OUR STORY
Expertise: Forged through extensive real-world executive experience across world-class organizations, we transcend theoretical models and one-off projects to offer both practical and boundary pushing solutions. Consulting each other over dinners and on dog walks for a quarter century has sharpened our multi-industries insights and deepened our understanding of what truly drives enterprise-wide success.
Philosophy: We believe focusing on what matters most, asking challenging questions and having the courage to make hard decisions yields lasting benefits. Our lives and business are built on emphasizing shared values while cultivating different perspectives. By intentionally fostering an environment of trust and candor in every engagement, we can turn complexity into clarity and achieve transformative results together.
Nelly Kennedy
Born in Athens, Greece, and later raised in Vienna, Austria, Nelly's adventurous spirit and open-minded approach were shaped by living and working across six countries and two continents. She has a proven track record of driving profound change, from legacy industries to future-shaping powerhouses, and enjoys navigating complexity, even teaching Crisis Communications for CEOs.
Alongside other leading brands, Nelly dedicated over two decades of her career as a global executive at adidas and Google, guiding critical pillars of strategic evolution for both organizations. Prior to launching Mākia Consulting, she spearheaded a substantial strategic and organizational brand transformation in her role as the Global CMO for Volkswagen.
Nelly's interest in behavioral studies deeply shapes her approach to leadership. She's a fierce advocate of balancing intense, complex work with the scientific benefits of recuperation, recognizing its importance in boosting innovation, focus and resilience. Her personal avenues for this preferably take place in nature, during exuberant dog walks and tranquil moments with her horse. She recognizes that animals excel at constructive feedback and raise self-awareness—an underrated leadership trait in her mind.
Nelly finds it most rewarding when she can inspire organizations and individuals to find the courage to lead the way and drive meaningful change.
Tom Kennedy
Merging a Midwestern and Hawaiian upbringing, Tom’s professional life has moved him to the USA’s east and west coast as well as different European countries. Much of his career was spent leading new initiatives and functions at adidas, Google, Bowers & Wilkins and the University of California. Prior to launching Mākia Consulting, he was the Senior Director of Strategic Communication at the University of California-San Francisco, and earned a certificate from the MIT Sloan School of Management for the Impact of AI on Business Strategy.
His favorite work experiences include living in a Kenyan running camp, establishing a non-profit that supported young adults in conflict areas through sports, working on-site at both the Olympics and World Cup, and producing a podcast about the search for a sickle cell disease cure.
Outside the office, Tom's hobbies shape his approach to challenges. As a 2:31 marathoner, he's keenly aware that all success is incremental. As an emergency response volunteer, he knows aligned objectives and clear structure are critical for efficacy during uncertainty. And as a former journalist, he understands that asking the right questions can shift perspectives and help make sense of complexity.
His interests range from 120 feet below sea level as a certified rescue scuba diver to the clouds as a private pilot, and most things in between.