Expert CTO Coaching and Deep Digital Experience
For over 30 years, I’ve led almost every function in digital businesses, including product, technology, sales, marketing, operations, strategy, and acquisitions teams.
I’ve served as CEO, CTO, COO, CGO, founder, investor, NED, Chair and more.
As a specialist coach and mentor for tech leaders, I bring all this experience and more to accelerate the growth of today's technology leaders.
As Chief Technology Officer at Open Universities Australia, I led a talent group of to modernise and strengthen our engineering culture and practices. As a result, we doubled our product teams’ value delivery to customers.
As Chief Growth Officer at Open Universities Australia, I redefined sales strategy and channels and re-platformed our sales and mar-tech stack. I also led a pivotal shift in incentives—from ‘coin-operated' to purpose-driven—which lifted employee NPS from -30 to +70. I drove the commercial transformation of our student operations to restart revenue growth after three years of decline.
As Co-Founder and CEO of health.com.au, I raised $85m and quickly grew to $120m in revenue. Customers voted health.com.au as the “most loved” insurance brand. Telstra awarded us Best Start-Up in Australia, and ACVAL named me Growth CEO of the Year.
At REA Group, I led a global growth strategy through mergers and acquisitions. We expanded into a dozen countries and increased shareholder value by 10x.
Connect with me on LinkedIn to learn more about my experience.
A personal highlight: Accepting the Telstra Business Award in front of 1500 people.
Andy is … “an energising and forward-looking leader who galvanised our engineering leadership team. We engaged more deeply with each other and product management to better align ourselves with the company's goals. We worked to build a more engaging approach to engineering principles and standards for better outcomes.
Andy is the leader that will get everyone engaged and on the right path.”
David - Tech Leader
Advanced Coaching Skills and Expertise
Coaching Expertise
Leadership development for CTOs/CIOs
Onboard and upskill new CTOs/CIOs
Develop high-potential and aspiring leaders into future C-suite executives
Help CEOs and other Execs better lead and engage their technology strategy and team
Develop top teams in tech companies
Mentoring Expertise
Modern digital business O/S: culture, practices, structure & metrics
Setting up effective product teams
Going autonomous, cross-functional
Building stronger board relationships
Fostering clarity and accountability
Creating a high-performance culture
Implementing disciplined commercial practices
Prioritising work and investment
Education and Training
MBA Melbourne Business School
Bachelor’s of Science (Industrial Engineering)
Graduate, Australian Institute of Company Directors
Certified Coach, Institute of Executive Coaching and Leadership (International Coaching Federation)
Accredited Leadership Circle Profile
Process Communication Model
“It almost seems like a magic trick.
Andy (is) a strong technologist who has a deep understanding of what it takes to create high-performing, mission-focused product and engineering teams. Time after time I have witnessed Andy build, develop, and shape such teams.”
Sanjay - Tech Leader
My CTO coaching journey
I’ve experienced the transformative power of coaching twice in my career.
Each time, coaching gave me compelling insight into why I was less effective and more unhappy than I aspired to be. Both times, coaching helped me become a better leader (and perhaps a better person).
During one of these episodes, a peer and one of my closest friends said, “When you’re at your best, you’re the best I have seen. But when you’re not, you can be the worst.” The irony was that both ends of this spectrum were driven by the same thing: a very high aspiration for our business (and perhaps myself if I'm honest).
Startup days at health.com.auWhen things were working, I was at my best. When I couldn't make them work, my certainty came through not as a compelling solution but as arrogance: "They just don't get it". In fact, they did get it; They just disagreed! Coaching helped me unlock a more productive pattern to achieve my aspiration and go home happier.
I’ve applied this coaching outlook to my management and board roles, advising and mentoring startup founders and teams. Over time, I formalised my coaching skills through training and accreditation, and as my career progressed, the time I invested in coaching others became the highlight of my week.
Eventually, I decided to focus more on the coaching and mentoring I enjoyed so much - and CTO Coach was born.
Coaching through Covid
The OUA Exec Team: I learned a lot from this groupPersonal
I grew up in Hawaii and California, places that might bring to mind endless surfing, but skiing became my true passion. My obsession with snow has shaped my life’s story in ways I never expected, from chasing winters across the globe to ultimately making Australia my home.
I studied industrial engineering at university, focusing on lean manufacturing—a hands-on way to solve problems and make things better. After graduation, I followed my ski buddies to Lake Tahoe for a season at Squaw Valley. When the snow melted, I moved to San Francisco—the nearest city with job opportunities. It was 1989, and the tech world was just starting to heat up. I started out in strategy consulting, then transitioned to Sybase, a mid-sized software company. By the mid-90s, when the Internet became “a thing,” I was helping build one of the earliest SaaS startups with some incredibly smart colleagues. That kicked off a tech career that’s spanned both small and large web businesses ever since.
Life, of course, isn’t all about work. During a year-long break between consulting and software, I found myself working in a Swiss ski village. It turned out to be a turning point—I met my future wife there. She joined me in San Francisco for a decade before we eventually moved to her hometown of Melbourne, where we’ve been ever since. Our son and daughter are now software engineers and carrying the tech torch into the next generation.
Switching from being a CTO to coaching leaders was part of a deliberate shift to realign my work with the outdoor life I've been pursuing. I wanted to prioritise the parts of my life that energise me—being outdoors, sharing ideas, and helping others succeed. Coaching has allowed me to do all three while drawing on decades of experience in strategy, technology, and leadership.
When I’m not coaching, I’m likely outdoors. In the winter, I’m exploring the backcountry around Mt. Hotham. In the summer, you’ll find me on my mountain bike or dreaming about skiing in Japan.
Ready to take your leadership to the next level? Let’s connect!
Get in touch and start the conversation.
