Zanerva's Partner Consultants are a group of distinguished trainers, speakers and experts
who work with us on various projects across Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
Below are a few of our distinguished Partner Consultants.
For the complete list, please drop us a line at
CHRIS AARONS
Email: chris@zanerva.com
When Chris Aarons left Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) to start his own company — people actually blogged about it.
The reason is because Chris is a seasoned marketing and public relations professional who is breaking ground at the intersection where corporate communications and social media meet. In 2007 Chris founded Ivy Worldwide (formerly known as Buzz Corps), a hands-on word-of mouth, social media and influencer marketing consultancy. The launch of this new endeavor was met in the blogging community with deep anticipation and praise.
When Chris was still working with AMD, he launched a successful social media program for the company’s customers. The success of this endeavor quickly defined best practices in the world of blogging and media relations. After leaving AMD and forming his own company, Chris was engaged by Hewlett Packard to help market one of their line of notebooks. 31 Days of the Dragon was a marketing campaign that Ivy Worldwide created for HP. Sales of the HP HDX Dragon Entertainment Notebook doubled afterwards. HP and Buzz Corps did not make any print or TV commercials. They did not create any marketing content. They did not even build a website. They paid no one to sponsor or blog about the product.
Ivy Worldwide has earned recognition from WOMMA as a WOMMIE award recipient. The company’s creative Social Media campaign was also a finalist for ad:tech’s Limelight Award for Best Social Media Marketing and WOM campaign. An innovator with more than seventeen years experience he has created and implemented powerhouse programs in a variety of professional settings. From international PR agencies to Fortune 500 companies, Chris is the quintessential "go-to" guy in strategic new media communications that require the highest level of creativity and knowledge.
With his in-depth knowledge of online communities and influencers, Chris has successfully tackled challenges for other industry-leading companies including Dolby Laboratories, Philips Electronics and Kodak. Chris also served in organizations including Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Central Texas and the City of Round Rock, Texas . He earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Nevada-Reno and later earned an MBA from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. He has facilitated many group programs for clients, spoken at industry group events and is currently a teacher and serves as a guest lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin on Word-of-Mouth and Marketing.
DAVID BAUMANN
One of David’s favorite projects was a proprietary commercial project with a financial organization that invested and developed in a technology that was capable of storing massive amounts of files and data. The problem was that the creation and maintenance of this technology was costing a huge amount of money – at a time when the company needed to save. David was able to negotiate a deal wherein vendors shouldered the cost of development and maintenance of this technology for the client.
David is the Senior Vice President and General Counsel of TechNexxus and a Partner in Technology Law Partners. He specializes in technology transactions, value management programs, IT and business process outsourcing, as well as communications, intellectual property, media law, social commerce and Green IT matters. TechNexxus is a consulting company that has worked with 70% of the Fortune 100 companies in the US. He is one of the founding partners, Vice President and General Counsel of the Technology Partners International (TPI) which is currently the largest IT and business process outsourcing consultancy company – having over 650 consultants worldwide.
He worked with Ford (actually he worked with all the major car manufacturers in the US) when they wanted to carry out a large application outsourcing deal spanning Germany, US and India that dramatically cut costs for their operations. He also worked with General Motors when they developed an accelerated solution center whose aim was to reorganize their approach to applications to save with vendors and part acquisition. David also worked with a major broadcasting company in the US when they wanted to develop mobile applications but didn’t want to spend the money for it. How they were able to get other software developers and other mobile companies such as Nokia, Siemens and NTT Docomo to do it for them is also one of his major achievements. He also worked with India on a USD 25 billion build-out of its wireless-in-local-loop telecommunications system that helped bring wireless and broadband connectivity to millions of people while helping the local government and the company that won the contract cut costs.
David has sourced and closed over $450 billion in transactions using a wide range of outsourcing and procurement strategies. He also has experience implementing commercial-off-the-shelf contract and spend management solutions (ex: Ariba, SAP, Oracle, IBM, Capterra). Yet aside from that he has designed, built and implemented enhanced contract and spent management solutions, including robust contract assembly and management tools, workflow capabilities and analytics using inexpensive, free and OpenSource software components.
MIKE CHAPMAN
Find him on Twitter and read his thoughts. Mike has two decades of experience in both communication and digital grassroots campaigns. He started his career in the competitive and hard selling world of political campaigns. This took him to Capitol Hill in Washington DC where he worked as a legislative and communications professional staff member to the late Congressman J.J. “Jake” Pickle, and also to current US Senator Tim Johnson, both of whom were Democrats. After leaving the political scene, Mike worked in marketing and communications for the National Association of American Realtors, The American Medical Association and the Texas State University.
After his stint in the public and private sector, Mike decided to plunge completely into Social Media by co-founding the Austin Media Social Club . He then co-established the International Social Media Club and became Principal and co-founder of Every Dot Connects — a social media consortium. Mike also received a Texas Social Media award which recognized him as one of the top social media users in Texas by the Austin American-Statesman.
Mike combines his experience with traditional media and marketing strategies, with a vast knowledge of the New Media. This gives him a unique capability to teach an organization how to analyze their current situation, prepare for future innovations, and effectively adapt their marketing and communications strategies in the face of massive demographic and global challenges. His expertise spans digital and social media strategy and communications, blogging and blogger relations, public relations, public affairs and conversational marketing.
LEON GRANDY
He is an Executive Director for Armillary Private Capital in New Zealand which specializes in investment banking, fund management, corporate finance and treasury consultancy. Since 2002, he has been working on projects that range from financial analysis and modeling, measuring business performance and shareholder value and ensuring the maximization of sustainable profit and liquidity. Leon and Armillary also work with both large corporations and government bodies in New Zealand on issues dealing with strategy and business planning while offering support to senior management boards on corporate governance. Armillary's strength also lies on its capital raising experiences, with a strong focus on structuring and delivering debt, equity and structured trade finance solutions to organizations.
Prior to joining Armillary, Leon’s experience includes involvement in structured trade finance, corporate banking, general management and training and development with ABN AMRO, AXA, HSBC and Westpac New Zealand. In HSBC he led the Trade Finance and Commercial Lending businesses and was the industry analyst in New Zealand for the primary industries exposure along with being a Corporate Banking Manager. While still in HSBC, he advised a major multinational pharmaceutical company on treasury policy and worked on a treasury risk project for the bank. Upon joining AXA, he was appointed as the Head of Lending and served on AXA New Zealand’s Executive Committee. He was in the team that reviewed AXA’s lending operations and in the space of two years was amongst those that turned the business from an economic loss to an economic profit and made it saleable in the third year at a premium book value. When he moved to ABN AMRO he assumed the role of Head of Trade Finance where he advised importers on FX policy and issues. To this day, he still advises exporter clients at MP Capital on FX Policy.
Leon has a BA from Victoria University and a Post Graduate Diploma in banking from Massey University. He is also a Fellow of the Australasian institute of Banking and finance.
GEOFF NELSON
When Chris Aarons talked about starting a company that would spread the principles of Word of Mouth marketing thorough the New Media, Geoff joined in and became co-founder of Buzz Corps Inc. now known as Ivy Worldwide. Together they created a company that is a hands-on word of mouth, social media and influencer marketing consultancy. The launch of this new endeavor was met in the blogging community with deep anticipation and praise.
In addition to his in-depth knowledge of online communities and influencers, Geoff has an impeccable track record in solving complex marketing communications challenges for top tier companies. These companies include HP, Motorola, Dell Pervasive Technologies, Vignette, i2 Technologies, IBM, Tracor among others.
Geoff is a marketing professional with more than nineteen years of experience in brand programs both online and offline, measurement and analysis, business development, project management, integrated communications and much more. He also loves to teach as he is an adjunct professor at the Texas State University offering a course on creative strategy.
SIMON THOMAS
Simon is the founder and Managing Director of The Employer Reputation Company and is an expert on Recruitment Communications and Advertising, Employer Value Proposition Creation, Employee Retention, Employer Branding and Brand Management, Internal Communications, Corporate Reputation Management and Stakeholder Research.
Prior to forming The Employer Reputation Company, he was the Managing Director TCS Wilmslow, one of the most respected creative and digital recruitment communication agencies in the UK. Before coming on board TCS, he rose up the ranks to become the Agency Board Director for SMRS Ltd which is one of the top 15 UK recruitment communications company.
Simon was also a practitioner so he understands what it feels like to recruit and manage talent. He used to be the Global Recruitment Advertising Account Director for Bupa and Thomas Cook. Even during his time in SMRS he handled clients such as the Gala Group, MBNA, MyTravel and Staffordshire University for their recruitment needs. He also worked on projects involving Orange’s Graduate Program, Gregg’s UK and the MI6 most popularly known as the British Secret Service. Simon has an MBA from the Manchester Business School.
