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Our start up grew rapidly, creating operational and management challenges. Hiring Anna means that we have added a layer of professionalism and neutrality to our company. Time and again we hear from employees that her model has made them better managers - we could not be more thrilled.
Tao Mantaras, BibliU.com, VC-backed, Private Series B - II
We rely on her strategic counsel for our most significant and challenging issues…if I could have her by my side for every single professional endeavor I embark upon for the remainder of my career, I would.
Searcy Morgan, Chair, Matterlab Group
Anna is one of the most deeply insightful advisors that I have met in my life and career.
- Preeti Sinha, Former Exec Sec, UN Capital Dev Fund
The work
Meridian™ — Year One, proven.
Guardian™ — Succession, steadied.
The crucible of new leadership.
Post-close. Post-investment. New constraints on your time. A business multiplying. Meridien™ is built for the leadership inflection points that define enterprise value.
Weekly counsel. Inner recalibration. Outer execution.
A structured space where clarity sharpens, leadership lightens, and performance multip
The crucible of new leadership.
Post-close. Post-investment. New constraints on your time. A business multiplying. Meridien™ is built for the leadership inflection points that define enterprise value.
Weekly counsel. Inner recalibration. Outer execution.
A structured space where clarity sharpens, leadership lightens, and performance multiplies.
Research in the Harvard Business Review shows that effective CEOs don’t outperform by working longer hours, but by focusing their time with clarity and leverage — creating stronger results across their teams.
Meridien™ ensures founders deliver impact with a lighter touch — scaling smarter with high leverage across board, team, and market.
Guardian™ — Succession, steadied.
Guardian™ — Succession, steadied.
When it’s your move — from CEO to Chair, Board, or investor seat — or when someone you’ve trusted is stepping up to lead, Guardian™ ensures the handover strengthens, rather than threatens, the value you’ve built.
Succession isn’t just a change of title. It’s the most delicate test of a founder’s legacy. Guardian™ brings structure, clarity,
When it’s your move — from CEO to Chair, Board, or investor seat — or when someone you’ve trusted is stepping up to lead, Guardian™ ensures the handover strengthens, rather than threatens, the value you’ve built.
Succession isn’t just a change of title. It’s the most delicate test of a founder’s legacy. Guardian™ brings structure, clarity, and calm force to the transition — so leadership continuity is preserved, the team stays aligned, and investor confidence holds firm.
Research shows nearly 70% of failed successions stem from poorly managed transitions (HBR).
Guardian™ exists so yours won’t be one of them.
Conservatory™ — Portfolio leadership, cultivated.
As a founder, you know leadership alignment multiplies performance. As an investor, you want that alignment scaled across every company you back.
Conservatory™ is built for that.
A portfolio-wide container, Conservatory™ delivers consistency without the overhead of building your own academy. Senior teams cycle through Council™ and Craft
As a founder, you know leadership alignment multiplies performance. As an investor, you want that alignment scaled across every company you back.
Conservatory™ is built for that.
A portfolio-wide container, Conservatory™ delivers consistency without the overhead of building your own academy. Senior teams cycle through Council™ and Craft™ — sharpening against the same rigor, returning with clarity, comparability, and presence that endure.
Harvard Business Review finds that companies with aligned senior teams are 1.9x more likely to deliver above-median financial performance.
Conservatory™ ensures your portfolio doesn’t just scale — it scales with coherence, discipline, and durability.
Saltwater Baptism™ — Restorative performance retreat, reclaimed by the sea.
Saltwater Baptism™ — Restorative performance retreat, reclaimed by the sea.
Elemental immersion, refined.
Cornwall’s Atlantic edge as your proving ground: surf breaks, cliff fire circles, cold and hot plunges, wild saunas, sensory spa gardens, yoga, and quiet counsel by the tide. Set at Carbis Bay Estate (host of the G7) or Scarlet Hotel (an eco-luxury retreat near international surf hub Fistral Bay), Saltwater B
Elemental immersion, refined.
Cornwall’s Atlantic edge as your proving ground: surf breaks, cliff fire circles, cold and hot plunges, wild saunas, sensory spa gardens, yoga, and quiet counsel by the tide. Set at Carbis Bay Estate (host of the G7) or Scarlet Hotel (an eco-luxury retreat near international surf hub Fistral Bay), Saltwater Baptism™ balances raw nature with elevated care. Renewal in the wild — rigor restored, clarity sharpened, performance multiplied.
Studies in Nature show that immersion in blue and green spaces reduces stress biomarkers by up to 21%, directly improving resilience and decision quality.
Available by private request for AO clients.
Advisory Extensions
Saltwater Baptism™ — Restorative performance retreat, reclaimed by the sea.
Advisory Extensions
- Private Advisory — 8-week immersion for high-stakes clarity.
- Chief of Staff Search & Onboarding — Tailored for select CEOs who require their right hand aligned from day one.
- RPM Proprietary Diagnostics — Meridian Profile™, Stability Index™, Culture Core Indicator Map™.
Anna has a rare gift for both challenging and supporting me simultaneously, and I am immensely grateful for her guidance during this critical phase of leadership and organizational transition.
- Danielle Duarte, President, Guardian™ client
Team
Anna Oyelola, CEO, mCIPR
Anna Oyelola is the Founder and Managing Partner of AO, an advisory firm to investors, boards and C-Suite, specilizing in succession, CEO advisory and development. A dual UK–US citizen, she began her career on the founding team of Makuria, an award-winning European hedge fund, before moving into green energy and corporate law.
Raised in a family of world-class musicians, Anna moves with ease across financial and cultural arenas. Her counsel has been sought in boardrooms and UN chambers, and she has also served as a spiritual advisor to high-profile cultural figures navigating private transitions.
Her data-driven proprietary frameworks — Restorative Performance Management™ (RPM™) and DIO™ (Day-to-day work, Inner work, Outer work) — have consistently embedded rigor and resilience in organizations at scale. She is also Co-Founder and Non-Executive Director of Issa, an AI emotional intelligence engine.
Grounded in Transactional Analysis, Restorative Practice, and her 2021 Culture Manifesto on circular economies and human-centered capitalism, Anna unites foresight with discipline, clarity with stability. She has trained internationally across the UK, USA, Ukraine, and Australia — speaking alongside philanthropists, philosophers, ministers and a UK Secretary of State.
Known for her candor, clarity, and wisdom, her dry sense of humor and her polymathic perspective, she is regarded as a trusted partner to investors, boards, and policymakers seeking discretion, conviction, and durable results.
Charley Devany, vCFO, CPA
Charley has worked with Anna on numerous businesses and client projects over the years. Whether working on a client's financial reconciliation, or advising Anna on her own business, Charley always has a crucial financial perspective to offer.
With solid, timely information Charley helps business and organizational leaders make better decisions, position themselves for growth, secure appropriate capital, organize governance structures and consider mergers and acquisitions.
With more than 25 years of experience, Charley keeps Anna and her clients tax compliant and financially prepared to reach their goals.
Jai Tyler, Advisor
Jai is a career coach with more than 10 years of experience. She is also an artist, a programmatic curator and a facilitator. Her deep insight and empathy leaves the individual feeling incredibly seen and heard, and she is a trained mental health first aider.
A deft mediator, Jai graduated from Anna's EQ Engineers cohort in 2020, then assisting Anna with restorative performance management at scaling EdTech BibliU and later at Education Training company Hatching Results. Based in the UK, Jai brings shrewd analysis with a sense of creativity to everything she touches.
Patrick Lawrence, Advisor
Patrick is an experienced talent advisor and full life cycle tech recruiter with a glittering track record of work in tech (Google, Tek systems) and professional services.
A graduate of Anna's EQ Engineers cohort in 2021, Patrick is an accomplished restorative performance management facilitator and his grounded, zen approach sets the standard for authentic, calm, two-way understanding in tough conversations.
Anna Yarbrough, Executive Assistant
Since joining us in 2022, Anna Y has never failed to show up for her team. Her efficiency, proactivity, direct and timely communication, great judgement and just-get-it-done attitude are unmatched.
If we do it, Anna Y touches it, and it is better as a result. Whether keeping the trains running on time or organizing an event experience for clients, Anna Y is the glue that keeps us together.
An impressive writer with an exceptionally high EQ, a stint at PBS, and 15 years of management experience across hospitality, education, communications and consulting, if you hear from Anna Y, great things are about to happen....
Aaron Whatley, Finance
Aaron's financial eyes on the prize keep us focussed, motivated and crucially, informed. His swift turnaround on all things bookkeeping aids the team in all that we do.
Aaron has an MBA from Texas State and is a proud veteran Intelligence Officer of the United States Marine Corps.