About Sarah
About Sarah Stannard, Sustainable High Performance Coach
Sarah Stannard is a UKIHCA registered sustainable high performance coach with 20 years of senior leadership experience, multiple health science qualifications, and a personal understanding of what sustainable resilience actually demands.
Her story
From the boardroom to sustainable high performance
Sarah spent two decades as a Director of Sales and Marketing in the logistics sector, leading high-performing teams, managing complex commercial pressures, and navigating the kind of sustained stress that rarely makes it into a board presentation. She understands corporate life from the inside: the culture, the pace, the competing priorities, and the particular challenge of maintaining performance when the margin for error is narrow.
In her early forties, Sarah was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Rather than accept a prognosis of progressive decline, she committed to a rigorous programme of lifestyle and nutritional change. She is now symptom-free. That experience gave her both the knowledge and the lived authority to speak about resilience, stress, and behaviour change with a credibility that no textbook alone can provide.
She retrained formally, completing programmes at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, Yale University (Science of Well-Being), Rice University (Mindfulness), and Emory University (Weight Management), as well as qualifications through IAHC and the Association for Coaching. She is registered with the UK and International Health Coaches Association (UKIHCA, ID 545) and is a trained Mental Health First Aider. She is a professional speaker with the Professional Speakers Association (PSA), and her work has been featured in the Daily Telegraph, OK, Bella, Best, Chat and Global Women's Magazine, as well as on BBC Radio and several podcasts.
Today, Sarah works with HR directors, People teams, and senior leaders at organisations including Xerox, River Island, QVC, Network Rail, L3Harris, Datasite and DMH Stallard, designing and delivering sustainable high performance programmes that are grounded in evidence, built around commercial realities, and measured by outcomes that matter to the business. Her clients span the UK and beyond, with delivery in person or virtually wherever a team is based.
Sarah on stage
Sarah is a professional speaker with the Professional Speakers Association (PSA), bringing the same evidence based, commercially grounded approach to keynotes and conference stages that she brings to every corporate programme. Watch her speaker reel below.
Approach
An approach built on evidence, not aspiration
Sarah's methodology draws on validated research in behavioural science, nutritional medicine, mindfulness, and positive psychology. Every programme begins with a structured assessment of the organisation's specific context, because an approach that works in a 50 person professional services firm will not automatically translate to a 500 person logistics operation. The starting point is always your people, your culture, and your organisational goals.
Sarah does not deliver generic programmes or one size fits all interventions. She designs structured, evidence based approaches with clear objectives, defined delivery milestones, and a review process that identifies what has changed in practice. This ensures organisations can understand impact in commercial terms, including improvements in performance, resilience, engagement, and sustained capability.
The language throughout is commercially focused: outcomes, investment, and return. Every engagement is designed to create measurable value, not just activity. If a programme is not the right fit, that is made clear early in the conversation so organisations can make informed decisions about what will deliver the greatest impact.
Who Sarah works with
Built for the people who own performance and resilience strategy
- HR directors and People leads responsible for workforce performance and resilience strategy
- Founders and senior leaders who want to build a high performance culture that is also sustainable
- Organisations navigating high absence rates, visible burnout, or post-restructure people challenges
- Companies building a human sustainability strategy to support talent retention and employer brand
- International teams who want an in-person workshop or a virtual keynote, wherever they are based
Credentials
Sarah holds formal qualifications from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, Yale University, Rice University, Emory University, IAHC, and the Association for Coaching, alongside training in Mental Health First Aid and perimenopause transition support. She is registered with UKIHCA (ID 545) and is a professional speaker with the Professional Speakers Association (PSA).
- Official Professional Speaker, Professional Speakers Association (PSA)
- UKIHCA Registered Health Coach (ID 545)
- Mental Health First Aider (MHFA)
- Burrell Education, The 3rd Age Woman: Perimenopause Transition
- Institute of Integrative Nutrition
- Yale University, The Science of Well-Being
- Rice University, Mindfulness
- Emory University, Weight Management
- International Association of Health Coaches (IAHC)
- Association for Coaching
What makes Sarah different
20 years in the boardroom. 5 years of rigorous health coaching. Both matter.
Most performance and wellbeing providers come from one of two places: the wellness industry with limited commercial experience, or the HR profession with limited clinical depth. Sarah occupies a different position. She has sat in the rooms where budget decisions are made, understands what commercial pressure actually feels like, and brings that perspective to every client conversation. That is what sustainable high performance means in practice: results that hold up, not a break from performance altogether.
She also holds a level of personal credibility that is genuinely rare. Having rebuilt her own health through the very approaches she teaches, Sarah brings a quality of conviction to her work that clients consistently notice. The testimonials she receives from organisations such as Network Rail, L3Harris, River Island, Xerox, and QVC reflect a consistent pattern: practical, grounded, well-received sessions that leave people with tools they actually use.
Questions
About Sarah, answered
A starting point for the most common questions. For anything specific to your organisation, a discovery meeting is the fastest way to a clear answer.
As featured in
- The Daily Telegraph
- OK
- Bella
- Best
- Chat
- Global Women's Magazine
- BBC Radio
- Podcasts
Work with someone who has been on both sides of the table.
Arrange a conversation to discuss what a sustainable high performance strategy could look like for your organisation, anywhere in the world.