Working together to be World Class
O U R T E A M
With decades of experience owning and running businesses as well as in consulting, we bring practical expertise to everything we do
HUGH O'DONNELL
High Performance Consortium Pty Ltd
Hugh is an accomplished business leader with an impressive business improvement track record as both a General Manager, Facilitator and Business Coach. Prior to consulting he held senior leadership roles in Europe, USA and Australia with AMCOR, UpRight, Searle and Yves Rocher. With full P&L responsibility he led business transformations across multiple sites delivering sustainable top and bottom line growth. Hugh is also co-founder of the High Performance Consortium, a community of non-competing companies who work together to accelerate and sustain their business improvement activities as they strive for world class.
As a consultant, Hugh works with organisations to improve business performance taking a whole of business perspective. This is achieved through a practical customised approach, blending facilitation, coaching and action learning to deliver strategic improvement. This supports the development of an in-house capability to continuously improve the business in alignment with the strategic objectives. Hugh has worked for over 25 years applying the latest improvement methodologies such as Lean and World Class by Principles, generating sustainable bottom line results.
Hugh works with both large corporate and medium size businesses across a variety of sectors including manufacturing, construction and service. Amongst his current and past clients are AMCOR, AME Systems, Volgren, PPG Industries, AMCOL Inc., PMP, Gekko Systems, Ductmakers and Life Saving Victoria.
Hugh is a director of the High Performance Consortium and VTO Coaching and Consulting. He is a past board member of the Association of Manufacturing Excellence and has also facilitated Leadership Development Programs at Melbourne Mount Eliza Business School. He is an international speaker on business improvement and business excellence and has presented at conferences in Australia and North America.
STEVE CAREY
High Performance Consortium Pty Ltd
Steve is a business owner with experience in the media industry in the UK and here in Australia. He is a Facilitator and Business Coach, and a member of The Network of Consulting Professionals. He is a Cambian ValueBuilder mentor as well as an expert group facilitator of strategy sessions. Steve has more than thirty years’ experience as a senior executive and consultant. Prior to consulting, he was Publishing Director of ACP Magazines (part of CPH) and other publishing companies in the UK. More recently he was CEO of a Registered Training Organisation specialising in healthcare. His strong listening skills and ability to think outside the square, along with his easy-going style, make him a pleasure to work with. Steve is particularly good at helping business leaders to simplify and translate complex matters into clear, actionable solutions. Steve has also worked in industries such as distribution, legal and professional services, manufacturing and retail. He is a member of The NCP and has co-authored two business books.
NATASCIA GIRARDI
Senior Associate
Natascia has a 25-year track record of identifying and delivering customer value in continuous manufacturing process environments. Through leading and coaching people and successfully facilitating cross functional teams Natascia helps deliver sustainable innovative customer solutions and improved business performance.
An experienced relationship manager with a demonstrated ability to understand the customer's needs, Natascia's adaptive communication style allows her to work with shop floor staff through to CEOs to repeatedly influence, implement change and drive business improvement projects to completion.Â
Stakeholders have included Amcor, Jayco, Volgren, Gekko Systems, Gason, CCA, Chobani, Meredith Dairy, Loving Earth and Moondarra Cheese. Experience includes Lead Facilitator and Coaching roles that challenge current business capabilities and focus on business strategy development and deployment to improve productivity and competitiveness, resulting in best in class manufacturing, increased business capability and creation of new jobs.
MIKE HARLEY
Senior Associate
With more than 25 years leadership experience in general management, global and domestic marketing, strategy and innovation across multiple FMCG categories, Mike has worked for leading Fast Moving Consumer Goods Companies in Australasia, Asia, Latin America and Europe.
Over the last 5years his consulting roles have spanned working with large industry bodies such as Dairy Australia, MLA and Wine Australia to very small start-ups like The Healthy Grain (BARLEYmax®) and Meredith Dairies, Food & Beverage businesses like Simplot and B2B organisations like Box Corporate (The Fruit Box). The underlying approach is to focus on and gain deep insight into a particular business/ brand challenge and use those insights to align people behind a clear strategy and its execution.
Prior to consulting Mike held a number of Executive Leadership roles at National Foods (now part of Lion), the largest Consumer Dairy & Juice business in Australia, Fonterra, one of the world's largest dairy companies and Reckitt Benckiser in Spain, France, the UK and New Zealand.
Mike is also a Graduate of The Australian Institute of Company Directors and Non-Executive Director of Sports Dietitians Australia
MARK RIGONI
Senior Associate
Mark held senior positions in technology businesses ranging from, Operations, Project and General management for medium sized global businesses. He was also Program Director/Project Management for multi-national businesses, delivering signalling and rolling-stock technology products to the rail industry.
In 2012, Mark left Invensys Rail when he was approached by a medium sized business wanting to grow and diversify their business by introducing their own products in the prime mover market. He later founded LER Systems, providing commercialisation services to other businesses via the Federal Governments experienced executive initiative. Mark assists businesses develop and deliver their commercialisation and growth strategies as well as developing his own technology products in collaboration with others.Â
His diverse background and hands on approach enables him to work effectively with both start-ups and multinationals. He also manages large complex projects for multinational clients.