Shane O'Neill

SONA founder - industry background

"I think we are like the honey bees who collect pollen from around an organisation's siloes and hierachies. We are constantly amazed at the knowledge that is untapped within clients themselves...

"People often think - to bowdlerise Lyndon Johnson - that you cannot pass wind and chew gum at the same time. In our industry that equates to thinking strategically as well as performing operationally. Within this digital landscape, that is not only possible, it is an obligation for any senior manager...

"No human being comes to work to cock things up. Managers don't manage - they mismanage! Properly led, inspired and set free, people will respond. Our Associates provide insights, market knowledge and research and the tools to enable people within organisations to solve their problems themselves"

Shane O'Neill has held senior positions in major media groups (Reed-Elsevier, Holtzbrinck-Macmillan, EMAP and the privatised Government publisher TSO). He has run business units to £40m turnover and held positiions to Board level in £250m plus companies. He began portfolio-ing in 2005 as he awaited his shares from a private equity venture, and turned this practice into a fulltime business in 2007.

Shane's particular expertise lies around digital transformation and working in different market areas - he has worked across academic, B2B, professional publishing and has a deep and varied experience of the public sector. That expertise was recognised in 2007 when Minister Michael Wills appointed him as an Expert Member of the Government's Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information (APPSI).

In addition to his corporate board and Government appointments, Shane has served on the Board of the International DOI Foundation. He holds degrees from the Universities of Sussex, Sheffield and Oxford and received business management training at INSEAD and the Warwick Business School.