Ross Thomasson
Telco • Sales • Finance • Commercial
Experienced CxO & business leader with a proven track record across four continents and 35 countries. I help companies of all sizes — from startups to Fortune 500s — realise value from their people, customers, and internal systems.
With a rare understanding of both established global markets and developing powerhouses, I bring an authoritative and authentic leadership style. I balance ambition with strong personal values to deliver results in pressurised, multi-cultural environments — and I am not afraid to challenge the status quo to drive a step change in performance.
Career Timeline
Over 40 years of progressive leadership across telco, enterprise sales, commercial operations, and board advisory roles — spanning the UK, Africa, Middle East, India, and beyond.
Chairman
Guiding the strategic direction of a QCTO-accredited South African social enterprise empowering caregivers and connecting families with professional home-based care.
Non-Executive Director
Board advisory role providing governance, commercial and operational insight during a rapid growth phase.
Managing Director
Founding and leading a B2B consultancy focused on helping enterprises build and scale sales & commercial teams, delivering quantifiable shareholder value.
Non-Executive Director & Board Advisor
Strategic advisory to a capital-raising firm serving blue-chip real estate and investment clients.
Non-Executive Director & Board Advisor
Executive and strategic guidance in telco, finance, property & IoT. Supporting micro-enterprises across Africa to secure funding — helping entrepreneurs grow, create jobs, and build more stable futures for their families.
Group Chief Sales & Marketing Director
Led the transformation from a wholesale/engineering business to a customer-centric enterprise. Delivered a 100% increase in organic revenues and embedded a global sales organisation across the group footprint.
COO — Middle East, Africa & Asia
Established Vodafone Global Enterprise across Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and UAE, working with OpCos, affiliates and partners to build a business of substance.
Regional Director & COO — Africa
Responsible for all VGE activity in Sub-Saharan Africa across DRC, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia — transitioning from local to global operating model.
COO — India
Set up and transitioned the India operation into BAU activity as part of the global operating model.
Global Head of Bids
Responsible for worldwide bidding and commercial activity across all VGE Fortune 500 accounts, with centres of excellence in the UK, US, Europe & India.
Head of IT & Telecoms / Head of Media, Leisure & Professional Services
Led sector-focused enterprise sales teams, managing end-to-end profitability for major UK corporate accounts.
Regional Sales Manager
Management of the Birmingham and Manchester sales teams — the beginning of a 20+ year journey with one of the world's largest telcos.
Companies I've Worked With
There are links below showcasing the significant contributions I've made within named companies. There are many more where I've been part of the team success or on secondment — including ANCO&CO, BT, C&W, Cisco, DHL, DTZ, Du, Ernst & Young, Etisalat, HP, Lloyds, MTS, Novartis, Proximus, RIM, Thames Water, SFR, Singtel, Swisscom, Verizon and Zain.
With remarkable regularity, companies ask for my help because of my extensive knowledge of working across countries in different industries, and my ability to be "First Man" on the ground — building organisations from their bootstraps, placing the right people, and putting the customer at the heart of the business to deliver increased shareholder value.
Intelligentae
Intelligentae is a B2B consultancy focused on providing insight and guidance on how companies can more efficiently deploy their internal resources to deliver improved shareholder returns. We help enterprises build and scale their sales and commercial teams to deliver real, quantitative value with clear supporting metrics that enable a clear view of the prospect-to-cash cycle.
Recent success stories include setting up a new sales team within a LATAM capital-raising partnership to deliver a 10X increase in profitability, completing revenue assurance work resulting in the recovery of significant unbilled fees, and establishing a sales centre of excellence for a Spanish real estate company — including a central business hub, offshore inbound call centre, and a comprehensive customer acquisition methodology. We also contribute on a non-profit basis toward implementing rural broadband solutions in underserved areas, and operate a small tree-planting programme to reduce our climate impact.
ROSA Capital
ROSA Capital provides executive and strategic guidance in telco, finance, property & IoT to worldwide customers. As a board member I have been engaged on a number of client engagements including: working with a large multi-national car manufacturer to establish a dealer network in South Africa; developing a SMART building in the BTR sector for an international real estate fund; and implementing a revenue assurance system for a medium-size telco that resulted in a clear line of "revenue sight" from customer acquisition through closure, delivery, loyalty and advocacy.
As part of a broader commitment to economic development, ROSA's team supports micro-enterprises across Africa — helping entrepreneurs secure the funding they need to grow, create jobs, and build more stable futures for their families. This work has helped 468 entrepreneurs, created 411 jobs, and positively impacted the lives of over 2,100 family members — and 2,982 people in total.
CFG Global Capital
CFG raise capital for their clients, with their largest client being Godwin Capital — a UK-based development and investment company partnering with blue-chip brands such as McDonald's, Lidl, and Starbucks. Godwin uses the money raised as early finance for real estate transactions, typically pre-planning opportunities where capital is repaid once formal planning and traditional finance is secured.
CFG works with a wide network of intermediaries, family offices, wealth and fund managers, giving them access to both standard and bespoke, diversified, asset-backed investments. All CFG investment opportunities are independently audited, and CFG offers a range of services to support financial intermediaries in building strong, enduring revenue streams.
Liquid Telecom
Contracted to establish a Global Enterprise Business unit within the Liquid Telecom Group OpCos within a three-year contract period. As part of the leadership team, I helped transform the group from a primarily wholesale and engineering business into a customer-centric enterprise. I established and implemented the process, procedures and best practice to enable enterprise sales, marketing and commercial functions across the group — all focused on our people, customer experience and results.
Key outcomes included a 100% increase in organic revenues, with significant further growth through acquisition. I embedded a global sales organisation overlaid on national business units to manage customers across the footprint, and developed an integrated process connecting legacy and new IT back-office systems to provide consistent business intelligence previously unavailable.
Vodafone
Over 20 years of experience with one of the largest UK companies, with a footprint spanning the globe. I was one of the initial 15 Vodafone Global Enterprise founders — creating a standalone business function with full P&L accountability to serve over 1,000 multi-national customers across the Vodafone footprint of OpCos and partners.
As COO and Regional Director, I led the teams that established the Vodafone Global Enterprise brand and entities in Bahrain, DRC, Egypt, Ghana, India, Kenya, Kuwait, Mozambique, Nigeria, Qatar, South Africa, Tanzania, UAE and Zambia — providing support and thought leadership to establish similar entities in a further 15 countries across Europe, Asia and the Americas. I also established the global bids, pricing and sales operations functions, with centres of excellence in the UK, US, Europe and India.
Tuniti Care Hero
Tuniti Care Hero is a QCTO-accredited South African social enterprise with a powerful mission: empowering everyday South Africans to transform into professional caregivers, while connecting families with compassionate, trusted home-based care. What began as a small training group has grown into a care movement — training hundreds of students and placing them in meaningful careers that make a real difference.
As Chairman, I help guide the strategic direction of the organisation, supporting the leadership team in scaling their impact across South Africa. Tuniti has trained over 250 caregivers with a 75% job placement rate, offering full-time, post-operative, palliative and respite care services. The organisation also provides ongoing mentorship for both caregivers and the families who rely on them — and is actively expanding its reach into the agricultural sector to care for those who have spent their lives caring for others.
Education & Background
A foundation in mathematics, economics and technology — combined with decades of real-world leadership across global markets.
BSc, Maths Economics & Computer Science
OND, Technology
Secondary Education
Causes & Interests
Ross is passionate about making a positive difference beyond the boardroom.
Recommendations
What colleagues, direct reports, and clients have said about working with Ross.
"Ross manages a nice balance of challenge with an astute commercial eye and a keen sense of humour. When you win Ross over he's a true advocate and I always valued his opinion as a result."
"Ross is a culturally aware leader. With his experience in both first and emerging markets he consistently gets the best results from his diverse teams — even from the members who appear less talented. I am yet to meet someone who would vouch for his integrity and work ethic. Working under Ross' leadership in Africa for the last three years has taught me more than Africa's leading MBA did."
"Ross was an excellent and influential leader of a very successful sales region. I learned a great deal from him, which set the tone for a very happy and productive career at Vodafone. I'm delighted that Ross's technical expertise, people management skills and business acumen have been recognised in his continued success at Vodafone."
"Ross is a pleasure to work for and with. He gives clear direction, but is also open to change as projects evolve. As a manager, he is involved at just the right level with support when you need him, but trusts you to manage the detail. He is also very patient and adaptable in different cultural working environments."
"I have had the privilege of working with Ross, both as a colleague at Vodafone and then as a client in my IDology role. Words that spring to mind when thinking of Ross are assured, astute, experienced and thoughtful. He understands his business exceptionally well and works hard to attain great results. His people are well supported and developed to the extent of their ability."
"Whilst reporting to Ross I always found him to be extremely positive and supportive. He demonstrated good thought leadership and his commercial acumen and industry knowledge were particularly appreciated when negotiating large deals with sophisticated financial structures."
Get In Touch
Whether you're looking for a board advisor, a commercial leader, or simply want to connect, I'd love to hear from you. Email me directly at [email protected] and I'll come back to you personally.
