Executive Counsel

Economics Before Aesthetics: The Leadership Collective

Our advisory practice is led by commercial operators, agency founders, and academic innovators. We have built, scaled, and exited businesses ourselves—bringing peer-level gravitas to the boardroom rather than junior consultancy delegates.

Industry Validation

MCA Awards Finalist — Best New Consultancy

The Management Consultancies Association (MCA) Awards have operated for over 25 years as the gold standard of consulting excellence in the UK. Assessed by independent C-suite leaders from McKinsey & Company, Deloitte, academia, and The Sunday Times, the nomination recognises NOKAMO’s demonstrable bottom-line commercial impact and client delivery rigor.

MANAGEMENT CONSULTANCIES ASSOCIATION MCA Finalist 2025
The Collective

Executive Partners & Practice Directors

Direct, uninterrupted access to the principals who formulate and execute your strategic transformation.

Ian Humphris, Founder and CEO of NOKAMO

Ian Humphris

Founder & CEO

Serial entrepreneur with an uncompromising focus on commercial transformation. Co-founded LIFE and Twelve agencies (2006–2015), steering accounts across Nestlé, GlaxoSmithKline, Molson Coors, and Coca-Cola, before concluding a trade sale to Communisis PLC. Maniacally evangelical about the power of brand as business source code.

Jonathan Sands OBE, Brand Stewardship lead at NOKAMO

Jonathan Sands OBE

Brand Stewardship

Internationally recognized design pioneer. Former owner and Chairman of Elmwood design consultancy. Former Chair of the Design Business Association (DBA), RSA Council Member, Visiting Professor of Innovation at Huddersfield University, and awarded an OBE in the 2011 Queen’s New Year Honours list for services to the creative industry.

Rachel Jackson, Managing Partner at NOKAMO

Rachel Jackson

Managing Partner

Founding partner with 15+ years steering complex global brand portfolios. A rare hybrid of high-level creative execution, strategic rigor, and commercial intuition; category experience spans highly sensitive fields including advanced oncology immunotherapy and consumer healthcare.

James Graemer, Strategy Partner at NOKAMO

James Graemer

Strategy Partner

Senior brand and marketing strategist specialising in positioning technology scale-ups, defending B2B firms against margin erosion and commoditisation, and launching complex medical device innovations for multinational healthcare corporations.

Justine Roberts-Davies, Creative Partner at NOKAMO

Justine Roberts-Davies

Creative Partner

Senior creative director championing design as an unapologetic expression of core commercial strategy rather than decorative excess. Dedicated to delivering high-signal clarity over visual noise across multi-channel international deployments.

David Poole, Commercial Development Director at NOKAMO

David Poole

Commercial Development

Seasoned business operator, agency co-founder, and former PLC executive following corporate acquisition. Leads revenue acceleration, market opportunity identification, commercial deal structuring, and executive-level client relationship development.

Phil Butterworth, Client Leadership Director at NOKAMO

Phil Butterworth

Client Leadership

Veteran client services leader and published author on client account management. Expert in stakeholder alignment, commercial partnership governance, and managing multi-tiered international enterprise accounts across complex stakeholder matrices.

AM

Angus Millen

Non-Executive Director

Founder, private investor, and senior advisor. Founded and built an acclaimed Wealth Management institution over 35 years, concluding with a 100% corporate acquisition by Evelyn Partners. Advises founders on connecting brand decisions to enterprise valuation and liquidity.

Marketing Science

Grounding Strategy in Empirical Science, Not Opinion

According to research by the Fournaise Group, 80% of CEOs do not trust the marketing function—ranking marketers lower in credibility than politicians. When marketing trades formal qualifications for social media soundbites and vanity awards, CFOs inevitably reduce the discipline to short-term digital performance spend.

PRINCIPLE 01

Ehrenberg-Bass Institute

Grounded in Byron Sharp’s empirical laws of brand growth: prioritizing mental and physical availability, mass market reach, and non-negotiable distinctive brand assets over narrow niche segmentation.

PRINCIPLE 02

Binet & Field (IPA)

Implementing the empirical 60/40 balance: investing in broad, emotion-led brand building to drive long-term pricing power and organic cash flow, paired with targeted short-term performance activation.

PRINCIPLE 03

Ritson’s ‘Bothism’

Rejecting ideological dogma between Kotlerian niche positioning and pure Sharpian penetration. We deploy rigorous commercial diagnostics to build strategies that attack both fronts simultaneously.

This is why NOKAMO operates not as a creative boutique, but as an uncompromising strategic partner. We give CEOs and CFOs the empirical ammunition required to justify capital allocation and build defensible corporate balance sheets.

Boardroom Engagement

Spar with Our Principals Directly

Contact Ian Humphris or Rachel Jackson to discuss your enterprise portfolio, M&A integration, or exit valuation timetable.