Anson Mathews
Designing organisations that create value.
I design organisations that turn strategy into measurable business value, partnering with senior leaders to architect the operating models, structures and workforce strategies that drive performance, productivity and profitable growth.
MBA · FCIPD · EODF · Prosci · ICF coach · Abu Dhabi, UAE
Building and leading HR and organisation design at scale
In my current global remit
Across 4 business units and 35+ subsidiaries today
Workforce-planned directly; USD 2.5Bn advised
M&A experience, from due diligence to integration
Behind the numbers sits one question I keep asking.
What if HR wasn't just about managing the workforce, but about designing the organisation that creates value?
For every $1 of revenue, how much should we spend on our workforce?
Which roles create the most value, and how do we maximise it?
How do we build an HR strategy that accelerates go-to-market and drives revenue?
Asking it again and again led me to the same gap.
Three functions, each holding part of the answer.
knows where the business wants to go.
knows what it will take to get there.
knows the people and capabilities required.
That is the space I have chosen to build my career around.
Organisation & People Strategy
- Organisation design
- Strategic workforce planning
- Workforce economics
- End-to-end HR strategy
- HR tech stack
- Talent programmes
Closing that gap became my work. Here is how I got here.
Early in my career I worked alongside leading MBB consultants, building the rigour of structured problem-solving and strategic advisory.
Over 15 years I have built and led HR functions at scale across 50+ countries: integrating a $4Bn acquisition, scaling into new regions, launching products and restructuring an organisation with $1Bn in annual workforce costs. The focus is always the same: align people strategy with business goals.
Outside that work, I speak at conferences and seminars, advise business schools, and coach leaders and professionals: 1,000+ coaching hours with 500+ people from 35+ nationalities.
- Business
- Fortune 500 · Public sector · Joint ventures & promoter-led
- Geography
- United States · North America · Europe · UK · Middle East · Asia · Africa
- Industry
- Logistics & Ports · Maritime · Real Estate · Investments · Construction · FMCG · Retail · Education · Steel · Power · Environmental Services
The journey, role by role.
15 years, six organisations, one discipline.
From strategic blueprint to implementation: organisations built to scale, designed to perform and engineered to deliver sustainable value.
Along the way, a few principles became non-negotiable.
“The structure of an organisation is its nervous system: the way it is designed decides how it adapts, reacts and evolves in the face of change.”
- Every option carries a costNo design reaches a leadership session uncosted. Options are compared on cost, risk and capability, side by side.
- Evidence before opinionActivity data, workload norms and live workforce models settle debates that would otherwise run on instinct.
- Read the roomGood design still has to be adopted. Cultural intelligence and stakeholder judgement matter as much as the model.
- Measure after go-liveI track every deliverable after implementation. A design isn't finished until it delivers its KPIs.
And the foundations behind them.
Credentials
Qualifications
- 2024Chartered Fellow, CIPD (FCIPD)
- 2020Fellow, Learning & Performance Institute, UK
- 2019Results Professional Coach, ICF
- 2018NLP Master Practitioner, ABNLP
- 2011MBA
- 2008B.Tech, Electronics & Communication
Certifications
- 2023Certified Org Design Practitioner (EODF)
- 2022Prosci ADKAR Change Practitioner
- 2021OD Certification Programme, TISS
- 2020Organisation Analysis, Stanford University
- 2020Design Thinking Practitioner, IBM
- 2018Managing as a Coach, University of California
- 2013People Capability Maturity Model (PCMM)
Tools & psychometrics
- AnalyticsOrgVue workforce modelling
- HRISSAP SuccessFactors · Oracle R12 & Fusion
- Psych.Saville Wave · Strong (CPP) · Talent Q · BPS Level A & B
Recognition
- 2017Top 25 Game Changers in the World, Workforce Magazine (USA)
- 2016HR's Rising Star, Mark of Excellence, Middle East HR Excellence Awards (Informa), while at DP World