About

Fulfilment for Ben is about helping people and solving complexity with simplicity.

With a natural inclination for driving performance, he thrives as a Playmaker who believes in the power of collaboration. Nurturing relationships and delivering exceptional customer-centric experiences across diverse sectors and services.

Our practical, effective, and straightforward approach to business allows us to serve a diverse range of clients, from global corporations to local companies. While we specialise in advertising and marketing agencies, we’ve worked with various organisations (big and small) in different sectors, such as Rolls Royce, Medicina, Pro2Col, Domino’s, Allianz, Larne FC, and City of Champions.

In the early 2000s, our founder Ben Rayner made a name for himself within the retail space by troubleshooting and turning around non-performing retail stores. He was able to see opportunities where others could only see problems.

These successes were recognised as he entered the world of advertising with CHS. This was a highly rewarding chapter of his career. Like many leadership roles in medium-sized enterprises, it was diverse. He had a solution-focused approach, and he gained a deep understanding of clients’ needs and the environments in which they operate.

Ben was pivotal in creating an environment of operational excellence to enable the organisation to deliver for its clients, mitigate the business from potential risks and build its reputation as the go-to agency for a growing list of household brand names. He believes that a high-performing client servicing team is critical to the success of any agency. 

The journey continued when he co-founded Zengility, creating professional services practices with Senior Executives from FTSE 100 businesses and other high-profile brands. The Zengility methodology helped individuals understand their asset value and take it to commercial reality.

Strategic Sherpas utilise the experience gained working with some of the world’s biggest brands, to help CEOs, founders and senior leaders of SMEs Reimagine What’s Possible within their organisations with particular specialisms in business strategy and client servicing.

From his early days captaining sports teams (perhaps an early indication of his Play Maker proclivity) to today, he has always enjoyed nurturing individual and team potential. Seeing skills, gifts, and talents in people (which they don’t recognise) and developing them brings him immense fulfilment.

Strategic Sherpas utilise three decades of expertise to help CEOs, founders and senior leaders Reimagine What’s Possible within their organisations with particular specialisms in business growth, strategy and client servicing.

Let’s connect and start a conversation. 

*And yes, he does confess to having a mild addiction to cold water!

With a rich background in technology leadership roles such as CTO, CPO, and MD, Dan brings a practical approach to digital transformation and product development. He excels in identifying and solving business challenges through strategic technology initiatives and people leadership.

In 2018, Dan co-founded the digital agency “Bournemouth Digital”, scaling it to a significant turnover and building a strong 15-person team. His success culminated in a strategic exit in 2022, after which he assumed the role of Head of Technology at a much larger agency. There, he managed a dedicated team of developers and oversaw a much larger P&L.

Dan has held senior leadership roles at SDS Group, Etch, RevOps Automated, Ecrubox, Interpin and Bournemouth Digital. While in these roles, he has had the privilege of working with prominent entities such as Travis Perkins, Oxford University, Quilter Financial Advisors, Stella McCartney, Reluxe Fashion, Southampton City Council, Ancaster and Vice Media.

Rooted in a natural inclination for problem-solving and lateral thinking, Dan has developed a nuanced ability to discuss and navigate complex ideas with empathy and clarity. This skillset not only honed his technical capabilities but also established him as an effective and relatable leader, enabling him to support and inspire both his teams and clients.

As a software developer and architect, he has a solid background in .NET, PHP, React and NodeJS, along with building complex solutions in Azure, AWS, and Digital Ocean. Most notably, he has worked on platforms such as MS Dynamics, Oracle NetSuite, HubSpot, Umbraco, WordPress, and Shopify.

Let’s connect and start a conversation. 

With over a decade of CFO roles in private equity and owner-managed businesses, Gareth brings a fresh perspective to communicating finance matters with a real focus on ensuring the audience understands the key messages. He is an excellent technical accountant but thrives in understanding business performance, improving day-to-day processes, and planning for the future – whatever that might be.

Having trained as a chartered accountant at Big 4 firm KPMG. He took his first FD role at 30 and worked as a CFO in several Private Equity backed businesses. A key highlight in Gareth’s career was completing the sale of DW3 Group to a US buyer for $100m.

He was also the owner and CFO of an e-commerce retail business and brings a wealth of understanding of warehouse, transport, customer service, sales, and marketing metrics that support business decisions and aid understanding for external stakeholders (including but not limited to lenders, investors, suppliers and partners).

This unique offering combines Gareth’s exceptional analytical skills with his network of trusted finance professionals who support him and his clients. His network includes Financial Controllers, Data Analysts, and BI specialists, as well as financial Modelers, Tax Advisers, and Corporate Finance Advisors.

Let’s connect and start a conversation.