Here’s what they said
Digital consultancy Futurice has scored a hat trick of senior hires, with Fjord’s John Oswald, ustwo’s Alex Crowfoot and Mette Andersen, all joining the Old Street based business in leadership roles. The hires follow the appointment of former easyJet CIO Trevor Didcock as the company’s first UK board director and represent a significant investment in the UK business.
John Oswald joins as Global Principal of Futurice’s Advisory team, a 40-strong European team of multi-disciplinary consultants who coach Futurice’s clients on how to best achieve business impact and organisational evolution as they launch new services or innovate in new ways. John will also boost Futurice’s client activity in London, and create new relationships for Futurice with design and business-focused academic institutions. John joins from Fjord, where as Business Design Director, he pioneered and grew Fjord’s Business Design unit across 21 studios globally, responsible for some of Fjord’s most impactful work.
Former ustwo Head of Discovery Alex Crowfoot joins Futurice as Design Director. Alex has over 25 years’ experience working with organisations large and small to evolve and generate products, brands and services. He developed ustwo’s framework for product and service discovery and set up and oversaw pivotal digital transformation projects, alongside nurturing the London studio’s design team and culture. Extensive brand and strategy experience earlier in his career meant in 2016 he was able to step in and develop branding for Google’s DeepMind Health business, including naming their first product. Alex brings a strong belief in collaborative working and a holistic, deeply human approach to design.
Following eight months as an external consultant for Futurice, Mette Andersen has been appointed as Managing Partner of Strategic Innovation. She will lead the London office alongside Managing Director Tom McQueen and help nurture the team and the business. For the last decade Mette has held senior positions within innovation and design, most recently as Studio Lead at ustwo London. Mette will lead organisational design and transformation projects for Futurice clients and at the same time will continue the progressive people development and coaching initiatives she has introduced.
Tom McQueen, MD of Futurice UK said: “We are so happy to have John, Alex and Mette join us. Each of them brings an exceptional level of vision, experience and talent to the team. They are already making a significant contribution to our mission to empower our people and our clients to become future capable. In practice, this means developing the necessary leadership mindset and evolving new ways of working in order to understand and exploit emerging technologies.”
Futurice CEO Tuomas Syrjänen added: “John, Alex and Mette’s decision to work for Futurice is a huge endorsement of both our people-centred culture and our collaborative approach to business change. They have a deep understanding of the leadership, strategy and tools required to make the most of the opportunities that digital presents. I’m looking forward to working with them to enable people-centred growth for our clients and for the business.”
Commenting on his decision to join Futurice, John Oswald said: “I’ve long been impressed both by the quality and depth of Futurice’s work for clients and by the company’s radically empowering approach to its people. As well as coaching and inspiring teams, I’m looking forward to working on game-changing new initiatives for our clients and the markets they serve, as well as ensuring we prepare the next generation of designers and advisors to keep us all in tune with future trends.”
Alex Crowfoot added: “Futurice has strong values around giving people the freedom and the tools to create better products, services and to make life at work more meaningful and fulfilling, an approach which really chimes with my own outlook. I’m looking forward to contributing my perspective on how to design services that are sustainable commercially and from a societal and environmental point of view.”
Mette Andersen said: “I joined Futurice because it’s entering an important phase of growth and there’s a great opportunity to shape things and have a real impact. I’m passionate about people’s happiness and engagement at work and about building a culture of empowerment and collaboration. Hiring and keeping the best talent is key to growing the business and I’m driving a variety of strategic initiatives to achieve this.”
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