Ian Wood

Current

• Consultant at Ian Wood Technology Advisory

Past

• Technology Director, Disney Mobile at Walt Disney Internet Group
• Consultant at Palace Ventures, Ltd. (plus others)
• CTO & Founder at Empower Interactive Group, Ltd.

• Technical Director, TWI Interactive at IMG

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Education

• New York University

Recommended

6 people have recommended Ian

Connections

267 connections

Industry

Wireless

Websites

• Resume / CV
• My Website

Ian Wood’s Summary

15 years of internet and mobile product innovation, design and delivery:

- Started a successful mobile messaging product company
- Conceived, designed and managed the delivery of internet and mobile products sold to top tier clients in multi-million dollar deals.
- Invented three patented technologies for mobile products.
- Designed and managed the delivery of mobile data products and infrastructure for a full-service mobile network operator.
- Designed three award winning mobile products.

Ian Wood’s Specialties:

- Conceiving unique internet and mobile product ideas and evolving existing product features.
- Managing product lifecycles, development teams, vendors, and delivery schedules.
- Evangelizing product technology to customers and investors.
- Extensive international work experience in US, Europe, and Asia.

Ian Wood’s Experience

• Consultant

  Ian Wood Technology Advisory

  (Wireless industry)

  2008 — Present (1 year)

  Currently consults on a number of mobile application projects in Los Angeles and internationally. Most recently worked on the development of two mobile social networking strategies and the design and development of a mobile advertising platform.

• Technology Director, Disney Mobile

  Walt Disney Internet Group

  (Public Company; DIS; Wireless industry)

  2005 — 2007 (2 years)

  Conceived, designed and evolved the mobile product and platform technologies core to Disney's MVNO offering. Designed significant portions of the technology architecture and managed multiple vendor deliveries leading up to the June 2006 launch. Thereafter, developed concepts and managed the design and delivery of several new products:
  
  * A family prepaid mobile service.
  * A mid-tier multimedia handset.
  * A handset activation service.
  * Rich media entertainment services.
  * An enhanced call control service.
  
  Disney Mobile won the 2007 Andrew Seybold Choice Award for the Most Innovative New Service by a Wireless Operator or MVNO.

• Consultant

  Palace Ventures, Ltd. (plus others)

  (Venture Capital & Private Equity industry)

  2003 — 2006 (3 years)

  Worked as a consultant on four major projects:
  
  * The creation of mobile content marketing, discovery and delivery strategies for UK media and publishing companies.
  
  * The design, delivery, and business development for an interactive mobile video dating product launched by mobile operator “3” in the UK in 2005. The Dateline Mobile product won Best Lifestyle/Community Application Award at MIPCOM that year.
  
  * The design, delivery, and business development of a suite of mobile gambling games for YooMedia, plc. distributed under the PlayWizard brand by Carphone Warehouse in the UK.
  
  * The development of a mobile investment strategy for Palace Ventures, Ltd., an FSA (UK) regulated investment fund that focuses on early stage mobile technology companies which deliver industry specific vertically-oriented mobile solutions.

• CTO & Founder

  Empower Interactive Group, Ltd.

  (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Telecommunications industry)

  1999 — 2003 (4 years)

  Founded Empower Interactive, a mobile product company employing over 150 people and delivering messaging solutions to tier 1 mobile operator worldwide. Was the principal visionary behind the product strategy. Responsible for 3 patents (WO 03/069924, WO 03/027872, WO 03/001819). Conceived and architected sophisticated messaging solutions that are now in use by Orange, SMART, Wind, StarHub, Telkomsel and others. Created and designed the MDP (Message Delivery Platform) product which in its largest installation processes 6,000 SMS per second. Evangelized product strategy to help raise over $20m in funding from private equity investors. Empower was ranked a UK Top 100 Technology Growth Company in The Sunday Times for three years (2003-2005) and a Tornado Insider Top 100 European Company in 2005. In 2006, Empower was bought by eServGlobal, a London Stock Exchange listed (symbol: ESG) provider of global carrier solutions.

• Technical Director, TWI Interactive

  IMG

  (Privately Held; Sports industry)

  1997 — 2000 (3 years)

  Worked with top sporting brands including Manchester United, FC Barcelona, Wimbledon, British Open, and the PGA European Tour to deliver industry leading immersive web experiences. Worked closely with TWI’s customers to architect, design and manage the delivery of solutions that bring the Internet as close as possible to the sporting action. Leveraged TWI’s media production capabilities to help break new ground in delivering broadcast content and multimedia to the Internet well before the advent of broadband content. Architected solutions to provide original content video feeds, real-time photo feeds, play by play event coverage, and real-time SMS alerts.

Ian Wood’s Education

• New York University

  Computer Science 1989 — 1992

Additional Information

Ian Wood’s Websites:

• Resume / CV
• My Website

Ian Wood’s Groups:

•    Telecom Professionals
•    Disney Mobile Alumni
•    Wireless Jobs
•    Mobilists (Innovators in mobile industry - 3900+ members)

Ian Wood’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• job inquiries
• expertise requests
• business deals
• reference requests
• getting back in touch