THE FACULTY

The Faculty of the Ausso Leadership Academy consists of domain experts with enviable track records and considerable years of practice. Above all, they have a shared motivation and a burning desire to impart their knowledge and experience in mentoring the next generation of business leaders.

Austin is the Founder of CWG Plc and the Ausso Leadership Academy. He has an MBA from IESE Business School, and over 25 years entrepreneurial experience. Currently an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Columbia Business School, New York, he has also been appointed to the Advisory Board of the Global Business School Network in Washington DC in recognition of his major contribution to the development of business education and knowledge transfer in Africa.

Austin has taught at the United States International University (USIU) in Kenya, and has served as a Consultant to the Sustainable Development Goals, African Center (SDGAC) in Rwanda. Austin is a Non-Executive Director at Globus Bank and serves on the Board of Trustees of the Risk Management Association of Nigeria (RIMAN).

Austin was recognized with a Lifetime Entrepreneurship Achievement Award by the American University of Nigeria in 2017 for his outstanding entrepreneurial accomplishments. He received the Nigerian Computer Society Special Presidential Award in 2016, and was named ICT Personality of the year by the Society in 2014.

He was also named ICT Man of the Decade by ICT Watch – Africa Digital Network in 2012 and was listed on the United Kingdom’s C.Hub Magazine 100 Most Influential Creatives in 2016. He was named among 100 Leading Telecoms & ICT Personalities in Nigeria by the Association of Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ATCON) in July 2018. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Directors of Nigeria.

Further afield Austin is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council. The company that he founded CWG Plc, has been recognized as a ‘Global Growth Company’ by the World Economic Forum and is the largest security listed in the Technology Sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Chris is a trusted advisor to the C-suite with a track record of consulting in strategy development & execution, behavioural alignment, performance and digital development.  He has recently led a practice to ensure that his clients’ learning is delivering the business strategy and that it is delivered in the most inspiring, blended, digital and relevant ways possible.

After graduating from Cambridge, Chris spent time in the British military before a long career on the commercial side of Diageo where he led a large regional salesforce and was sales development director responsible for driving capability and talent development.

Starting in 2007, Chris built the Africa practice of a global management consulting firm into a significant business focused on creating strategy then implementing it to deliver sustainable growth for large organisations. In this role over the next ten years, he led and delivered a variety of projects including: developing the strategy and driving the subsequent three-year implementation for a pan African insurer; partnering with the CEO to take KCB from no 3 to no 1 bank in East Africa in 5 years; supporting a US Retailer in the biggest organisational change programme in corporate US history; and working alongside Austin Okere and his team to take CWG from a Nigerian to pan African player listed on the NSE.

Chris specialises in driving the commercial agenda with his clients, developing new markets, and building organisations and talent.

Ayo is the Executive Vice Chairman of Regus in Nigeria. He has held this position since November 2016 when he merged his Regus franchise operations with its global operations. Before November 2016, he had operated his Regus franchise from 2007 to 2016 covering operations in Nigeria and Ghana, with locations in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Accra.

He has over two decades of investment experience in West African markets, managing business interests across E-commerce, oil & gas, IT and financial advisory Services. He began his career with Price Waterhouse and worked in value management & audit roles with Milk Marketing Board and Milk Marque Ltd. He was also a change management consultant for over five years, working with companies such as Ryder Plc and British Airways.

Ayo serves on the board of several businesses including Mallforafrica, Frontier Capital, Savant Integrated Services Ltd, Doheney Services Ltd, Saro AgroSciences Ltd, Blueprint Business Technologies Ltd amongst others.

Barry has many years of experience helping C-Suite teams globally to develop and execute corporate and business unit strategies to maximise competitive advantage and create value for all stakeholders. His particular focus is on creating corporate processes that enable management teams to operate effectively and rapidly in changing environments.

After gaining first class degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Chemical Engineering from Cambridge University, Barry’s early career was with The Boston Consulting Group, which he joined in Boston after gaining a Baker Scholarship and MBA from Harvard Business School. He was then part of the team that established BCG’s London office in the early 1970’s, where he became a Director. He later founded his own international strategy, financial consulting and private equity firm Braxton Associates. This later became the global strategy practice of Deloitte Consulting. As Chief Executive Barry grew this to around 1000 consultants operating from over 20 offices worldwide..

Barry has worked extensively on all continents in a wide range of businesses from industrial manufacturing to consumer goods and retailing, from banking to insurance, and from large corporates to technology-based start-ups. He has wide-ranging experience in scenario-based strategy development, working on this extensively with Shell and also large service firms and banks.

Barry returned to Cambridge University in 2000 and as a College Fellow combines teaching strategy at the Judge Business School with his role as an active Chair of Dialectyx, helping senior management teams develop “Fast Strategy” business solutions using innovative experiential learning processes.

Andy is an experienced practitioner, advisor and facilitator working with senior executives and teams across global corporates, international organisations and governments. His specialist focus is in designing and delivering a wide range of business acumen programmes to support organisational transformation.

After gaining a degree in Managerial and Administrative studies at The University of Aston in Birmingham he went on to qualify as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen where he focussed on corporate advisory work for banks and international organisations.

Andy was a Director with Operational, Consulting and Delivery responsibility for 15 years at Oxford Analytica – whose mission is to “enable the leading organisations and governments of the world to navigate complex macro environments”. Andy jointly led the Company’s Advisory and Conference & Event businesses in delivering its services on a global basis across its client base.

Andy joined The Institute for Fiscal Studies – whose goal is to “promote effective economic and social policies by better understanding how policies affect the micro environment: individuals, families, businesses and the government’s finances” – as COO for 2 years to lead operational  transformation.

Andy is a Director and Senior Consultant at Dialectyx designing and delivering Business Acumen programmes. Andy is also a lecturer and guest speaker at numerous leading academic institutions including CASS Business School, De Montfort University and University of Hertfordshire.

Yomi is the West Africa Tax Leader at Deloitte. He is an alumnus of The University of Manchester (UK) and Fellow of both the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN).

He has distinguished himself as a seasoned advisor on tax and fiscal policy issues with extensive experience in various specialized tax projects. He has led several strategic tax services covering business tax, employment tax, international tax, transfer pricing, transaction tax, tax dispute resolution, tax strategy and risks, tax structuring and tax optimisation solutions.

Yomi has built an expansive network of relationships with international and national clients, regulatory authorities and industry leading voices. He is a member of the Board of Tax & Fiscal Policy Faculty of ICAN, Board Member of Indirect Tax Faculty of CITN and regular speaker at local and international conferences.