Career History

Principal, Executive Centre of Excellence (Global)

World Wide Field Enablement, Amazon Web Services

December 2021 – Present

In this role I have co-authored and led the roll-out of multiple worldwide training programmes for AWS field-sales teams including, Executive Foundation which builds on the Amazon Working Backwards mechanism to help our account teams articulate the AWS value proposition to customer c-level executives; driving top-down organisational transformation using the AWS cloud and Executive Acumen: Generative AI, which builds skills needed to articulate the transformational benefits of generative AI to customer executive stakeholders in the Board room. In this role, I have:

• Designed and iterated new learning content for AWS field sellers
• Delivered instructor-led in-person training for AWS field sellers
• Enabled new instructors, coaches, and trainers to deliver the programme
• Built business mechanisms for tracking business performance

In this role I am now designing and delivering a broad range of field enablement content covering all aspects of interacting with customer c-level executives. From basic business acumen, through to executive transformation programme management.

Head of Experience-Based Acceleration (EMEA)

EMEA Business Development, Amazon Web Services

October 2020 – December 2021

Experience-Based Acceleration (EBA) is a prescriptive learn-by-doing methodology engaging cross-functional and c-suite customer participants, to co-deliver workshops called “parties”, that help customers address blockers to cloud adoption. In this role, I work with strategists, technology leaders and executive stakeholders, as well as Boards in enterprise and global multi-national customers, to create alignment around accelerating cloud adoption to drive broad enterprise transformation.

Leading the EBA function in EMEA, I was responsible for:

• Built and launched a cross-functional EBA enablement program for AWS’s Professional Services, Solutions Architecture, Customer Solutions, and Sales teams to position EBA as a value-added service to their customers across EMEA
• Actively engaged with AWS Migration Competency Partners and built and delivered the EBA partner enablement programme to bridge knowledge and skills gaps and ensure consistency of support
• Working closely with AWS sales leaders and teams to develop prescriptive transformation plans for their customers across broad organisational changes using the cloud
• Transferring the EBA methodology to our customers to allow them to continue to accelerate adoption of the cloud independently accelerating revenue growth

As a result of the EBA methodology, customers change the way they work; legacy siloed teams become cross-functional empowered teams, waterfall project-based focus turns into iterative agile-based execution, and long-lead analysis 1-way door decisions become two-way door actions. Customers are unblocked and enabled to deliver cloud-based outcomes at a much faster speed and larger scale.

Practice Leader - Business Advisory (Global)

Professional Services, Amazon Web Services

May 2019 to October 2020

I led the Business Advisory practice, supporting a global team of Professional Services consultants to position and deliver business advisory products and services to AWS customers around the world. Through the Business Advisory practice, I worked with the other Advisory disciplines (People, Governance, and Innovation) to create and scale new customer offerings which helped our customers transform their organisations by adopting the cloud. In this role:

I created the Advisory principles and go to market which helped AWS customers to:

1. Increase revenue, margin, and profit;
2. Enter new markets and create new products;
3. Delight and excite customers; and
4. Be operationally excellent and reduce waste

Using these principles, I created the Well-Advised framework which is designed to help customers drive top-down appetite for transformation using the cloud; switching away from an IT-silo-led cloud adoption approach.

• Created and executed the global strategy for Business Advisory in AWS Professional Services;
• Led and supported the development of new Business Advisory offerings as well as scaling and enabling our consultants and AWS partners to deliver the offerings to their customers;
• Worked broadly with sales leadership, customer teams, product teams, and partners to accelerate cloud adoption in customer accounts;
• Developed early remote offerings for delivery during the pandemic;
• Developed the initial narrative and precursor to the Enterprise Next programme;
• Worked with over 100 customer teams globally to position the enterprise transformation through cloud adoption message with customer c-suites;
• Continued to develop thought leadership which has been published broadly by industry publications as well as through research, consulting, and industry organisations such as the Institute of Directors.

Senior Consultant - Business Advisory (Global)

Professional Services, Amazon Web Services

June 2017 to May 2019

I worked as an Advisory consultant in the newly formed Professional Services Global Specialty Practice (GSP). Through my work with global enterprise customers in my previous two roles at AWS, as well as my industry experience of governance, risk, and compliance I was able to create new products and services for driving enterprise transformation through cloud adoption, which were specifically targeted at the c-suite. In this role, I:

• Amalgamated previous published work around the business case for cloud adoption and business value benefits for cloud adoption, and created an updated business case accelerator (BCA) product;
• Scaled BCA globally in AWS Professional Services and through 50 migration competency partners through deep training and enablement on the product;
• Built thought leadership around the advisory practice go to market including the creation of the principles of the advisory practice and the positioning of our offerings with customer c-suites;

During my time in this role, I also became an official AWS Press Spokesperson. In this role, I represented AWS at the Gartner CFO Roundtable in Atlanta, took part in 27 press and analyst interviews, and appeared on stage at AWS re:Invent, AWS Transformation Days, AWS Summits, AWS Execute Forums, and the AWS Executive Summit.

Specialty Practice Lead - Migrations (EMEA)

Professional Services, Amazon Web Services

March 2016 to June 2017

I worked as the Specialty Practice Lead for Migrations in EMEA, building this brand-new Professional Services practice to focus on supporting customers who were migrating typically more than 500 servers to AWS from on-premises and co-location environments. My role was focused on developing advisory capability around the business justification for cloud adoption as well as developing the delivery mechanisms to accelerate adoption. In this role, I:

• Co-created the first version of the migration cost estimator, a tool for calculating the cost of migration to AWS from on-premises and co-location environments;
• Developed the decommission cost estimator, a tool for calculating decommissioning costs associated with migrating to the cloud as well as calculating the cost of potential impairments on the business case such as lease termination costs and equipment write-offs;
• Co-authored the initial migration readiness assessment (MRA) criteria for assessing customer readiness and capability for adopting the cloud. MRA is now used globally by AWS and migration competency partners in the early stages of evaluating cloud adoption;
• Developed an enablement programme for Professional Services consultants in EMEA on migration topics to drive scaling of this important new business;
• Scaled the migrations practice content to EMEA-based partners to drive migration capability in the AWS Partner Network (APN);
• Worked with EMEA-wide AWS partners to develop their migrations capabilities and to train them on AWS migration offerings through partner roadshows and boot-camps;
• Working with the commercial teams across EMEA to identify and support customers with large-scale migration projects;
• Work with the AWS global Enterprise Strategy team to develop new thought leadership around migrations.

Senior Consultant (UK&I)

Professional Services, Amazon Web Services

July 2015 to March 2016

I worked as Senior Consultant providing AWS enterprise customers with advisory consultancy across a broad range of IT, digital, and organisational transformation topics. With specific focus around cloud adoption through innovation, migration, and modernisation, I assisted customers accelerate business outcomes through the cloud, and built practice capability by creating and scaling Professional Services go-to-market strategies. When in role, I:

• Developed early thought leadership around the use of a cloud centre of excellence to govern cloud use in organisations. This later led to the creation of the global people and change practice in Professional Services;
• Created a re-usable packaged offering for building the business case for adoption of the AWS cloud which is now used globally by Professional Services and AWS partners;
• Engaged broadly across AWS service teams, Professional Services, partner teams, solutions architecture, and account teams to position advisory offerings to customers to drive accelerated adoption of the cloud in those account;
• Worked directly with customer c-suite stakeholders on aligning cloud and IT strategy to business strategy and outcomes;
• Led cloud economics and cloud financial management for Professional Services globally;
• Speaking on behalf of AWS at customer events including London and Netherlands enterprise summits in 2016;
• Authoring over 50 new re-usable artefacts (documentation, methodologies, webinars, discovery questionnaires, etc) for use by AWS Professional Services in all global practices as well as AWS partners and customers.