Turn AI activity
into business results.
After 25+ years running businesses -- including CEO roles at eBay, Ola Rideshare and Woolworths-backed PetCulture -- I now help CEOs turn AI into clearer priorities, faster execution and measurable business results.
Most AI advice comes from people who have never had to live with the consequences of their recommendations. I have.
In my most recent CEO role, a four-person head-office team used AI across territory and site analysis, financial modelling, sales, training and operating systems as we scaled from 12 to 31 studios in eight months. System-wide sales grew 130% over the period. AI wasn't the sole cause of that growth, but it gave a very small team substantially more operating leverage.
The problem is rarely a shortage of AI activity. It is knowing which of it matters.
There are licences, pilots, individual experiments, vendor proposals and dozens of possible use cases. But it is often unclear which will materially improve revenue, cost, capacity or customer outcomes.
I work alongside the CEO and leadership team to find the opportunities worth pursuing, get them into execution and measure what actually changed.
“Simon worked closely with me and my team to help us build the confidence and an enterprise-ready approach to AI that we were missing on our own. He translated a lot of noise and hype into something practical we could actually act on, without losing sight of the risks that come with moving fast.”
Find the value.
Strategy, prioritisation and commercial case. Work out where AI can materially improve revenue, cost, capacity or customer outcomes.
Get it moving.
Implementation, ownership and practical problem-solving. Choose the few opportunities that matter and get them into execution with internal owners.
Make it stick.
Leadership capability, measurement and operating rhythm. Track what changed and build the capability to keep going.
- Independent. No software to sell.
- Senior operator. No junior consulting team.
- Business results first. Technology second.
Where can AI materially change the economics of the business?
Which opportunities deserve senior attention -- and which are distractions?
Should we buy, configure, automate or build?
Who owns delivery, and how will we know whether it worked?
Sometimes that starts with strategy. Often it starts with a messy workflow, a promising experiment or a leadership team with too many possible use cases. The point is to get quickly from AI as a topic to a small number of decisions and actions that matter.
- 2025–Founder & PrincipalCalibre AI
- 2025–26Chief Executive OfficerJoy In Movement
- 2021–23CEO, PetCultureWoolworths Group
- 2018–20CEO ANZ → Head of InternationalOla Rideshare
- 2013–16Non-Executive DirectorSportsbet
- 2000–08CEO & VP, ANZeBay
- 1989–98Business Analyst → Engagement ManagerMcKinsey & Company
25+ years carrying a P&L · McKinsey alumnus · INSEAD MBA
Doing plenty with AI,
but not seeing enough value?
Bring the question; I’ll bring an opinion. If it looks like something I can help with, we’ll work out the next step.