Coaches

Rob Nixon launched Nixon Advantage (formally robnixon) in May 1994.  Since Nixon Advantage' s inception, Rob  has exclusively focussed on helping Accountants improve their financial position. He...

• Has undertaken extensive research on how the profession works (or does not) - dating back to 1964.
• Has interviewed 1,033 clients on behalf of 129 Accounting firms on what they want from their Accountant.
• Has delivered speeches, workshops and seminars at more than 1,100 Accounting industry events in 7 countries.
• Has written countless articles on how high performing accounting firms operate.
• Has benchmarked more than 1,000 firms against each other and authored or co-authored 4 leading benchmarking reports.
• Has developed products, methodologies and leading training programs in 4 separate businesses that still operate successfully today.

Rob is the leading worldwide Accounting industry expert. He knows why Accounts work, why they do not and what needs to happen for them to work more efficiently and profitably.

Email: rob.nixon@nixonadvantage.com

Colin joined the Nixon Advantage team in January 2008. He is a Chartered Accountant with 20 years' experience in helping Accountants develop and implement strategies to build better businesses. He...

• Spent 10 years in one of the fastest growing Accounting businesses in the UK.
• Lead a project in that business to set-up and launch a business consulting division.
• Trained Directors and Team members in that business to raise awareness of the new division and develop skills.
• Lead consulting assignments with business clients and worked on business growth and marketing engagements.
• Spent the last 10 years training, coaching and consulting to Accounting firms, both in the UK and, since 2002, in Australia.
• Has delivered speeches, workshops and seminars in the Accounting industries in Australia, New Zealand, UK, US and Ireland.
• Has developed content, products and systems for Accountants, including the industry leading, web based marketing and client development solution, TRUST.
• Most recently, has acted as a coach to a range of Accounting businesses right around Australia.

Colin is passionate about helping turn Accounting practices into Accounting businesses and holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) and is a qualified ACA.  He is relentless in the pursuit of improving the performance of every firm he coaches.

Email: colin.dunn@nixonadvantage.com

Working on business improvement and growth for 30 years, Owen’s passion is helping businesses realise their potential and throughout his career this has been the golden thread.

 Experience in:

• Systems (IT) improvement 
• External CFO consulting
• Running workshops
• Change management
• Business health checks
• Benchmarking
• Pricing Reviews
• Activity Based costing analysis

Owen assisted a NZ$500m turnover company to set up a Shared Service for IT and Accounting and supported them through a new system implementation as their Business Support Services Manager with a team of 30 reporting through to him.

3.5 years as a senior manager at EY in NZ in their consulting/advisory division working mainly on performance improvement and finance function improvement programs for their clients. He made a key contribution to growing this division during his time there.

Owen was a key team member at BearingPoint (previously KPMG consulting) in NZ working with clients during periods of significant change management and assisting them in improving their performance in both the public and private sectors

He was the Finance Manager at Canon NZ, focusing on growth, systems improvement and fast reporting.

He has six years experience at Price Waterhouse Coopers, UK, in their business growth division concentrating on creating business plans for their clients in addition to the traditional compliance work

He started out on his career working for a small 3 partner firm in the UK in their audit and business advisory divisions.

Owen is a NZ qualified Chartered Accountant, with an MBA and also is an Economics honours graduate.

Email: owen.howells@nixonadvantage.com

Ben joined Nixon Advantage in July 2011. He has 12 years experience working as a management consultant, primarily in the areas of business improvement, planning and strategy as well as change management.

Ben has worked extensively throughout Asia including five years in Japan working for the likes of Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Philips Japan. Over his career he has worked in diverse industries including accounting, financial services, software and education. He has also done a vast amount of corporate training for companies ranging from SME to large multinationals.

Ben’s experience includes:

-          Strategic planning

-          Financial forecasting & analysis

-          Due diligence

-          Capital raising projects

-          Project management

-          Worked with accounting firms doing strategic planning days sessions with partners & senior staff

-          Helped firms restructure organisational charts for growth

-          In-depth workflow & productivity analysis

-          Set up team incentive programs

-          Worked on ASX listings for an investment group

-          Helped firms on setting up their own financial planning divisions

-          Been a practice manager for a Gold Coast firm

-          Worked on value gap analysis for firm owners looking for exit strategy

Most recently, Ben has worked as a coach and trainer to the Accounting industry in Australia. He has experience inside accounting firms as well, consulting on client businesses and practice management issues. He’s passionate about helping accountants unlock the hidden value in their accounting firm and helping them achieve their business & financial goals.

Ben is an adjunct lecturer at Bond University where he teaches business planning and strategy. He has an MBA, a BA in Economics and Japanese from Macquarie University and a Certificate IV in Training & Assessment.

Email: ben.haydensmith@nixonadvantage.com

Website: www.nixonadvantage.com

Dean joined the Nixon Advantage team in September 2009.  Dean’s experience spans a number of industries including tourism, hospitality, finance, accounting, employment, manufacturing, production, and sales. With an ability to see the view from the ‘balcony’ then dive onto the ‘dance floor’ for a closer look, Dean uses his energy, enthusiasm and wide knowledge to get to the heart of any challenge or opportunity.

Dean has held a number of strategic roles requiring him to build and grow businesses through sales. His experience in sales processes that work and large scale commercial tendering has seen him pitch to companies including Redland Shire Council, Pacific Dunlop, Pacific Brands, Linfox, Shell, Glaxo Wellcome, Toll Holdings Ltd, and Visy Recycling and win! Dean's commitment to the small to medium business sector is demonstrated through an achievement in late 2007 when he secured $450,000.00 in Federal Government funding to establish a training program for small to medium businesses under AusIndustry’s Building Entrepreneurship in Small Business initiative. Dean continues to support business initiatives and is involved with the Queensland Government's initiative ‘Jobs Assist’ providing funding to business owners to build strong plans and actions to grow, develop, and enhance their businesses.

Dean has practical experience in project management delivering numerous solutions built to specification, on time, and on budget. He has managed teams of up to thirty two staff covering all facets of performance management, development, process improvement, quality, timely production, and meeting daily targets. Dean has also led a team responsible for the staff engagement of more than 300 employees across an entire division of one of Australia’s leading financial institutions.

In his role as a Management Information Systems Manager within the banking industry, Dean delivered a number of outcomes including a balanced scorecard reporting environment for senior management, and a sales reporting application covering 75 sales people spanning Australia and New Zealand. Dean knows how critical it is to closely monitor and manage the key success factors in any business!

During his work in the airline industry Dean honed his skills in the areas of customer service, marketing research, customer strategy, and customer relations. Customer value is often underestimated and is a fantastic source of opportunity to grow a business.

Highly sought after to facilitate strategic workshops and training to solve problems, hatch strategies, and explore opportunities, Dean brings rigour with flexibility and creativity with a commercial reality.

Business planning, marketing planning, training, coaching, and strategic facilitation continue to be Dean’s key activities with a strong focus on innovation. He has worked with large groups of senior management, front-line teams, and even customers to solve problems and implement new ideas. Dean continues to work with accounting firms across Australia and New Zealand in improving their profitability, their cash flow, and growth and ‘supercharging their firms and understands the pressures and challenges of making that happen. He sees accounting as “the best profession to help small businesses become great!”

Dean has worked with hundreds of Small to Medium businesses in a consulting and coaching capacity. His roles have included reviewing the current business and making recommendations for change; developing formal business plans and action plans then holding business owners accountable for getting things done; and developing sales and marketing strategies for owners wanting to take their business to the next level of growth. Most recently, Dean has coached accounting firms in helping their clients take their businesses to the next level as the head coach of 10X Ltd. Dean is also a highly sought after speaker regularly presenting to large groups of business owners all over Australia and New Zealand. More than 6,000 have heard Dean's message on how to take their business to the next level in the last 18 months alone!

Dean holds a Bachelor of Business and a Graduate Diploma of EI.

Email: dean.marinac@nixonadvantage.com