About Us

Karen Meager

Karen evolved into training through business after working for ten years running call centres, sales and marketing teams and operational business units in the Professional Financial Services industry in London.
Karen is a training design guru and the foundation of Monkey Puzzle, using her business and human psychology expertise to create leading edge training programmes that deliver both the business needs and individual personal development that we all need.  Karen mixes these skills with her compassion, energy, loyalty and strongly held desire to support people become the best they can be.  Karen has a passion for getting things done, not simply talking about it and believes that when we focus on the health, personal growth and inner confidence of each and every one of us we create success, for the individual the people around them and the organisations they work for.
Karen has an MBA specialising in strategy, financial strategy and human development. She is a UKCP registered Psychotherapist (DipNLPt) and an INLPTA certified NLP Master Trainer. She is currently a Board Member of the Neuro Linguistic Psychotherapy and Counselling Association (NLPtCA). She also has training in other psychological models, human development and social psychology which she uses in her training and coaching. 

John McLachlan

Head of the Scottish end of Monkey Puzzle, John is a guiding light for individuals and organisations supporting them to grow and develop into who and what they want to be. John is one of the best business strategic thinkers we know, combining it with his love of people, uncanny perception and playful humour to help businesses and the people in them become the success they deserve.
Although we don’t hold it against him (much), John is CA qualified and has over 20 years in a variety of senior finance leadership roles including a Group FD role in Industry and a Partner for a Scottish Professional CA Practice.
In addition to his business qualifications, John is an INLPTA certified NLP Master Trainer, a Master Practitioner of NLP, Therapist and a Clinical Hypnotherapist as well as an Insights Accredited Licensed Practitioner.

Jennie Backshell

As Monkey Puzzle's Business Development Manager, Jennie is your first port of call for all open courses and corporate enquires. A bundle of fun who cares passionately about others, she also provides support to our existing delegates and clients and our regular clients know her as well as they do us.


Jennie is a qualified INLPTA NLP Trainer, Master Practitioner and Therapist. She is an expert in the practical application of NLP in both business and personal life. During the course of her training Jennie has adapted many aspects of her learning to her family life as well as her profession and is therefore extremely well positioned to assist you with any queries that you may have.  Jennie’s also a busy Mum to her adorable son Sidney (we are very biased!) and she considers him a testament to how NLP has made a positive difference to her life.
Prior to her career in Training and Development, Jennie had 10 years experience in the entertainment industry assisting companies to expand their business with increasing Sales, PR and Marketing activities. Jennie is obsessed about good customer service and these values make her a great addition to the team.

Yvonne Meager

Yvonne has over twenty years experience managing busy offices and as a Personal Assistant. Having worked with top executives, engineers, office staff and sales teams, Yvonne has the ability to connect with people from different backgrounds and a variety of life and work experiences. Yvonne is the ‘glue’ of the Monkey Puzzle team, keeping us all in line, making sure we don’t spend too much (especially John) and very importantly keeps the office running while we’re all out and about. She’s a complete star and we couldn’t do without her.