Simon Hill

Vice-President at iPD Partners LLC

Greater Denver Area

Current
  • Vice-President at iPD Partners LLC
Past
  • VP of Web Business Innovation at SpireMedia, Inc.
  • President at InfoQual, Inc.
  • Senior Management Consultant at Developmental Consulting, Inc.

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Education
  • London University (UCL) (PhD program)
  • Oxford University (MA)
  • Oxford University (BA)
Recommended
Simon has 3 recommendation(s) 3 people have recommended Simon
Connections
162 connections
Industry
Internet
Websites

Simon Hill’s Summary

Internet-product development practitioner, consultant, and manager for 12 years; for over forty websites and mobile applications; for Fortune 1000 companies and start ups.

Developing the Online Organization: My work has included developing successful consulting, design, and engagement-management services and business-development strategies for the Internet design-and-development industry. Hired, trained, and managed teams of project managers, business analysts, information architects/UI designers, and graphic designers. I have also developed a specialty in software project-management beyond Agile, and in rescuing large, troubled software projects.

Innovation in Methods, Processes, & Tools: Developed industry-leading methodologies and tools for planning, designing, prototyping, managing, and testing websites, online software, and mobile applications, in use in several Internet design firms, including the mobile-web consumer-products R&D unit of Vodafone. I pioneered some early uses of UML for large-scale web-software business-modeling in the late 1990s in the UK.

Design Innovation: I am also an accomplished "value-centric" product manager, "user-centered" user-interface (UI) designer, information architect, and business analyst, and have performed innovative and award-winning work for clients in over twenty-five industries.

In recognition of my work, I was awarded a Denver Business Journal 2008 Top 40 Under Forty 2008 award, and am an occasional guest columnist and speaker at national and local conferences on strategy for web business, process methodologies, and user-interface design. I have conducted many workshops for clients on all aspects of planning, innovation, design, and development of websites and mobile applications.

Simon Hill’s Specialties:

Web & mobile application design, development, & management; information architecture; web-technology strategy; business analysis; user-interface & interaction design, usability & human-factor assessments of new media

Business planning & launching, stakeholder & market analysis, engagement/account management, project management, organizational structure & design, virtual collaboration tools, process improvement for online-product R&D, marketing, sales, & support

Simon Hill’s Experience

  • Vice-President

    iPD Partners LLC

    (Partnership; Internet industry)

    August 2009 — Present (4 months)

    iPD Partners LLC offers clients the full range of services required to develop websites, Internet products and services, and mobile applications that produce optimal business benefits to clients and satisfaction to users. It represents a fresh, comprehensive approach to the needs of the Internet business consulting and design field.

    As vice-president, I work with the president, staff, and our network of outstanding specialists to deliver over 20 state-of-the-art research, decision analysis, innovation, assessment, and management services.

  • VP of Web Business Innovation

    SpireMedia, Inc.

    (Privately Held; Internet industry)

    August 2007 — July 2009 (2 years )

    SpireMedia's comfort zone was small-to-medium scale web design and development of marketing-oriented websites, an increasingly commoditized field. I was hired to develop their practice to be able to plan, design, and deliver much more complex online software successfully, win larger contracts, and differentiate themselves more competitively in the market.

    Over two years, I worked with top executives to hire new talent, upgrade design services, re-train sales staff, revamp the company reputation and company image, add new business-analysis services, build up a project management and a consulting department, and overhaul all project control systems.

    I also lead the business development, sales, and project execution of Spire's largest and most challenging projects.

    Within 6 months, and in the worst down economy the industry had seen in 6 years that crippled or wiped out at least 2 major local competitors, my team-oriented efforts in sales, management, consulting, and design-leadership directly increased annual revenues by about a third, doubled the average deal size, and restored most projects to profitability.

  • President

    InfoQual, Inc.

    (Management Consulting industry)

    March 2005 — July 2009 (4 years 5 months)

    InfoQual, Inc. was my consulting vehicle for many long-term and short-term engagements. InfoQual merged with Developmental Consulting, Inc. in 2009 to form iPD Partners LLC. InfoQual specialized in online product-development and general management-consulting for the Internet business, design, and software development industry. Areas of core competence included the following:

    Internet product-design, development, & management: consulted on web & mobile product strategy, business innovation & planning, business analysis, web-product design, product development, product management, and project management.

    Management & organizational development for internet businesses: consulted on the the design, assessment, and development of web-software teams, and online marketing, sales, and customer support departments, including implementing post-M&A organizational development for eBusinesses.

  • Senior Management Consultant

    Developmental Consulting, Inc.

    (Management Consulting industry)

    March 2002 — February 2006 (4 years )

    Developmental Consulting, Inc., is a specialist management and organizational-consulting firm with a Fortune 500 client-base, including Chevron, URS, Parsons, General Motors, as well as U.S. Department of Energy and local government. I performed a wide range of consulting services: organizational design, planning/forming/launching new joint ventures and large projects, recruitment, conflict resolution, strategic and tactical planning, business-process improvement, decision analysis, project management, information and communication process-assessment and improvement, and designing virtual-team collaboration tools.

    From 2004, I ran a new practice that focused on delivering management-training services over the Web. My work included business planning, market research, online marketing and sales, conceptual design of new products, information architecture, prototyping, user research, web analytics, and project management.

  • Internet Development Manager

    eFinancialCareers & eFinancialNews

    (Public Company; DHX; Staffing and Recruiting industry)

    2001 — 2002 (1 year )

    eFinancialGroup ran two conjoined businesses: eFinancialNews.com and eFinancialCareers.com (now sold to Dice and Dow Jones).

    I designed and managed the development of web products, leading to Recruiter Magazine’s Award for Best Online Service and 50% annual revenue growth and dominant market share for next 4 years; designed, recruited, and managed in-house web-development team. Saved 80% in web costs over two years; added 15% to sale-value of an employer through technical due-diligence and implementing best practices (realized in a split sale to dice.com and Dow Jones); achieved 60% conversion rate with design of sales campaign and site functionality to shift the business over from free to paid subscription.

  • Consultant Mobile-Web & Online-Product Designer

    N.C.Co. Ltd

    (Internet industry)

    1999 — 2001 (2 years )

    N.C.Co. is a strategic marketing firm specializing in Internet New-Product Development. The N.C.Co. team were behind some of the most innovative and successful Web ventures of the late 1990's: bbc.co.uk, lastminute.com, upmystreet.com, and vodafone-interactive.co.uk.

    I was lead IA (Information Architect) on designing wireless applications that were instrumental in a 15% increase in Vodafone’s share price. I developed the firm’s web-design methodology and recruited and trained consultants.

  • Digital Marketing Designer and Business Analyst

    Oxford University Press

    (Non-Profit; Publishing industry)

    1997 — 1999 (2 years )

    Automated design and publishing processes in the areas of editorial work-flow, book design, marketing, advertising, and catalog production. Graphics design of catalogs and ads for automation. Designed databases and various software tools to make this happen.

Simon Hill’s Education

  • London University (UCL) (PhD program)

    Ph.D. (withdrew in 2nd year to pursue consulting career) , Philosophy , 1998 — 1999

    Activities and Societies:
    Won British Academy Major State Scholarship.

  • Oxford University (MA)

    MA (Hons), summa cum laude (first) , Language & Linguistics , 1995 — 1996

  • Oxford University (BA)

    BA (Hons), summa cum laude (first) , English Language & Literary Theory, minor in Egyptology , 1992 — 1995

Additional Information

Simon Hill’s Websites:

Simon Hill’s Interests:

Management & Organizational Sciences, New-Media Technology, Software-Development Methodologies, Business applications of General Systems Theory, Information Theory, Cybernetics, Developmental-Stage Theory, Computer Science, Database Theory, Object-Oriented Design, Programming, Philosophy, Literature, Psychology, Anthropology, Sociology, Psychotherapy.

Simon Hill’s Groups:

Guest speaker/workshop leader for Club Management Institute-certified Club Technology Summit, on Web Strategy & Digital Communications
Guest speaker at Colorado Interaction Design Society (IxDA)

  •    Interaction Design Association
  •    Boxes and Arrows
  •    MobileMonday
  •    Drupal
  •    Wireless Jobs
  •    UX Professionals
  •    Technology Professionals of Colorado
  •    E-Commerce Network
  •    WSG
  •    360|Flex Attendees, Speakers, Sponsors
  •    User Experience
  •    User Experience Group
  •    SpireMedia Network
  •    Rich Internet Applications (RIA)
  •    Oxford University Alumni
  •    CREATIVE DESIGN PROS
  •    Boulder Denver New Tech Meetup
  •    Freelance professionals
  •    Website Hosting & Design Companies
  •    Social Media Analytics
  •    Drupal Freelance Group
  •    Colorado User Experience Professionals
  •    iPhone Colorado
  •    Software Internationalization and Localization

Simon Hill’s Honors:

Denver Business Journal, honored with "Top Forty under 40" award for my work developing and delivering next-generation management-consulting services for web businesses, and work helping a community non-profit. (2008)
National conference speaker (360|Flex Atlanta) on The Future of Usability for Rich Internet Applications (2008)
Colorado Business Magazine Guest Columnist, "Website Paradigms Business Leaders Should Keep in Mind" (December, 2007)
British Academy Major State Scholarship (1997)
Japan Exchange & Teaching (JET) Alumni, Kyoto Prefecture (1996).
Oxford University’s Bridgeman Essay Prize, for essay on the historical influence of Information Technology on Western culture (1993).

Simon Hill’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

  • career opportunities
  • consulting offers
  • new ventures
  • job inquiries
  • expertise requests
  • business deals
  • reference requests
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