Dr Nia D Thomas

Nia is an expert leader who talks the talk and walks the walk. She is a strategic and values-driven senior leader with more than twenty-five years’ experience across the NHS, civil service, local government and charitable sectors, and has held Chief Executive and Director-level roles in organisations spanning homelessness, maternity safety, early childhood development and national policy.

Her career includes directing a £36.7 million National Lottery-funded early childhood development programme that delivered measurable gains in early language, social-emotional development and nutrition for more than 8,000 children and families, as well as leading homelessness services, shaping national early years policy and driving organisational transformation across the voluntary and public sectors.

Alongside her executive career, Nia works as a leadership consultant under her Knowing Self Knowing Others brand, partnering with leaders and organisations to develop self-awareness, strategic capability and high-performing, values-led teams. Her approach draws directly on her doctoral research and her extensive experience leading change in complex, mission-driven environments.

Her doctorate in self-awareness and leadership underpins a parallel career as a thought leader and writer. She is the author of The Self-Awareness Superhighway and hosts the Knowing Self Knowing Others Podcast. She also serves as a trustee and non-executive director across a small number of charitable organisations.