CEO & Executive Leadership

Senior leadership when you need it

Sean Wilson provides full-time, fractional and interim CEO and COO leadership to businesses navigating growth, transformation, turnaround, restructuring or significant change.

With more than 20 years of executive experience, including more than a decade in board-appointed CEO and MD roles and Group Executive positions across operations, commercial, technology and product, Sean brings experienced executive leadership without necessarily requiring a permanent executive appointment.

His approach is practical and outcome focused. He works with owners, founders, boards and leadership teams to understand the business, identify what is holding it back, establish clear priorities and lead the people and execution required to deliver measurable results.

Experienced leadership without the permanent overhead

Not every business needs a permanent CEO or COO.

Sometimes a business needs experienced executive leadership for a defined period. It may be scaling rapidly, preparing for its next stage of growth, going through a leadership transition, experiencing operational or commercial challenges, or undertaking a major transformation.

Sean can step into the business at the level and intensity required.

That might mean one or two days a week as a fractional CEO or COO, a more intensive engagement during a period of change, or a full-time executive appointment with responsibility for leading the business and delivering its next stage of growth.

The objective is not to create another layer of management.

It is to create clarity, accountability and momentum.

Where Sean can add value

Sean works across the commercial and operational parts of a business, connecting strategy, people, systems, technology and data to improve performance and create sustainable value.

His experience includes:

• CEO / COO leadership during periods of growth, transition or change

• Business strategy and execution, translating strategy into practical priorities, accountabilities and action

• Operational improvement, mapping processes and SOPs, removing inefficiencies and improving how work gets done

• Sales and commercial performance, including go-to-market strategy, sales structures, pipelines, pricing and revenue growth

• Turnaround and performance improvement, identifying the issues affecting profitability and leading the changes required

• Organisational design and leadership, establishing the right structures, capabilities and accountability

• Technology, systems and data, improving the infrastructure that supports decision-making and operational performance

• Transformation and change, bringing people, processes and systems together around clear business outcomes

• M&A and integration, supporting acquisition integration, organisational alignment and operational consolidation

• Board and governance support, providing clear reporting, commercial insight and executive accountability

• Founder and owner support, providing an experienced executive perspective while keeping the owner in control of the business

Practical experience. Proven results.

Sean's experience spans start-ups, scale-ups, large corporates, industry bodies, government and not-for-profit organisations.

He has held responsibility for P&Ls of up to $89 million, led 300+ people across 50+ sites, managed businesses serving 50,000+ members and 60,000+ SaaS users, and worked with thousands of B2B and B2G customers.

His career includes turning loss-making operations profitable, doubling revenue and profit, delivering significant enterprise value uplift, integrating acquisitions and building businesses towards successful exits.

At HIA, Sean led the national commercial operation of an $85m+ business, bringing together a geographically dispersed workforce across 23 sites into a more integrated national operating model.

At Zonda Global, he led a transformation that moved the business from losses to 34% gross profit within nine months.

At Sensis, part of Telstra, Sean held National Sales Director responsibility within a $1.8bn+ advertising group and established a new national government sales capability.

These experiences have given Sean a strong understanding of what happens between a strategy being agreed and results actually being delivered.

That is where he adds significant value.

Flexible engagement models

Every business is different, so the role can be structured around what the business actually needs.

Fractional CEO / COO

Experienced executive leadership for businesses that need senior capability but do not require a permanent full-time appointment.

Interim CEO / COO

Executive leadership during periods of transition, leadership change, turnaround, restructuring or transformation.

Full-Time CEO / COO

Full executive responsibility for businesses seeking experienced leadership to drive their next stage of growth, performance or change.

Defined Transformation Engagement

Senior executive leadership for a specific business challenge, from diagnosis and planning through to implementation and measurable outcomes.

From strategy to execution

Sean is not a consultant who delivers a report and walks away.

He works inside the business, alongside its people and leadership team, to help turn strategy into execution.

That means asking the difficult questions, getting into the detail when required, establishing priorities, improving accountability and making sure the agreed strategy translates into action.

Some businesses need a CEO.

Some need a COO.

Some need an experienced executive who can move between the two.

Sean's role is to provide the leadership the business needs now, with the flexibility to change as the business changes.

Experienced leadership. Practical execution. Measurable outcomes.

For owners, founders, boards and leadership teams facing a period of growth, change, underperformance or opportunity, Sean Wilson provides experienced CEO and COO leadership designed around the needs of the business.

Full Time. Fractional. Interim. Outcome focused.