Rich Blake’s experience and intuition combine for technical solutions that truly fit the people they are made for. He sets the conditions for Octave’s partners to confidently manage technology that creates value for business and the end user.

Rich’s technical career began in logistics, where he saw the need for a better approach to freight and then solved it by building the software himself. Fifteen years of software development and team leadership later, he draws on this same awareness, ingenuity and drive to optimise digital delivery.

Rich supports organisations to modernise over time, whether by creating new platforms or taking a fresh look at existing ones. He sees the benefits and pitfalls of trends and new products, and always considers these through the lens of his collaborators’ context, constraints, goals and current systems.

Rich is a big picture thinker who keeps his skills sharp and can’t stay away from the doing for long. His strategic vision and realistic understanding of the work make him a nimble and trusted advisor.

Logan Hodgson’s energy and insight have been helping organisations meet challenges for more than two decades. He fosters generative and trusting relationships with collaborators, working to understand business context and customer needs so he can determine a path where everyone wins.

With deep experience working in companies and agencies that span design, media, brand, digital tech and finance, Logan is uniquely equipped to untangle problems and identify opportunities. He applies curiosity with purpose, asking questions and challenging assumptions to widen the view of what’s possible and then focus activity to achieve the goal.

Logan is driven to help people find success at all levels of design, whether strategising for business growth, assembling a specialist team to solve a chunky problem, or connecting an organisation more meaningfully with the hearts and minds of the people it serves.

With keen awareness of the aims and constraints of each project and enterprise, it’s Logan’s future focus, passion for people, and ingenuity that make the difference in his work.

Mike Brough is an experienced and entrepreneurial leader whose specialist skills comfortably bridge people, data, and business. With a background in business transformation, he thrives in complexity and helps others navigate through it to find opportunity and success.

Mike is co-founder of Octave and Dot Loves Data. Past work in senior executive roles at Kiwibank and NZ Post see him well positioned to relate to a business’s aims from multiple angles. Grounded by a desire to make things better for people, Mike understands data deeply and can quickly see its significance — a winning combination that helps Octave’s partners overcome challenges, unearth new approaches, and grow.

Mike’s people-centred problem solving alongside expertise in AI, machine learning, and emerging technologies keep his collaborators in touch with customers and ahead of the curve.

Claire Jaycock is a creative leader whose relaxed approach and focused curiosity guide those she works with to new and better ways of delivering value.

Drawing on two decades of design experience in large organisations and creative agencies, Claire helps Octave’s partners unpick business challenges and determine the right territory to explore. She understands the implications of design in the context of people’s lives, and blends customer empathy with commercial nous to bring fruitful new directions into view.

A talent for bold ideas and a commitment to testing them means Claire is uniquely equipped to create high-quality solutions that land with purpose and impact. Her innovative thinking has bolstered lifestyle brands Adidas and O’Neill, unlocked the digital design capability of BNZ, and now helps Octave’s partners solve problems and evolve experiences beyond what they thought possible.