Hawthorn Group

Welcome to the MD2MD information page for Hawthorn group members

Welcome to the group.

This group meets online four times a year on a Friday from 12:15pm to 1:45pm and six times in person.

We encourage you to download the group meeting dates (links towards the end of this page) to your work calendar and make a point of attending the group meetings as an opportunity to work on, not in, your business for 90 mins but also to be there to support your group colleagues who may need your input on one of their challenges.

MD2MD encourages engagement between members with each other and with speakers outside meetings, if you need to be connected to someone please simply ask your group manager to connect you. We will always connect by email, leaving you to share phone numbers as you choose.

Hawthorn Group

Meet and connect with the other members in your peer group.

Meet the group members

MD2MD Online Events

Don’t forget, your membership entitles you and your senior leadership team to unlimited access to our online events, including workshops and special interest groups. To find out what events we have coming up and to book a space, please follow the link below.

MD2MD Online Events

Between meetings:
MD2MD aims to be a helpful source of information and contacts for members so if you need to know something or someone or need some service and think we might be able to point you in the right direction, please ask.

MD2MD also endeavours to be there when you need us. So if you have anything on your mind that you’d like to run past someone independent and detached, yet supportive and experienced, please ask your group manager and if they can’t help you themselves, they will endeavour to connect you with someone who can.

There is no additional fee for the quick, high-value, remote support MD2MD provides for members. It is part of the service.

If you need more in-depth support, we also offer a Business coach and mentoring service which fully complements the collaborative learning of the group meetings. Further details can be found below.

Business Coaching and Mentoring Service

Hawthorn Meeting Dates 2025

Jan 16/17th – in person
Feb 14th – online
March 17/18th – in person
May 2nd – online
May 12/13th – in person
June 27th – online
July 14th/15th – in person
Sept 19th – online
Oct 7th – LeaderFest 2025
Nov 24th/25th – in person

Join the WhatsApp group

Each group has its own dedicated Whatsapp group to share information in between meetings such as questions, insights, links and recommendations so its a great way to keep up-to-date and engaged with the other group members.

Join here

This group is run by

Group Manager: Emma Phipps

Emma is Managing Director for MD2MD, an exclusive community of operational business leaders ambitious to achieve even more business success by becoming even better leaders. Emma has been with the company for nearly ten years and has been a part of its pivot to online during the pandemic and its continuing growth. She is passionate about MD2MD being a diverse, empowering community, that is a force for good, for its members, team, partners and indeed the entire business community as a whole.

Group Manager: Andrew Spink

Prior to his retirement Andrew was a “one Company” individual who has spent all his Career at the De Vere Group now operating as Village Hotels since the break-up of the Company in 2014. Since his first General Manager’s position in 1984 he has managed several Hotels across the Country including The Belfry, the World famous Hotel and Golf Resort, famous for hosting The Ryder Cup. Until recently he was Regional Director accountable for 4 Hotels including Swansea, Cardiff, Swindon and Farnborough. Andrew joined MD2MD as a Group Manager following his retirement. He has been a member of MD2MD since it’s beginning and has extensive experience of guest speakers.