York Associates
York Associates has been offering high quality, flexible English language, Business Communication, leadership training and training and consulting services to individuals and organisations for over 34 years. It operates from a fully-equipped training centre in York in-companies all over the world. It has been nominated by El Gazette as Centre of Excellence 2013 – 2014 for the teaching of English and it is an Institute of Leadership and Management recognised provider of leadership training. York Associates is well-known in the international communication field through its publications of books and other multimedia materials, articles and conference presentations.
York Associates is owned and run by Claret Holdings Ltd together with Bob Dignen and Mike Hogan, who both hold Executive Directorship roles.
Bob Digden
Bob Dignen, Director of York Associates, is a specialist in international team and leadership training, Bob also provides coaching to international leaders, facilitates international project team kick-off and review meetings and is a keynote speaker at corporate management events and conferences.
He has published numerous titles including Managing Projects (Delta Publishing / York Associates), which forms the basis of his Masterclass course entitled ‘Managing Projects’.
His other titles include Communication for International Business (Harper Collins) and English for International Business Communication (Harper Collins). Bob is an accredited facilitator of Fierce Conversations TM, a licensed coach for the International Profiler (an intercultural profiling tool), and an advanced practitioner of TMP (Team Management Profile), an international team development tool.
In his free time Bob enjoys jogging, when he finds time, and photography, when he remembers to take his camera with him on his travels. He is also a trustee of International Service, an overseas development charity, and is committed to supporting its work in making a lasting difference to people’s lives.
Mike Hogan
Mike recently joined the team at York Associates after living and working in Germany for 13 years where he specialised in language, communication and intercultural skills training in the corporate sector. He also coaches international team leaders, and facilitates project meetings and team-building sessions.
He is a licensed coach for The International Profiler (an intercultural profiling tool), and his professional interests include the dynamics of working in cross-cultural and virtual teams, and also teacher training. He is experienced in virtual training using a range of synchronous and asynchronous platforms both with corporate clients and in teacher training, and has also hosted large events both virtually and via live stream.
As an author his titles include the Global Business Class eWorkbooks (Macmillan) at four levels, Business English for Beginners A1 + A2 (Cornelsen) and Basis for Business B1 + B2 (Cornelsen). He regularly writes on business communication topics for Business Spotlight and Karriere (Career) magazines and has also been involved in app development for a major US media corporation.
Originally from Dublin, he graduated with an International BA from University College Dublin where he studied Philosophy, Psychology and Ancient History.
In his free time he likes spending time with his family, cooking, watching films and being outdoors.