Ken Thompson

“It's been a privilege learning from Ken over the past year as my manager. Not only does he have a wealth of experience and knowledge to share, but he is extremely approachable and supportive. Ken is a true leader who guides, listens, and empowers his team. He has also personally helped me grow as a product manager, giving me a helpful nudge to do things I thought I'd never do. Ken was integral to providing strategic direction and focus for the product teams, as well as shifting the company to be more product-led. During this time, I admired his ability to influence using facts and data and his ability to make pragmatic decisions to help teams quickly innovate. Ken is a leader who brings a sense of calm and clarity to uncertain situations and makes a long lasting impact wherever he goes. I strongly recommend Ken to any company seeking a thoughtful, results-driven product leader.”

“I had the privilege of working under Ken's leadership at Microsoft. Right from the beginning, Ken's approach to the recruitment process stood out. He went above and beyond to ensure the interview panel was both gender and ethnically diverse, which not only made the experience more comfortable for me but also highlighted his unwavering commitment to diversity and inclusion. Once on board, Ken's support was unparalleled. He actively assisted in drafting my learning plan, had constructive conversations about career progression, and always championed my professional aspirations. Beyond just managerial duties, Ken ensured I was seamlessly integrated into the team. By positioning me in a role primed for growth, yet surrounded by supportive colleagues, he created an environment where I could flourish without feeling overwhelmed. His investment in my onboarding, including dedicating a week to acclimate me to Microsoft's ecosystem, exemplifies his meticulous and nurturing management style. On a personal note, Ken's calm demeanor and technical mentorship made him incredibly easy to work with. His emphasis on creating a low-pressure environment meant that I could focus on learning, contributing, and growing both professionally and personally. To sum it up, Ken's unwavering dedication to diversity and inclusion, combined with his thoughtful and supportive managerial approach, makes him an exemplary leader. Any organization or individual would be fortunate to have him at the helm.”

“Ken is one of those leaders I truly cherish working for. He leads with respect, trust and integrity – combined with strong technical/product knowledge and business acumen makes him an asset to any organization. During my tenure in the Microsoft ISV partnerships team, Ken was a great presence to have in complex negotiations and escalations – with clarity in direction, brought a sense of calm along with his amicable nature; and was instrumental in getting stakeholders moving towards common good. *Model, coach and care* – Leading through the pandemic, admittedly a difficult time for all, Ken kept the team morale going – being empathetic of varied needs, coaching individuals through business and organizational changes, truly living up to the leadership ideals of model, coach and care. *Diversity champion* – Ken is a living example of leadership in action that significantly uplifts the diversity makeup of the team and sense of inclusion: not only does he have a knack for seeking and attracting great talent, is a great ally and remains invested in individuals’ professional growth. He has been a prominent influence in my own leadership journey. Ken, may your tribe increase!”

“ I had the pleasure to work with Ken on delivering Australia's first IaaS public cloud offerings, at Telstra. Ken had attention to detail, switched on, always delivered results and is also great to work with!”

“I had the pleasure to work with Ken at Microsoft where he led the GTM plan for GitHub and Microsoft Azure DevOps partnership. I was very impressed with his leadership skills and ability to lead and influence others. He is detail oriented, and very diligent at following up to make sure that things get done. Any organization would be fortunate to have Ken as a member of their team.”

“I first met Ken when I was going through the interview process to find a Senior Cloud Pre-sales Architect. I had met several people over a period of a couple of months, and had arrived at the point of thinking that my unicorn did not exist. Enter Ken. He was not just the only candidate (out of several) to only possess the desired traits (technical background, experience in the industry, work experience at several major local customers, and an innovative / orthogonal way of thinking), but he also took the interview scenario and turned it into a situation where the fictional company could not just save costs, but could create new revenue streams. I had found my unicorn! Ken quickly came up to speed on what was required for his role, picking up both the intricacies of the business and technical aspects of the job. He has an admirable knack for picking up technical details. But his biggest strength was and continues to be leveraging his knowledge and capabilities to help prospects and existing customers with achieving business outcomes. Ken has demonstrated this time and again; with his background in consulting, he ensures that the customer’s outcomes (whether previously known or newly envisioned) are paramount. A good example of this relates to one of the biggest Red Hat opportunities in the APAC region. The conversation started off as an opportunity to sell a product into that customer - Ken not only took full ownership of the situation, but also convinced the customer that the platform was much more than yet another piece of software. To deliver on this vision, he pulled together a coalition of partners to envision and change the customer’s business model, enabling them to target new markets and create new revenue streams. The ability to leverage his technical know-how to create possibilities for the business sets Ken apart from other equally smart people. I will always want Ken on my team, no matter what the work actually comprises. He is a rockstar.”

“Ken was one of my direct reports whilst working on multiple cloud platform projects for a large telecommunications service provider in Australia. Ken was easily the number one resource on my team. He has a very strong technical background and is able to both architect and deliver multiple components (virtualization/infrastructure/OSS/BSS) of end-to-end cloud solutions. His technical depth is complemented by his strong project management and people skills. I always knew that if I had a difficult problem to solve that I could delegate it to Ken and that he would manage it to completion with very little intervention or management attention. Ken also understands how to balance business needs with technical solutions and delivery targets which places him significantly ahead of resources with equivalent work experience. I would happily have Ken work for me again and would gladly respond to any inquiries with regards to his capabilities as an IT resource.”

“Ken and I worked together for over year and very closely in the first 6 months. It will be a struggle not to use hyperbole to describe Ken, but he is star at his job in the guise of a quiet achiever. He is smart and brings his solid technology focused grounding to all his tasks, adding value where relevant or simply just executing the task on time utilising the right resources while exceeding client expectations. His client relationship skills are above par both within his own team and outside of it, having many times to bring people together who are not officially part of his team to deliver a large piece of work - a testament also to his project management skills. It was a pleasure working with Ken and I look forward to working with him again soon.”

“Ken's endless drive was an enormous asset to our business. With Ken, problems are always solved correctly and completely. He is proactive, innovative, easy to work with and always had an excellent relationship with our clients. Ken consistently provided new ways to use technology to make running our business easier.”