Leadership

Senior Leadership Team

Sean Taylor

Global CEO
Joined in: Co-founder (2005)
Location: Bracknell, UK (Global Headquarters)

  • Co-founder & Global CEO of Content Guru

    Sean is heavily involved with the strategic direction of Content Guru, working at a technical level with the core teams that define high-level product design and commercially on the company’s go-to-market strategy, including the establishment of key partnerships.

  • Previous Experience

    Before co-founding Redwood and Content Guru, Sean worked in the engineering team of Rhetorex Inc. (acquired by Lucent), a pioneer in the field of Computer Telephony, both in the UK and in San Jose, California. He was a member of the CBI’s Enterprise Forum and is currently part of its AI Working Group.

  • Charitable Work

    In January 2018 Sean was appointed Deputy Lieutenant for the Royal County of Berkshire, and he serves with numerous charitable and voluntary organizations in the area, including as a Trustee of Berkshire Community Foundation (BCF), a charity specializing in the care of vulnerable adults and children. Having represented Berkshire at county level in cross-country running as a teenager, he is now President of Bracknell Athletics Club.

  • Education

    Sean holds a BSc (Hons) degree in Electronics and Computer Science from King’s College, University of London and maintains links with the university through the annually awarded Redwood Technologies Prize for Best Performance in the MSc Telecommunications and Internet Technology programme.

Martin Taylor

Deputy CEO
Joined in: Co-founder (2005)
Location: Bracknell, UK (Global Headquarters)

  • Co-Founder & Deputy CEO of Content Guru

    Martin Taylor is one of the co-founders of Content Guru, responsible for strategic market development and the company’s public sector practice. The coiner of the storm brand and a leading innovator in the field of cloud-based enterprise communications, Martin is a regular speaker at international conferences and in the media.

  • Previous Experience

    After graduating from King’s College, University of London, with a BSc(Hons) in Business Management, Martin worked as a futures market analyst in Asia. He returned to the UK to help launch Redwood Technologies in 1993, developing new overseas territories – particularly emerging markets – and adapting Redwood’s powerful and unique core technology for new sectors.

    A pioneer in real-time billing, Martin’s early work with deregulated telecommunications operators led directly to the multi-tenanted, multi-level, multimedia accounting nature of Content Guru’s storm® services. Martin also devised a number of important interactive media and payment applications that are today commonplace around the world.

  • Interests

    Martin sits on the CBI Intellectual Property Committee and on the Advisory Board of the Department of Management at King’s College London, where he delivers occasional lectures on strategy and entrepreneurship. In his spare time Martin is a keen runner, having once been the Berkshire cross country champion and competing, along with Sean, in the English Schools Cross Country Championships.

Robert Mansfield

CTO
Joined in: 2005
Location: Bracknell, UK (Global Headquarters)

  • CTO at Content Guru

    Robert Mansfield is the Chief Technology Officer at Content Guru. As CTO, he oversees the strategic international development of storm and the management of future product releases, with responsibilities ranging from software development to network design and security.

    He has a key responsibility for managing and implementing the software development methodologies that underpin Content Guru’s communications architecture, and has been instrumental in introducing Agile development techniques and KanBan organizational processes across the business.

  • Previous Experience

    Robert joined the Group in 1996 from Lucent Technologies Computer Telephony Products division (formerly Rhetorex Inc.), where he worked from graduation, having started in technical support and finished as Engineering Manager. He graduated from King’s College London with a BEng (Hons) in Electronics and Computer Science.

John Rees

Chief Operating Officer
Joined in: 2010
Location: Bracknell, UK (Global Headquarters)

  • Chief Operating Officer at Content Guru

    John Rees is Content Guru’s Chief Operating Officer, managing the development of key accounts and driving expansion into international markets, particularly the US. Responsible for the commercial strategy of the company since 2010, John gained experience developing businesses during his time at 8el, a UK-focused voice and data carrier that he co-founded. John’s main area of responsibility was overseeing the financial and commercial day-to-day activities of the business. These included management and financial reporting, the business model and legal and supplier relationships.

  • Education & Interests

    John graduated from Durham University with a BA (Hons) degree in Business Economics. An avid cricket fan, until recently he was captain of his local team, and he continues to manage the grounds alongside playing hockey and spending time with his family.

Paul Harvey

Chief Financial Officer
Joined in: 2022
Location: Bracknell, UK (Global Headquarters)

  • Chief Financial Officer

    Paul Harvey was appointed as Content Guru’s CFO in January 2022 with responsibility for all accounting, treasury, tax, procurement, and financial planning activities at Content Guru. 

  • Previous Experience

    Prior to joining Content Guru, Paul spent 15 years at Travelport (a global travel technology company) working in a number of different finance roles including 3 years in Atlanta, USA as head of Travelport’s US finance function and most recently leading the M&A function for Travelport. 

    Paul qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1992 and spent over 13 years at Deloitte gaining extensive experience across Audit, M&A and other advisory services. 

    Paul brings a wealth of experience in managing and developing finance functions and teams as well as helping sales, technology and executive teams in delivering upon their strategic goals.

  • Education & Interests

    Paul graduated from Oxford University with a BA (Hons) degree in Physics. In his spare time he enjoys skiing, sailing and spending time with his family.

Andrew Davison

Non-Executive Director – Scottish Equity Partners (SEP)
Joined in: 2018
Location: London, UK (SEP Headquarters)

  • Non-Executive Director – Scottish Equity Partners (SEP)

    Andrew Davison is a Non-Executive Director and led SEP’s minority investment into Content Guru’s parent, Redwood Technologies Group. 

  • Previous Experience & Education 

    Andrew has over two decades of experience investing in technology companies. During that time, he championed ground-breaking innovations, with a particular interest in the Internet of Things (IoT), and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) technologies. Andrew has invested in over 160 companies, helping founder-led teams reach their goals in the tech sector. He sits on the board of businesses across a wide range of sectors, from luxury fashion to financial regulation, and more. 

    Andrew graduated from the University of Dundee, where he earned an MA Hons in Accountancy. Prior to joining Scottish Equity Partners, he held various roles in investment firms, such as the 3i Group, and Grainger & Co.

Senior Management

Americas

Matt McKernan

Senior Vice President Sales - Americas
Joined in: 2023
Location: Reston, VA, USA (East Coast Office)

  • Senior Vice President of Sales - Americas

    Matt McKernan is Senior Vice President of Sales for the Americas. He joined the company in 2023, where his strong experience leading large-scale enterprise and public center teams is key in supporting Content Guru’s continued growth in North America.

  • Previous Experience & Education

    Matt brings over 25 years of sector knowledge to the role and an impressive track record of helping scale businesses including Verint, inContact, and NICE. In his previous role as the Senior Vice President of Enterprise Sales at inContact, Matt built and led a high-performing sales team that focused on the Fortune 1000 segment.

    Matt holds a B.S. in Finance from the University of South Carolina, and an MBA from the University of South Carolina Darla Moore School of Business.

  • Interests

    In his spare time, Matt enjoys an active lifestyle of golfing, skiing, pickleball, tennis, fishing, and working out. An avid fan of all Atlanta teams, Matt attained a full scholarship at the University of South Carolina with the USC Football Team.

Andrew Casson

Vice President of Public Sector Sales - Americas
Joined in: 2020
Location: Reston, VA, USA (East Coast Office)

  • Vice President of Public Sector Sales - Americas

    Andrew Casson is Vice President of Sales for the Americas. In this role, he has responsibility for overseeing the company’s expansion within the Americas. This builds on Andrew’s years of experience advising Content Guru on major contracts within the US market.

  • Previous Experience & Education

    After finishing his M.S. in Telecommunications from the University of Colorado at Boulder, Andrew started his career at Bell Laboratories, before moving to Avaya for five years. He has spent the past 15 years supporting Federal Government clients in a trusted advisor role. In this position, he has received recognition for support of the Nuclear Security Summit, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) ministerial in 2010, several G20 summits, The Annapolis Conference, and countless other special events on behalf of the US Department of State.

    In his spare time, Andrew is an avid skier, and enjoys spending time with his family.

Europe

Michael Van Den Brink

Regional Commercial Director (EU)
Joined in: 2013
Location: The Hague, The Netherlands (Benelux Headquarters)

  • Regional Commercial Director (EU)

    Michael van den Brink is the Country Manager of Content Guru B.V., the Dutch branch of Content Guru. He joined the company in March 2013, bringing a wealth of management experience in the Dutch market from KPN, where he was serving as Director of Sales for Large Enterprise.

  • Education & Previous Experience

    After graduating from the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences with a degree in Business Administration, Michael joined KPN’s Business Market division as a Project Manager, from which he rapidly progressed to the role of Implementation Manager for new releases of sales tools aimed at the consumer market.

    Following this, in December 2003 he became an Account Manager for the key Rotterdam region, where he worked with numerous large enterprise customers, before becoming a Key Account Manager for the Corporate Market across the entire Netherlands. Michael then moved on to become a Sales Manager at Newtel Essence, gaining experience in the contact center and customer relationship management (CRM) environments.

  • Interests

    A keen swimmer, Michael was Chairman of his local water polo and swim club for five years, and still enjoys the sport regularly. He does a lot of running, both for sport and after his three children.

Barbara Caspers-Zarini

Regional Director (DACH)
Joined in: 2023
Location: Munich, Germany (DACH Headquarters)

  • Regional Director (DACH)

    Barbara Caspers-Zarini is the Regional Director for Content Guru in the DACH region. In this role, she is responsible for driving the expansion of Content Guru as a CCaaS leader in the German, Austrian, and Swiss markets.

  • Previous Experience

    Prior to joining Content Guru, Barbara worked for Avaya Deutschland GmbH. As Managing Director, she was responsible for the entire German enterprise business. Prior to this, Barbara worked for 17 years at BT Global Services, first as a Global Account Director, before holding several sales management roles across global & enterprise customer segments, as well as selected global systems integrators.

  • Interests

    Barbara is a keen chef with a global outlook and loves to learn about other cultures through their cuisine. She also enjoys spending time in nature, taking part in sports both in and above water, and is an enthusiastic golfer.

Graeme Walker

Regional Director (Scotland)
Joined in: 2020
Location: Glasgow, UK (Scottish Headquarters)

  • Regional Director, Scotland

    Graeme Walker is Regional Director for Scotland at Content Guru, working from its Scottish headquarters in Glasgow. He is responsible for key Scottish enterprise and public-sector clients, as well as driving strategic in-country growth.

  • Previous Experience

    Graeme has over 20 years’ experience operating in the large enterprise and public-sector marketplaces in the UK. He has held senior leadership positions at Vodafone, Virgin Media Business, Transunion and Compass Group, spending the last decade operating in Sales Director roles within the technology sector. Throughout his career, he has followed a client-centric approach to drive consistent growth through partnerships and the implementation of market-leading technology.

    In his spare time, he enjoys rugby, football, fitness, dog walks, and family holidays.

Asia-Pac

Takashi Matsubara

Country Manager (Japan)
Joined in: 2022
Location: Tokyo, Japan (Asia-Pac Headquarters)

  • Country Manager (Japan)

    Takashi Matsubara is Country Manager for Content Guru KK, working from its Asia-Pac headquarters in Tokyo. He joined in 2022, bringing a wealth of sales and marketing experience in the Japanese and Asian markets.

  • Previous Experience

    Takashi has spent his career driving rapid growth for both established and early-stage companies in Japan and Asia-Pac. He began his career at Macnica Inc, a Japanese IT distribution company. While he worked there, Takashi helped the company grow by a factor of ten, from 200 employees to over 2000.

    Takashi has worked for a number of major Japanese businesses including Fujitsu and NEC. While at Fujitsu, he oversaw the creation of a new telecoms subsidiary for the company. He grew this subsidiary into a multi-million dollar business within months.

  • Interests

    Takashi is a skilled cook and enjoys authentic East and South East Asian food. He is an avid follower of rugby and a supporter of Japan’s “Brave Blossoms”.

Technical

Richard Manthorpe

Product Director
Joined in: 2009
Location: Bracknell, UK (Global Headquarters)

  • Product Director

    Richard Manthorpe is Product Director at Content Guru. In this role, he is responsible for defining and executing the product roadmap, pricing, UI & UX, technical documentation and customer experience centers. He joined in 2009 and worked in Project Management, before setting up and running the Product function in 2017.

  • Previous Experience

    Richard earned a BSc (Hons) in Computer Science and Cybernetics from the University of Reading. In his spare time, he enjoys golf, outdoor pursuits, and volunteering as a Scout Leader.

Mushfaqur Rahman

Operations Director
Joined in: 2008
Location: Bracknell, UK (Global Headquarters)

  • Operations Director

    Mush is responsible for Engineering Operations, overseeing the deployment and operational management of storm. He has been with Content Guru since 2008, starting in its Engineering Services team as a Support engineer, then working in Project Management. Since 2017, he has worked in the Operations team, where he was promoted to head the team, managing its operations in the Americas, AsiaPac and Europe.

  • Education & Interests

    He is a graduate from University College London (UCL) in Electronics and Electrical Engineering (BEng) and has an MSc in Telecoms from King’s College London. In addition to following Manchester United, he enjoys skiing and fishing.

Chris Franklin

Head of Development Engineering
Joined in: 2017
Location: Bracknell, UK (Global Headquarters)

  • Head of Development Engineering

    Chris Franklin is the Head of Development Engineering at Content Guru, responsible for managing the company’s Research & Development arm and coordinating product strategy. His focus on innovation keeps emerging technologies and capabilities such as AI at the forefront of Content Guru’s development efforts while ensuring the team continues to optimize and expand core technology to support storm’s global scaling.

  • Previous Experience & Education

    Chris joined Content Guru in 2017 from GlaxoSmithKline, where he spent 7+ years as a CPMS (Clinical Pharmacology Modelling and Simulation) Development and Technologies Manager, and previously, Principal Technical Lead.

    Chris completed a PhD in Scattering Theory with Applications to Muon Catalyzed Fusion and Positron H2+ Collisions at The University of Nottingham, having previously graduated from St Johns College, Oxford, with a BA in Mathematics. While at university, Chris was awarded the Thomas White Scholarship, St. John’s College, Oxford (1989) and was in the final 12 for the British Mathematics Olympiad team (1987).

Matthew Chadd

Project Management Director
Joined in: 2005
Location: Bracknell, UK (Global Headquarters)

  • Project Management Director

    Matt has worked as part of the Redwood Technologies Group since 1995. In Content Guru, he oversees the Project Management team, responsible for delivering end-to-end cloud solutions through storm. Matt’s primary areas of focus are the company’s highly-successful utilities and healthcare deployments, which have won multiple industry awards for innovation and reliability.

  • Education & Interests

    Matt joined Redwood Technologies as a new graduate, having received a BSc (Hons) in Computer Science and Business Computer Systems at the University of Gloucestershire, and retains a fascination for all things technological. He is particularly excited about how developments in AI and Natural Language Processing will transform our daily lives, and he follows the progress of self-driving cars with interest. Matt has always loved travelling, and remembers his visits to other parts of the world fondly, especially his time in Peru and scuba-diving in Egyptian waters.

Rhys Harris

Head of Engineering Services
Joined in: 2016
Location: Bracknell, UK (Global Headquarters)

  • Head of Engineering Services

    Rhys Harris is Content Guru’s Head of Engineering Services, managing the service management function and the technical support teams. Prior to this role, he worked both as a Support Engineer and Service Manager at Content Guru. Rhys oversaw the team’s achievement of ISO20000-1 accreditation for service management.

  • Education & Interests

    Rhys holds a bachelor’s degree in Physics from the University of Bristol. He has a keen interest in astrophysics and is learning to be an amateur astronomer, an interest cultivated during time spent with his grandfather as a child.

Jacob Gaudoin

Head of Accelerator Projects
Joined in: 2006
Location: Bracknell, UK (Global Headquarters)

  • Head of Accelerator Projects

    Jacob Gaudoin is the Head of Accelerator Projects. He has worked at Redwood Technologies Group since 2006, starting out as an Engineering Services Support Engineer.  He has worked in a number of technical roles: support, operations, data networking, software development, service management and, more recently, leading the Accelerator team in delivering critical projects. He has worked with a variety of customers and partners including AXA, Citrix, Deutsche Telekom, KPN, Microsoft, Rakuten, TCS and Vodafone.

  • Education & Interests

    Jacob has a Physics degree from the University of Bath. Outside of work he enjoys rock climbing, skiing and hiking.

Commercial

Sam Fuller

Customer Success Director
Joined in: 2021
Location: Bracknell, UK (Global Headquarters)

  • Customer Success Director

    Sam Fuller is Customer Success Director for the Redwood Technologies Group, with responsibility for driving value for the Group’s clients.

    Sam works closely with customer-facing teams at every touchpoint in the customer journey, ensuring that the company’s own CX reaches the high standards delivered by its end users.

  • Previous Experience

    Sam has over 20 years of experience in creating outstanding customer experience. From finance to utilities to tech, Sam has worked to place the customer at the center of business practise.

    As Head of Customer Services for UK Power Networks, Sam revolutionized the way the utilities sector provides customer contact. UKPN is now ranked as the number one organization in the UK for CSAT. Previously, Sam worked as Area Manager for Barclays bank, and as Head of Experience for Bulb.

  • Education

    Sam has a BA (Hons) in Leadership, Business, and Engagement from the Nottingham University Business School.

Jonty Shipley

Marketing Director
Joined in: 2020
Location: Bracknell, UK (Global Headquarters)

  • Marketing Director

    Jonty Shipley joined as Content Guru’s Marketing Director in 2020, with responsibility for marketing globally. He oversees all awareness and acquisition activities, including events, digital, PR, partner marketing and analyst relations.

  • Previous Experience & Education

    Prior to joining Redwood Technologies, Jonty spent 14 years working in technology companies, most of which in marketing. Most recently this included working at Skyscanner and, previously, 9 years at Amazon. Before his roles in tech, Jonty worked in management consulting and investment banking for Roland Berger and Barclays Capital.

    Jonty graduated from Cambridge University with a BA and MEng in Engineering and has an MBA from London Business School. In his spare time he enjoys travel, sports and spending time with his family and dog.

Craig Miller

Director, Major Accounts
Joined in: 2019
Location: Bracknell, UK (Global Headquarters)

  • Director, Major Accounts

    Craig Miller is Vice President EU, APAC & Americas at Content Guru. In this role, he takes responsibility for the company’s established markets such as the US, Europe, and Japan, as well as for driving strategic growth in new territories.

  • Previous Experience & Interests

    Craig has more than 25 years of experience in organizations spanning in size from global enterprises to pre- and post-funded start-ups. He has held senior positions in Vodafone, Cable & Wireless, Computer Sciences Corporation (now DXC Technology) and Whitbread PLC. Throughout his career he has delivered business growth, focusing on developing value for clients through the deployment of technology to solve business issues.

    In the early days of Content Guru, Craig worked closely with the founders to develop a go-to-market partnership with Cable & Wireless that has become the bedrock of the current partnership with Vodafone.

    In his spare time Craig is a qualified rugby referee and coaches at both Club and County level.

Paul Emery

Vice President - Partners
Joined in: 2020
Location: Bracknell, UK (Global Headquarters)

  • Vice President - Partners

    Paul Emery is Director, Partners at Content Guru and has been with the company since 2020, when he joined to lead sales for UK&I, before moving to his current global role in the Partners team. He has worked for nearly 20 years in the Communications, IT and Contact Center industries. His primary focus is to grow, develop and maintain Content Guru’s global partner eco-system.

  • Previous Experience & Education

    Paul has an extensive background working with channel partners, including 14 years working for ScanSource, running its European Cloud and Service business (including IntelisysGlobal). He has a strong technical background, having worked in, and successfully run, Solutions Engineering teams and holding a BSc (Hons) in Computing. In his spare time he enjoys playing golf and spending time with his family.

Edward Winfield

Vice President - Partners
Joined in: 2017
Location: Bracknell, UK (Global Headquarters)

  • Vice President - Partners

    Edward Winfield manages the development of key partner relationships and driving growth into international markets, focussing on building a global partner eco-system. He has worked with the company since 2007 when he worked for Cable and Wireless and then Vodafone Global Enterprise, where he had extensive experience selling storm to a variety of customers. Since joining Content Guru in 2017, he has built and managed a variety of new routes to market. He manages a range of key partners to deliver value within their consult, build and run practices – by driving opportunities globally and helping them with their market strategy and proposition development.

  • Education & Interests

    Edward graduated from Teesside University with a BA (Hons) in Public Management, specializing in regulated communications and utility markets. He is an avid car enthusiast and owns a Time Attack race car that he races in sprint events. He is married and enjoys hiking with his wife and rescue dog.