Tag: leadership

Ronan Dunne – Strategic Advisor

An Irish‑born telecom veteran, Ronan Dunne spent eight years as CEO of Telefónica UK (O2), then moved to the US to run Verizon’s $80‑billion‑revenue Consumer Group as Executive Vice President and Group CEO (2016‑2021). He now chairs the commercial board of Six Nations Rugby and sits on the board of Marks & Spencer, while advising a handful of high‑growth technology ventures.

Across three decades leading multi‑national operators, Ronan has steered network roll‑outs, spectrum auctions, customer‑experience overhauls and large‑scale digital transformations – experience he now brings to Norwood, sharpening our strategic focus on carrier partnerships, consumer value and disciplined growth.

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Tom O’Neill – SVP Sales, EMEA

Tom is responsible for Norwood’s sales strategy, channel ecosystem and key‑account growth across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He builds long‑term relationships with incumbent and challenger operators alike, aligning Norwood’s cognitive‑voice portfolio to the diverse regulatory and market landscapes of the region.

Bringing more than 25 years of enterprise‑communications and telco experience to the role, Tom has held senior commercial, partner‑enablement and solution‑consulting posts for both network operators and fast‑growth software vendors. He has repeatedly scaled regional sales teams, delivered complex carrier integrations and driven early‑adopter wins for disruptive voice platforms.

Tom’s passion lies in translating cutting‑edge technology into pragmatic business outcomes – helping CSPs accelerate time‑to‑revenue, differentiate their offerings and create standout customer experiences.

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Charlie Wade – SVP Sales and Global Alliances, North America

Charlie leads Norwood’s North American go‑to‑market, product localisation, and alliance strategy. He orchestrates regional sales execution while shaping the roadmap for CogVoice™ and OpenSpan™ to address carrier needs across the US and Canada.

With 38 years in telecoms and a résumé that spans Nortel, Vodafone, Rogers and Bell, Charlie blends network‑engineering depth with commercial savvy. Throughout his career he has steered multi‑million‑dollar product launches, forged Tier‑1 operator partnerships and championed cloud‑native voice transformations.

A long‑time advocate for customer‑centric innovation, Charlie is passionate about using AI to unlock new revenue streams for carriers and to deliver engaging, ultra‑reliable voice experiences to their subscribers.

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Dr John Tarrant – Non-Executive Chair

Dr Tarrant has had a forty-year career in diverse roles including in accounting and finance, the legal profession, the mining and oil and gas industries (including twenty-five years as an entrepreneur), as a legal academic and as a military lawyer in the Royal Australian Air Force.

He has served as a director of a wide range of companies in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom including listed and unlisted companies. The various companies have been active in the mining and oil and gas industries, the higher education sector and in investment activities. He has served in several roles including Managing Director, Chairperson and Chair of audit and other committees.

Dr Tarrant has a Doctor of Philosophy and a Doctor of Juridical Science, both in law, masters degrees in law and defence studies, and bachelor degrees in arts, commerce, law and science.

Dr Tarrant is a member of CPA Australia, FINSIA, The Tax Institute, the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and the New South Wales Bar Association. He is a Public Notary in New South Wales.

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Philip Otley – Non-Executive Director

Philip Otley has developed a more than thirty-year career in commercial business operations, venture creation and strategy consulting at an international level. He is expert in defining and creating strategic growth platforms and digital and data-powered business models.

He has served as Partner/Senior Executive & Pricing Strategy Practice Leader for Accenture (ACN), as Senior Partner & Global Co-lead of the Marketing Strategy Practice for Prophet, as Partner in the Digital Services practice of PwC Australia and as Senior Advisor with the growth strategy consultancy Growth Mantra.

He has founded several companies as an entrepreneur and in collaboration with larger organisations. Most recently, Mr Otley founded The Growth Advisors (Ltd) to act as a strategic growth consultancy serving blue-chip clients and selected high-growth companies globally from his base in Europe.

Mr Otley has an MBA from IMD Switzerland and a Bachelor of Arts from UWA.

Mr Otley has proven capabilities in building highly successful teams and winning market propositions, with a track record of applying balanced strategic, commercial and creative approaches to achieve organic and M&A driven growth.

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Phil Marsland – Non-Executive Director

Philip Marsland has had a thirty-five-year career covering strategic advisory, marketing and general management.

Formerly Head of Customer Marketing and Head of PostPay at Vodafone UK, he now runs his own consultancy providing strategic and management consulting to business leaders using skills he developed in senior roles at a range of top tier companies including Capital One Bank Europe plc, American Express, Virgin Active and Applied Predictive Technologies.

His more recent senior executive roles include Arrow Global Group plc (CEO UK), and Lloyds Bank (Consumer Finance Strategic Analytics Director).

Mr Marsland has an MBA (with Distinction) from INSEAD, France and a BA (Hons), MA in Physics from Oxford University.

Mr Marsland has strong commercial knowledge of business drivers that drive performance, growing both larger and smaller businesses alike.

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Stuart Usher – CFO & Company Secretary

Mr Usher is a CPA, Chartered Secretary and Chartered Governance Professional with extensive experience in the management and corporate affairs of public listed companies. He holds an MBA from the University of Western Australia and has extensive experience across many industries focusing on Corporate & Financial Management, Strategy & Planning, Mergers & Acquisitions, and Investor Relations & Corporate Governance. His experience ranges across Australia, USA, UK, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam and Hong Kong.

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Stevan Tot – SVP Sales, Asia Pacific

Steve is responsible for Norwood’s Asia Pacific Go to Market strategy, partner channels and overall sales execution in the region.

Steve has more than 30 years of international telecoms experience spanning Australia, the UK and Silicon Valley in various roles including product marketing, pre-sales solution consulting, sales & account management, Partner & Alliance management to a senior leadership level.

Steve is a former Head of Global Consulting and General Manager, ICT Channels at Telstra. He is passionate about disruptive technology that enables clients to improve their business advantage.

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Paul Ostergaard — Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Paul is the architect behind Norwood Systems’ vision: re‑imagining how carriers deliver voice by infusing networks with real‑time, cognitive AI. As CEO he shapes the company’s global strategy, builds high‑impact partnerships and drives execution that turns cutting‑edge R&D into revenue‑generating services for communication service providers on every continent.

With more than 35 years in advanced technology, Paul blends start‑up audacity with enterprise discipline. Before the current Norwood, he launched and scaled several wireless ventures, including the original, award‑winning Norwood Systems in the UK. Earlier, at 3Com Corporation, he led worldwide platform marketing for a US $1 billion switching portfolio, doubling market share to 35 % and propelling annual revenues beyond US $1.2 billion.

Paul holds a Bachelor of Electronic Engineering from the University of Western Australia and an MBA from INSEAD. His contributions to innovation have been recognised with multiple honours: one of Engineers Australia’s Top 100 Most Influential Engineers, a finalist in Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year (London), and keynote invitations to forums such as Catalyst, ETRE and the Bluetooth SIG. He is the inventor of 11 issued telecommunications patents and speaks four languages.

Relentlessly curious and future‑focused, Paul continues to push the boundaries of AI‑driven communications while mentoring the next generation of technology leaders.

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