Andy Sheats: 30 Years as a Tech Executive. Now Australia's Specialist CTO and CIO Coach.
For over 30 years, I’ve led almost every function in digital businesses, including product, technology, sales, marketing, operations, strategy, and acquisitions teams. I realised that improving the leader can have a huge positive impact on the whole team — whether it’s a dozen people or thousands. I coach to help bring about that change.
I’ve served as CEO, CTO, COO, CGO, founder, investor, NED, Chair and more.
As a specialist coach and mentor for tech leaders, I bring all this experience and more to accelerate the growth of today's technology leaders.
As Chief Technology Officer at Open Universities Australia, I led a talent technology leadership team to continue modernising and strengthening our engineering culture and practices, and connecting with product and the broader commercial organisation. Together, we doubled the team's delivery throughput within 18 months.
As Chief Growth Officer at Open Universities Australia, I redefined sales strategy and channels and re-platformed our sales and mar-tech stack. I also led a pivotal shift in incentives—from ‘coin-operated' to purpose-driven—which lifted employee NPS from -30 to +70. I drove the commercial transformation of our student operations, restarting revenue growth after three years of decline.
As Co-Founder and CEO of health.com.au, I raised $85m and quickly grew to $120m in revenue. Customers voted health.com.au as the “most loved” insurance brand. Telstra awarded us Best Start-Up in Australia, and ACVAL named me Growth CEO of the Year.
At REA Group, I led a global growth strategy through mergers and acquisitions. We expanded into a dozen countries and increased shareholder value by 10x.
Connect with me on LinkedIn to learn more about my experience.
A personal highlight: Video of accepting the Telstra Business Award as Australia’s Best Startup in front of 1500 people.
Advanced Coaching Expertise & Accreditation
Technical leadership by CIOs and CTOs is high stakes, and failure has serious consequences. While real-world experience is important, it is not enough. Professional coaching training and accreditation ensure that the coaching methodology is effective, rigorous, repeatable and ethical.
The Institute of Executive Coaching and Leadership (IECL) is a best-in-class Australian accreditation that meets professional practice expectations. This program is, in turn, accredited by the International Coaching Federation, which is the national peak body for executive coaching. The Leadership Circle Profile is a leading internationally recognised and validated assessment instrument.
Combining these broader coaching frameworks with the Leadership Circle's data-driven insights provides a tested and repeatable coaching process to help CTOs and CIOs move beyond reactive habits and into creative, strategic leadership.
Coaching Expertise
Leadership development for CTOs/CIOs
Onboard and upskill new CTOs/CIOs
Develop high-potential and aspiring leaders into future C-suite executives
Help CEOs and other Execs better lead and engage their technology strategy and team
Develop top teams in tech companies
Mentoring Expertise
Modern digital business O/S: culture, practices, structure & metrics
Setting up effective product teams
Going autonomous, cross-functional
Building stronger board relationships
Fostering clarity and accountability
Creating a high-performance culture
Implementing disciplined commercial practices
Prioritising work and investment
Education and Accreditation
MBA Melbourne Business School
Bachelor of Industrial Engineering
Graduate, Australian Institute of Company Directors
Certified Coach, Institute of Executive Coaching and Leadership (International Coaching Federation)
Accredited Leadership Circle Profile
Process Communication Model
What Clients are Saying… Andy “genuinely adds value to make me a more effective CIO”
“Andy brings a rare ability to quickly understand the real challenges facing CIOs and CTOs. He provides clear, practical executive coaching and guidance that genuinely adds value to make me a more effective CIO. Andy is a thoughtful, pragmatic, and highly effective. I’d confidently recommend Andy to any technology leader looking to sharpen their executive impact and navigate complexity with greater confidence.”
Andrew Haddad - Group CIO @ AGL Limited
My own coaching journey
I’ve experienced the transformative power of coaching twice in my career.
Each time, coaching gave me compelling insight into why I was less effective and more unhappy than I aspired to be. Both times, coaching helped me become a better leader (and perhaps a better person).
During one of these episodes, a peer and one of my closest friends said, “When you’re at your best, you’re the best I have seen. But when you’re not, you can be the worst.” The irony was that both ends of this spectrum were driven by the same thing: a very high aspiration for our business (and perhaps myself if I'm honest).
Startup days at health.com.auWhen things were working, I was at my best. When I couldn't make them work, my certainty came through not as a compelling solution but as arrogance: "They just don't get it". In fact, they did get it; They just disagreed! Coaching helped me unlock a more productive pattern to achieve my aspiration and go home happier.
I’ve applied this coaching outlook to my management and board roles, advising and mentoring startup founders and teams. Over time, I formalised my coaching skills through training and accreditation, and as my career progressed, the time I invested in coaching others became the highlight of my week.
Eventually, I decided to focus more on the coaching and mentoring I enjoyed so much - and CTO Coach was born.
Coaching through Covid
The OUA Exec Team: I learned a lot from this groupPersonal Interests Outside of Work
I grew up in Hawaii and California — not surfing, as you might expect, but obsessively chasing snow. That passion took me further than I anticipated.
After studying industrial engineering and Lean Manufacturing, I followed friends to Lake Tahoe for a ski season, then landed in San Francisco in 1989 just as the tech world was heating up. Strategy consulting led to software, software led to one of the earliest SaaS startups, and that kicked off a 30-year career across digital businesses worldwide.
The skiing detour that mattered most: a year off between jobs, working in a Swiss mountain village, where I met my wife. We eventually traded San Francisco for her hometown of Melbourne — where we've been ever since. Our son and daughter are now both software engineers, which I take as either a great endorsement or a cautionary tale.
The shift from CTO to CTO Coach was deliberate. I wanted work that energised me — being outdoors, sharing ideas, helping others grow. Coaching lets me do all three.
When I'm not coaching, I'm outside. Winter means the backcountry around Mt. Hotham. Summer means mountain biking in the hills above Melbourne. The problems are different, but the approach is the same: keep moving, stay curious.
What Clients Are Saying: “Being coached by Andy has made me a better teammate, leader, and person.”
“Coaching with Andy Sheats was a personal highlight in 2024 🚀 💫
I wanted to work with him because, as anyone who has will tell you - he’s a legend. The type of person who moves through the world with kindness, generosity, optimism, a sense of adventure, and a healthy dose of self-awareness.”
Catherine Sietkiewicz - Head of Growth @ InvestorHub
Ready to take your leadership to the next level? Let’s connect!
Get in touch and start the conversation.
