and spent time travelling, including a restorative three-week solo campervan trip around Scotland’s north and west coasts.

In mid-2023, I joined the Mastered Programme under the excellent guidance of Penny Moyle and found my love of learning return. My executive life had left little time for personal development, so this was energising for me. I chose Mastered because it allowed me to move quickly into coaching practice, and having trained before, I wanted to apply this new learning immediately. The tutorials and my fantastic syndicate made the journey fun and rewarding.

Today, I have exactly the portfolio I envisioned 20 years ago: executive coaching, advisory work, and NED roles. The programme’s focus on transitions helped me experiment with different advisory roles and become comfortable describing myself by what I am becoming­—not what I once was. When asked what I do, I no longer lead with “I was the Chief People Officer at KPMG.” Instead, I say “I’m a board adviser, executive coach, and non-executive director.”

There have a been a couple of surprising benefits from the Mastered programme. I find I am using what I have learnt beyond the narrow confines of my coaching engagements. In my advisory work I ask ‘coaching’ questions and the responses provide me with a rich insight in to both the client’s personal and organisational agendas. I hadn’t given much thought to what it would mean to become an alumnus of the Mastered programme, but now I have access to a wonderful community of people, a rich source of connections, insights and wisdom.

Kevin Hogarth, 2024 Mastered Alumnus