Leadership Team
Rowland Hanson
Co-Founder & Partner
Rowland is a global icon in branding and business development. He has consulted to both Fortune 500 corporations as well as emerging companies. Prior to consulting, he was Vice President of Corporate Communications at Microsoft, where he created and executed the company’s highly acclaimed branding strategy which included the market introduction of Microsoft’s most popular product-a graphical interface that he named “Windows.” Several books published on the history of Microsoft document the strategies he executed that led to the dominance of the Microsoft and Windows brands. Prior to Microsoft, he served as Vice President of Worldwide Marketing for Neutrogena Corporation, a skin care and cosmetics company that registered phenomenal growth thru new product introductions and global partnering before being acquired by Johnson & Johnson. J&J acquired Neutrogena for a significant premium after determining that, while it could certainly replicate the products, it could not replicate the strength of the Neutrogena brand.
Rowland has a BBA from Loyola University (where he graduated Alpha Sigma Nu; Jesuit Honors Society) and an MBA from Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania (where he graduated on the Director’s List of Distinction).
For more information on Rowland’s background see these links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rowlandh
https://www.superiorbrandstrategy.com
Jon Halliday
Co-Founder & Partner
Jon has a 28 year career in the IT and service management industry having worked for DHL and Morgan Stanley at a senior management level before starting his own IT services and digital marketing business in 2008. His career has spanned a number of different technology, development, project and programme management and data modelling disciplines culminating in his work within several different regulated financial services and telecoms industries.
He has a wealth of experience working with both SME and Enterprise businesses and solutions managing several multi-million pound projects delivering global IT solutions across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.
For the last 7 years he has also worked within the financial and insurance industry helping to build processes and procedures required for compliance teams to meet requirements and operate in the regulated financial services industry.
Jon has a Degree in Software Engineering and Post Graduate degree in Advanced Computer Science and IT Management from MMU and has also achieved a qualification in teaching in further education. He has run classes teaching IT skills to adults. Historically and has been a member of StemNET, an organisation that aims to bring Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics skills into the classroom and to help better prepare teachers in these subjects, he also gives regular talks about the essentials and importance of IT security to none technical groups.
He is a Professional Member of the British Computer Society and the Chartered Institute of Information Security and is a practitioner of itSMF within the UK which is based on the ITIL framework. He is also a registered Microsoft Partner in his IT business.
Gabriel O'Ciarba
Co-Founder & Partner
Gabriel has a classic blue chip graduate training background having worked for multiple global blue-chip companies in communications and consumer goods industries. He has extensive background in renewable energy and financial service solutions. He has project managed and delivered multiple battery storage, solar, off-grid and micro-grid energy solutions over a number of years and across a number of continents.
He has experience working in various industries within Africa, mainland Europe and United States including in the telecommunications industry where he was an instrumental part of the team that introduced mobile consumer tariffs in the United Kingdom.
Gabriel is a founding partner of one the top 3 construction insurance providers within the UK with responsibility for the insurer relationships and technical and compliance teams. Having built these teams from scratch and is well versed in all aspects of the insurance industry and has helped to shape the landscape in this specialist insurance market within the UK.