Executive Change
Executive Change is a London-based advisory firm that curates paid advisory boards and forums connecting enterprise technology vendors with senior CIOs and CTOs to refine vendor strategy and positioning.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2004
- HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Executive Change does
Executive Change is a London-headquartered advisory services firm founded circa 2004 that curates advisory boards, focus groups, and client workshops connecting enterprise technology vendors with senior technology leaders (CIOs and CTOs). Its core product is the facilitation of structured dialogue between these two groups — testing vendor assumptions against real operational experience from executives with hands-on responsibility for business outcomes. The firm operates an "exclusive international network" of senior technology leaders who participate as unpaid advisors, with honoraria donated to charity.
The company generates revenue through professional services engagements with enterprise technology vendors, who pay for access to curated CIO/CTO insights to refine their propositions, positioning, pricing, and messaging. Pricing is bespoke and not publicly disclosed. Its three founding partners — John Harris (Managing Partner, ex-CTO of GSK and Aimia), Kevin James (Partner, ex-UK MD and Group CCO of Computacenter), and Aidan Hancock (Partner, ex-CIO of BP and Group CIO of Network Rail and Johnson Matthey) — anchor its credibility. The broader team includes a Director of Operations and an Operations Manager, for a total of five named members. The firm maintains deep, multi-year relationships with major enterprise vendors including Cisco, VMware, Oracle, DXC, Dell, HPE, IBM, Lenovo, Microsoft, and Computacenter, with partners historically serving on Global and EMEA advisory boards of these organizations.
The business is relationship-driven and high-touch, with no funding rounds, no acquisitions, no public subsidiaries, and no disclosed external ownership. Marketing is limited to a Squarespace website and peer referrals. The firm has donated over £70,000 annually to charity since 2005, reflecting sustained operational scale consistent with a small professional services boutique.
Executive Change firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Executive Change
- Legal name
- Executive Change
- Website
- https://executivechange.co.uk
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2004
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Executive Change is a London-based advisory firm that curates paid advisory boards and forums connecting enterprise technology vendors with senior CIOs and CTOs to refine vendor strategy and positioning.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Executive Change industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Technology Advisory Services
- NAICS
- Management Consulting Services (54161), Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services (541611)
- SIC
- Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Change Management & Transformation Consulting (BPAHAGAC)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Organization Design & Change Management Consulting (BPAHACAD), Executive Leadership & C-Suite Development (EDABAAAA)
Keywords
Where Executive Change is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- London
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Executive Change business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others
Revenue model
- Technology Provider Advisory Services: Executive Change generates revenue by providing advisory board services to enterprise technology vendors. Vendors engage Executive Change to access insights from senior technology leaders (CIOs/CTOs) who participate in advisory boards, focus groups, and workshops. This helps vendors understand unmet customer needs, refine propositions, positioning, pricing, and messaging.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels2 records
Executive Change product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Executive Change curates and moderates advisory boards, focus groups, and client workshops that bring enterprise technology vendors together with senior technology leaders (CIOs and CTOs). The firm helps vendors understand and respond to C-suite customers' unmet and undermet needs, emerging business problems, and upcoming strategic shifts, refining propositions, positioning, pricing, and key messaging. Senior technology leaders participate as unpaid advisors, with a small meeting fee donated to a charity of their choice.
Product overview
Executive Change offers a unified advisory services platform comprising three core products: Advisory Board, Focus Group, and Client Workshop. The Advisory Board brings together curated senior technology leaders (CIOs/CTOs) to engage in ongoing strategic conversations with technology providers. Focus Groups provide targeted discussions around specific topics. Client Workshops help teams refine their customer engagement approaches. These offerings work together to help enterprise technology vendors understand and respond to C-suite customers' unmet needs, enabling competitive advantage through deeper customer insight.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Advisory Board A curated forum bringing together senior technology leaders (CIOs/CTOs) to test vendor assumptions against real-world operational experience through structured board sessions. Designed for enterprise technology vendors seeking ongoing strategic engagement with senior buyers.
- Focus Group Targeted discussions tailored around specific questions or topics to understand how issues are interpreted in practice by expert C-suite technology buyers. Used by enterprise technology vendors to validate assumptions with senior technology leaders.
- Client Workshop Interactive sessions that help enterprise technology vendor teams adjust their questioning, positioning, and dialogue to match the real decision-making behavior of C-suite technology buyers.
- International Technology Leader Network An exclusive international network of senior technology leaders (CIOs and CTOs) who provide feedback to technology providers on propositions, positioning, pricing, and key messaging through advisory boards, focus groups, and workshops. Members participate as unpaid advisors with a small fee donated to a charity of their choice.
Quantifiable outcome
- ~$750m pa net initial benefit from digital transformation led by Partner Aidan Hancock at Rumaila oilfield, Iraq
Companies that use Executive Change
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Executive Change technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
Executive Change partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- CiscocoreJohn Harris, Managing Partner, serves on advisory boards for Cisco. Kevin James served on Cisco's Global and EMEA Partner Advisory Boards during his tenure at Computacenter. Cisco is a key technology partner whose assumptions are tested against real-world experience through Executive Change advisory forums.
- VMwarecoreJohn Harris serves on advisory boards for VMware. Kevin James served on VMware's Global and EMEA Partner Advisory Boards. VMware participates in Executive Change advisory forums to gather insights from senior technology leaders.
- OraclecoreJohn Harris serves on Oracle advisory boards. Oracle is a major cloud provider partner whose product and market strategies benefit from Executive Change's curated C-suite insights.
- DXC TechnologycoreJohn Harris serves on advisory boards for DXC. DXC is a major technology services provider partner in Executive Change's network.
- DellcoreKevin James served on Dell's Global and EMEA Partner Advisory Boards during his tenure at Computacenter. Dell participates in Executive Change advisory forums.
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)coreKevin James served on HPE's Global and EMEA Partner Advisory Boards. HPE is shown as a client partner in Executive Change's logo section on the tech providers page.
- IBMcoreKevin James served on IBM's Global and EMEA Partner Advisory Boards. IBM is a key technology partner in the Executive Change network.
- LenovocoreKevin James served on Lenovo's Global and EMEA Partner Advisory Boards. Lenovo participates in Executive Change advisory forums.
- MicrosoftcoreKevin James served on Microsoft's Global and EMEA Partner Advisory Boards. Microsoft is a major technology partner engaged through Executive Change advisory boards.
- ComputacentercoreComputacenter is shown as a client partner in Executive Change's logo section on the tech providers page. Kevin James, current Partner at Executive Change, previously served as UK Managing Director and Group CCO at Computacenter.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves4 records
Executive Change competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- TBR (Technology Business Research): Boutique technology vendor advisory firm producing benchmarking research for enterprise tech companies. Comparable customer segment (enterprise technology vendors) and similar mid-sized independent research/advisory positioning.
- Sand Hill Group: Strategic advisory firm focused on enterprise technology companies, advising on market strategy and customer engagement. Overlaps with Executive Change's vendor advisory work on positioning and go-to-market.
- HFS Research: Boutique research and advisory firm focused on IT and business services, often engaging enterprise technology vendors and CIOs. Similar mid-size independent positioning to Executive Change with comparable buyer-side access.
- Nucleus Research: Boutique research firm advising enterprise technology vendors and buyers on ROI and technology adoption. Overlaps with Executive Change on access to CIO-level buyers and vendor advisory mandates.
- Constellation Research: Boutique advisory and research firm focused on enterprise technology buyers, founded by former SAP executives. Overlaps with Executive Change on vendor-facing advisory and access to C-suite technology decision-makers.
Others
- The Channel Company: Media and events organization for the enterprise technology channel ecosystem including vendors, distributors, and resellers. Comparable enterprise technology vendor audience and indirect overlap through Computacenter-style channel partnerships.
Direct peers
- CIONET: International CIO community and advisory network that curates peer-to-peer engagement between senior technology leaders and technology providers. Directly comparable business model to Executive Change's curated advisory board and CIO forum approach.
Broad incumbents
- IDC (International Data Corporation): Global market intelligence and advisory firm for the technology industry. Comparable end-customers (enterprise technology vendors and CIOs) and overlaps with Executive Change's positioning, pricing and messaging advisory work.
- Forrester Research: Enterprise technology research and advisory firm serving both enterprise technology vendors and CIOs. Comparable customer base to Executive Change, with overlapping value proposition around helping vendors refine positioning and messaging to C-suite buyers.
- Gartner: Global enterprise technology research and advisory giant. Serves the same enterprise technology vendor buyer base as Executive Change but at massive scale, offering Magic Quadrants, advisory inquiries, and CIO events — overlapping end-customers rather than competing on a curated peer-panel model.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Executive Change social profiles
Digital presenceExecutive Change financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Executive Change leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
Executive Change funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Executive Change M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Executive Change
What does Executive Change do?
Executive Change curates and moderates advisory boards, focus groups, and client workshops that bring enterprise technology vendors together with senior technology leaders (CIOs and CTOs). The firm helps vendors understand and respond to C-suite customers' unmet and undermet needs, emerging business problems, and upcoming strategic shifts, refining propositions, positioning, pricing, and key messaging. Senior technology leaders participate as unpaid advisors, with a small meeting fee donated to a charity of their choice.
Is Executive Change a public or private company?
Executive Change is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Executive Change founded?
Executive Change was founded in 2004. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Executive Change based?
Executive Change is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Executive Change make money?
One revenue line is on record: technology Provider Advisory Services.
Who are Executive Change's main competitors?
Emerging players on record are TBR (Technology Business Research), Sand Hill Group, HFS Research, Nucleus Research and Constellation Research. The Channel Company is listed as an others. CIONET is listed as a direct peer. Broad incumbents are IDC (International Data Corporation), Forrester Research and Gartner.
Does Executive Change have an API?
No public API is recorded for Executive Change.
What industry is Executive Change in?
Executive Change's product category is Technology Advisory Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAHAGAC, Change Management & Transformation Consulting, with a secondary code of BPAHACAD, Organization Design & Change Management Consulting. Its NAICS code is 54161 and its SIC code is 8742.