About Geoff
Geoff McDonald is now best known as a global advocate, campaigner and consultant who is passionate about addressing the stigma of mental ill health in workplaces, and about helping organisations embed purpose as a key driver of business performance. Prior to this he was the Global VP of Human Resources for Unilever.
In 2008 he was diagnosed with anxiety fuelled depression, recovery from which led him to discover a new personal purpose. And in 2014 he left his role with Unilever to devote his time, energy and expertise to ending the stigma of depression and anxiety in the workplace. He tells his powerful story to audiences around the globe, knowing first-hand that talking about mental health saves lives. You can watch his TEDx Talks here.
As a speaker and a business transformation consultant, Geoff engages with leaders to:
- Inspire them to embrace mental health issues
- Explain how purpose is critical to mental wellbeing
- Empower organisations to put purpose at their core
- Play their positive role in the world
- Inspire them to embrace mental health issues
- Explain how purpose is critical to mental wellbeing
- Empower organisations to put purpose at their core
- Play their positive role in the world
Head Talk – Geoff talks about how to break the stigma linked to depression and anxiety in the corporate world
Mad World – Geoff explains the benefits of shifting the narrative around mental health issues within organisations
Geoff’s background in teaching, HR, marketing, communications and sustainability is considerable. During his 25 year career with Unilever (a global corporation with a turnover of £50 billion, 170,000 employees in 90 countries around the world), his experience has been truly global, working across Africa, the Middle-East & Turkey, Australasia & Asia, Europe & the Americas.
His HR experience spans leadership & talent development, organisation change, capability development (with particular reference to marketing), and business transformation with purpose at its core. Early in his career he was responsible for graduate recruitment and development, talent, acquisitions and development across Unilever’s emerging markets. Under his leadership he developed Unilever’s global talent and leadership centre of expertise.
“I can say categorically that the discussions that I have had with you in the first half of the year helped inform the way that I have looked at embedding the management of Mental Health across HSBC. Your guidance, whilst not formal, gave us confidence to look for more initiatives to move the agenda forward.”
Peter Robotham – HSBC
“Thank you for your leadership of the recently concluded Mind over Mountains event (the first such Barclays initiative in Asia), I have heard a lot of positive feedback.Thank you too for your inspirational, insightful and enthusiastic participation, and for spending time with our Hong Kong colleagues.”
Jaideep Khanna – Head of Barclays, Asia Pacific
“We’ve made significant progress out of your talk with a new SKY website now set up. We’re also getting lots of other areas who have heard what we’ve been doing asking for help in their area, we’ve had two in the last week so we’re getting real traction across the business.”
Darren Long – Director of Sky Production Services
Geoff has since had the opportunity to sit around the table with politicians, business leaders and influencers including the Prime Minister of the UK, members of the Royal Family and Pope Francis. He has spoken at Cambridge, Oxford, Bologna, Warwick Universities as well as at corporate events across Australia, Europe, Japan, North America, Turkey and Eastern Europe. He has also participated in a number of BBC programmes and written articles for the Huffington Post and the Financial Times as well as Human Resource journals.
As a strong believer that the global movement for positive mental health in the workplace needs more voices, Geoff is the co-founder of Minds@Work, whose purpose is to inspire and empower individuals to break the stigma of mental ill health in their own organisations.
Geoff lives in Surrey in the UK, he is married with two daughters and loves the outdoors. He is a passionate cyclist and swimmer and has completed a number of ultra-cycling and swimming events.
Areas of expertise: Find out more…
Geoff has since had the opportunity to sit around the table with politicians, business leaders and influencers including the Prime Minister of the UK, members of the Royal Family and Pope Francis. He has spoken at Cambridge, Oxford, Bologna, Warwick Universities as well as at corporate events across Australia, Europe, Japan, North America, Turkey and Eastern Europe. He has also participated in a number of BBC programmes and written articles for the Huffington Post and the Financial Times as well as Human Resource journals.
As a strong believer that the global movement for positive mental health in the workplace needs more voices, Geoff is the co-founder of Minds@Work, whose purpose is to inspire and empower individuals to break the stigma of mental ill health in their own organisations.
Geoff lives in Surrey in the UK, he is married with two daughters and loves the outdoors. He is a passionate cyclist and swimmer and has completed a number of ultra-cycling and swimming events.