Biography
I am a business leader with more than 25 years of start-up, enterprise, and public sector experience. Beginning my career as a software engineer and working in nearly every area of IT, I moved into product development, business development, professional services, and Board advisory roles, most recently working at Amazon Web Services (AWS) leading the trainer, facilitator, and coaching functions globally in the Worldwide Field Enablement organisation.
Prior to AWS I worked with well-known global brands including Coca-Cola, Gulf Oil, and Aston Villa Football Club delivering digital and IT transformation; directing the delivery of over 100 transformation projects of varying sizes, including very small digital pure-play projects, through to complex business change projects.
Over the past 10 years (including whilst at AWS), I have worked as an executive advisor and coach; breaking down barriers and removing friction to organisational transformation using the cloud. During my career, I have invented, built, and brought to market technology services, commercial models, and customer engagement programmes.
A true change agent, with a reputation for extensive vision, drive, and aptitude, I work with Boards and executive stakeholders to help them drive increased revenues, profit, and margin; enter new markets, develop new product lines, and disrupt the disruptors; delight and excite their customers; drive operational excellence across their organisations; and strive to address environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concerns and responsibly change their business for the better.
I catalyse customers to achieve these outcomes by engaging broadly with enterprise leaders; supporting them to define their strategy for innovation, adoption, migration and modernization using the cloud and executing on delivery.
Experience as a Board Director
I am an independently minded Chartered Director (elected 2006), and Fellow of the Institute of Directors in the United Kingdom. I have experience in a variety of businesses from family-owned, to large corporate and PLC businesses.
I have worked with businesses in the Airline, Consumer Services, Financial Services, Retail, Media, Publishing & Entertainment, Manufacturing, Business Services, Oil & Gas, FMCG and Logistics industries; leading those organisations in the reinvention and transformation of their businesses.
I have held executive and non-executive positions on the Boards of UK companies bringing my practical knowledge of organizational transformation through technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), generative AI, and cloud to those positions.
A specialist in business and organisational transformation, people management, and corporate governance, I work with Boards, senior executives of customer organisations, and the AWS sales field to drive broad organisational awareness and capability of the cloud, AI/ML, and generative AI to deliver extraordinary business outcomes. I have previously worked as a CEO, CIO, and CDO.
Amazon, AWS and Me
I am a Head of the Global Trainer Center of Excellence in AWS Worldwide Field Enablement (WWFE), with my globally-located team of trainers, coaches, and coordinators, I enable our world-wide field sellers to articulate the AWS value proposition to customer c-level and line-of-business (LOB) leaders, and most recently I have been made responsible for enabling AWS Director-level and above employees to articulate the generative AI and AI/ML value proposition to customer executive audiences. I work as a subject matter expert within WWFE and have co-authored Executive Foundation and Executive Acumen: Generative AI; two programs which have scaled globally to our field-sellers and are now delivered by my team alongside 69 other programs.
I am a tenured Amazonian with almost 9 years working across multiple roles in the business.
I joined AWS in 2015, and prior to my current role, I operatied in Professional Services roles across IT Transformation, Migration & Modernization, and Executive Advisory before moving into Business Development and then the Executive Centre of Excellence in World Wide Field Enablement.
Working cross-functionally in AWS, with the AWS CFO Programs, Cloud Economics, Global Executive Marketing, Executive Summit, Enterprise Transformation, Migration Acceleration Program, Enterprise Strategist, and Press and Analyst Relations teams, I work with them to build thought leadership, and programs which drive top-down, c-level-led business change through the adoption of the AWS cloud.
I am the author of the Business Case Accelerator (BCA) which forms the basis of AWS’ business case approach; bringing together cost, value, and strategic business workstreams to build cloud adoption business cases in a repeatable way. I am co-author of the Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF), co-author of the Migration Readiness Assessment (MRA), and co-author of the Cloud Value Framework (CVF). I am a Certified AWS Principal Speaker and AWS Press Spokesperson.
Personal Biography
I hold a BSc. (Hons) in Software Engineering and am a Data Science Alumnus of the London School of Economics. I live in the UK and hold dual UK and Cypriot (EU) citizenship.