Simon Hill

Online-Business Strategy, Innovation, & Product-Development Expert

Greater Denver Area

Current
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
167 connections
Industry
Internet
Websites

Simon Hill’s Summary

Online-business strategic planning, innovation, & Internet-product development practitioner, consultant, coach, and manager for 12 years; for over forty websites, online products, and mobile applications; expert in nearly all software & product methodologies; for Fortune 1000 clients and start ups. Award-winning business leader. ROI driven.

* Hired, trained, and managed teams of project managers, business analysts, information architects/UI designers, usability engineers, and graphic designers, on dozens of successful projects.

* Specialty in software project-management beyond Agile, and in rescuing large, troubled software projects.

* Specialty in all organizational and managerial aspects of online strategy, including M&A due diligence, organizational development, & helping companies shift to more advanced organizational forms such as virtual online-communities.

* Developed industry-leading methodologies and tools for planning, branding, designing, prototyping, managing, cost-control, and usability-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.

* Accomplished "value-centric" product manager, "user-centered" user-interface (UI) designer, information architect, and business analyst, and has performed innovative and award-winning work for clients in over twenty-five industries. HCI & Human Factors expert.

Simon is an occasional guest-columnist and speaker at national and local conferences on strategy for web business, process methodologies, and user-interface design. He has conducted many workshops for clients on all aspects of market research, strategic planning, innovation, design, management, and development of websites and mobile applications.

Simon is also quite expert on Indian and Japanese business culture (lived in both countries for a year), speaks conversational Japanese, and grew up in the UK.

Simon Hill’s Specialties:

Web & mobile application design, development, & management; information architecture; web-technology strategy; business analysis; user-interface design, usability, human-factors, new media, sociology of online group formation.

Business planning & launching, stakeholder & market analysis, branding, engagement/account management, project management, organizational structure & design, virtual collaboration, decision analysis.

Simon Hill’s Experience

  • Vice-President

    iPD Partners LLC

    (Partnership; Internet industry)

    August 2009 — Present (4 months)

    iPD Partners is a professional consulting firm that helps organizations identify and take advantage of the rare opportunities offered by the latest generational leaps in Internet-based technologies and major shifts in media forms. We offer a wide range of services for strategic research and planning, design and development of online-products and websites, and all managerial and organizational issues.

    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, transform the company reputation and brand 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. Areas of leadership included market research, planning, brand definition, business analysis, information architecture, UI design, usability, and project management.

    Within 6 months, and in the worst down economy the industry had seen in 6 years that crippled or wiped out 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 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).

    Reported to the CFO and worked with the executive management team to design and manage the development of web products, leading to Recruiter Magazine’s Award for Best Online Service and double-digit annual revenue growth and dominant market share globally. Designed, recruited, and managed in-house web-development team. Implemented dramatic cost-reduction program for IT. Planned and initiated successful migration of web operations from outsourced to in-house. Added significantly to acquisition value through technical due-diligence and implementing best practices. Helped achieve 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
  •    Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
  •    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
  • getting back in touch

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