Brian Coleman
Founder and Managing Director, BMC Ascent
I have spent more than 20 years on both sides of commercial problems. As a consultant, I diagnosed them. As an executive, I was accountable for solving them, with a sales target, a marketing strategy, a product portfolio or a major client relationship depending on the result.
Nearly all of that work has been in Europe. I have been based in Brussels, Munich, Paris and London, and led teams and clients across more than 15 European markets. I work in English, French and German, and get by in Italian and Spanish. As a dual Belgian and American citizen, I am used to working across borders and business cultures, between a group’s headquarters and its country teams, or between owners and management.
“Brian is a no-nonsense strategic thinker who knows how sales and marketing teams work in the real world. He’s been there and done that, so he understands the importance of pragmatic solutions.”
— Tommaso Carboni, Country Director at bee2link Italy
Track record
2,000
AWS · Generative AI, from the boardroom to the front line
At AWS, I led generative AI projects for global carmakers through every stage: executive scoping sessions, business cases, prototypes built with AWS specialists, and deployment into production. One customer-service assistant was rolled out to around 2,000 agents worldwide. Another, a programme involving senior leaders across several divisions, was approved for development after nine months of scoping. I also earned the AWS Certified AI Practitioner credential.
$500M
Advised the CMOs and marketing teams of global carmakers on digital marketing strategy and campaigns. Initiated and helped negotiate first-time Joint Business Plans with two of them: $390 million over three years and $110 million over two. The second made that client the fastest-growing automotive account in EMEA, with spend up 70% in the first year.
EV
TomTom
Led TomTom’s EV strategy for automotive customers: brought together input from across the product organisation, led the discussions with senior stakeholders, and drafted the strategy documents. Also worked on new subscription and SaaS business models.
2× revenue
MotorK
As Chief Strategy Officer of a VC-backed software scale-up, helped more than double revenue while the team grew from 120 to 350 people. Led due diligence and early negotiations for an acquisition in France.
€350M
Toyota Motor Europe
Sales: ran Lexus sales across 16 Western European markets through the 2008 financial crisis.
Marketing: set Toyota’s European brand and advertising strategy, including the campaign to restore trust in the Toyota brand after the 2010 recalls.
Finance and Lean: as Controller, oversaw a €350 million sales and marketing budget, and led process improvements across 19 European markets and headquarters.
How I work
I have spent my career inside organisations known for how they solve problems, and I bring those methods to every engagement.
BCG
Structure
Break complex, ambiguous problems into parts, work through messy data, and turn the findings into recommendations people can act on.
Data and experimentation
Decide on evidence, test quickly, and scale what works.
Toyota
Lean
Go and see where the work happens, remove waste, and improve continuously. I led the internal team that rolled out Toyota’s Lean Operations principles across its European business.
AWS
Working backwards
Start from the outcome the customer needs and work back to the plan, with a bias for action and a willingness to dive deep.
Background
I began my career as a staff correspondent for The Wall Street Journal in Brussels, covering European business, economics and politics for eight years. After an MBA at INSEAD, I joined BCG in Munich as a strategy consultant.
At INSEAD, I co-wrote a case study on how Reuters should respond as the internet turned its core product into a commodity. AI is now doing the same to large parts of sales and marketing.
INSEAD (MBA) · Johns Hopkins SAIS (MA, International Economics and European Studies) · Syracuse University (BA) · IMD (Senior Management Development Program)