About Us >> Management Team
Will O’Brien, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Partner
Mr. O’Brien has extensive experience in general management, sales, marketing and business development. Primarily in the consulting industry, Mr. O’Brien has made a career of growing and building high performance teams and companies in international markets. A career that began as an account manager in New York has evolved to executive positions in Sales and Marketing. His accomplishments include: growing the US business of ObjectArts in its early growth stages from US$2M to US$8M in 6 years, earning a Microsoft Partner of the Year Award, establishing United Training (an international consortium of training providers), turning around an education practice with declining revenues and shrinking margins, leading the Manta Group to 1400% growth over its first five years and earning Manta a ranking of 13 and 250 on Canada’s Top 50 Emerging Growth companies and the Branham 300 respectively.
Mr. O’Brien has had significant success defining and implementing strategic initiatives that result in increased competitive advantage. Working with customers in financial services and government, Mr. O’Brien has provided advisory and project management services for Service Management, Project Portfolio Management, Enterprise Project/Portfolio Risk Management and Compliance initiatives. As a member of the Information Systems Audit and Control Association, the IT Service Management Forum and the IT Governance Institute, Mr. O’Brien keeps abreast of the latest methods and guidelines developed by these global organizations and makes sure that the Manta Group’s solutions stay current with industry standards and accepted best practices.
In addition to customer facing activities, Mr. O’Brien is responsible for setting the vision for the Manta Group, providing thought leadership and evangelizing the Manta Group’s service offerings through a variety of speaking engagements and various business development initiatives. Mr. O’Brien has been featured in Project Times, Computerworld and Edge Magazine. Prior speaking engagements include the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants annual conference on IT Governance, Audit and Security, ProjectWorld and the IT Service Management Forum’s annual conference.
Mr. O’Brien is an advocate of professional standards and corporate social responsibility as demonstrated by his commitment to supporting industry forums and community projects focused on mentoring and growing professional and contributing citizens. As an advocate of youth leadership, Mr. O’Brien supports Canada’s Top 20 under 20 national youth leadership program through career opportunities and fundraising. Mr. O’Brien also supports Sick Kids Hospital.
Ash Allagh, Chief Operating Officer & Managing Partner
With over 15 years of experience in leading and managing financial and consulting services, Mr. Allagh is responsible for the Manta Group operations including finance and HR. In his role as the Manta Group Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Allagh ensures that Manta Group resources and expertise are utilized effectively and meet clients’ requirements.
Mr. Allagh started off his career in 1990 at Canada Life Insurance Co. within the IS Investments division where he led a number of high profile technical projects leading him to pursue his MBA and step into the field of Management Consultant. Prior to co-founding the Manta Group, Mr. Allagh spent five years as an executive of an IT consulting services organization where he managed operations during a $7M to $30M revenue growth period. Mr. Allagh's achievements in growing management consulting practices are recognized by the mark of superior service and value leading him to develop an extensive network of IT and business professionals.
Due to his in-depth technical knowledge and business acumen track record, Mr. Allagh has effectively deployed a number of innovative approaches to grow the depth and breadth of the Manta Group management consulting capabilities through the Human Resources and Finance mandate. Mr. Allagh’s primary focus is to provide leadership and build capabilities among the consultants to enable the successful delivery of Manta Group’s services. This includes developing competencies, processes and controls required to bring business operations into harmony with strategy.
Mr. Allagh holds an MBA from the Schulich School of Business, a B.Sc in Computer Science from the University of Toronto and is a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA). As an active member of the IT Governance Institute, Information Systems Audit and Control Association, Project Management Institute and IT Service Management Forum, Mr. Allagh keeps abreast of industry standard frameworks and methodologies. Mr. Allagh has conducted workshops and been a public speaker at conferences covering various IT Governance topics. Mr. Allagh supports community projects to provide opportunities to young people and is an advocate of Youth in Motion Opportunities Unlimited program offering employment to young people.
Thomas Lundon, Partner, Eastern Canada
Mr. Lundon is an innovative professional with over 15 years of progressive management experience bringing a broad vision in service delivery, customer service, and business acumen to a range of demanding organizations. He is an assertive manager with excellent interpersonal and leadership skills and has a flair for identifying and implementing simple solutions to complex problems with a hands on, lead-by-example management style.
Prior to joining The Manta Group in 2005, Mr Lundon worked for Siemens Business Services in Ireland for over 8 years and for Supercom Canada for the previous 4 years. His focus on being a high achiever was recognised at Siemens where Mr. Lundon was awarded a highly prestigious award in 2005 for his ability to secure a significant major new client for the Irish operation. Holding various progressive sales and delivery roles has facilitated Mr. Lundon taking on pivotal roles in advising and supporting a range of demanding organizations in relation to their business objectives and IT services.
Mr. Lundon received his formal education in Engineering from Trinity College, Dublin and in 2004 he received his MBA from the Smurfit School of Business, University College Dublin finishing in the top one percentile of the class. Mr. Lundon is an active member of the Project Management Institute (PMI) and IT Service Management Forum (ITSMF).
As a Partner with the Manta Group, Mr. Lundon firmly believes that IT/business alignment is not so much a “nice-to-have” but a “must-have”. In this role, Mr. Lundon positions Manta as the partner of choice for process & control improvement programs that address IT Governance concerns for a range of leading and demanding organizations in Eastern Canada.
Jeff Willner, AdvisorFounder, CEO
Graduate Tours
Mr. Willner is an experienced entrepreneur, with three successful startups since 1990. Mil-Aer Fluid Power, an aviation and military hydraulics company, which he co-led from startup to several million in sales. ObjectArts, a computer programmer and web developer training company, which he co-founded and grew to 70 employees and $8 million in sales with offices in the US and Canada. Graduate Tours is the most recent start-up with a focus on high quality customized safaris in Africa. With sales offices in the US, Canada, UK and operations offices with in-house guides/vehicles in Africa, it can provide top quality safaris at market leading prices. Graduate Tours is one of the fastest growing tour companies in Canada.
Mr. Willner is a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society, recognized for ‘significant contributions to the geographic community’ for his Land Rover safaris to over 70 countries around the world. His Junglerunner.com online site is used as an information resource on foreign locales by a diverse range of users, from overland expedition planners, teachers, and even Entertainment Tonight. He is also a member of the prestigious Explorer’s Club.
Graduating from Wharton School of Business in 2001, he won the Morgenthau medal for his work in public policy with emphasis on the development of third world countries.
Previous positions include four years with McKinsey & Company where he provided consulting for senior executives at major corporations, assisting with strategy, operational improvement and M&A. Projects included; strategic review for major petrochemical company with $200m per year in new value, commodity hedging strategies for protein and aluminium processing companies, growth strategy for a $1.5 billion expansion in the Canadian oil sands, and pro-bono work for the Global Fund against AIDS, Malaria, and TB which resulted in $1B of ‘in-kind’ private sector donations.
He is married to Stacey Madge, a partner at McKinsey & Company, and has two boys, Max and Jack. He resides in downtown Toronto, Ontario.
Dee Rajpal, Advisor
Mr. Rajpal is a partner with Stikeman Elliott in Toronto practising corporate and securities law. His practice focuses primarily on corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and compliance matters with an emphasis on cross-border transactions. He has extensive experience in counselling senior management and the Board of Directors of leading public and private corporations. He also advises dealers, institutional shareholders, investment funds, income trusts and private equity funds. Mr. Rajpal is a frequent speaker and writer on securities law topics and was a Co-Project Leader in preparing a report for the Government of Trinidad & Tobago to significantly revise that country’s securities legislation.
Mr. Rajpal has been recognized by Lexpert, the Canadian legal directory in the area of Corporate Finance & Securities and was recently named as one of Canada’s Top 40 Lawyers Under Age 40. Mr. Rajpal has also recently been recognized by the Canadian Who’s Who and the International Who’s Who publications.
Professional Activities
Mr. Rajpal is a member of the Ontario Bar Association and the Canadian Bar Association. Mr. Rajpal has spoken and written on such topics as initial public offerings, continuous disclosure issues for public companies, M&A and Chinese wall/insider trading policies and procedures. Mr. Rajpal has also taught the LLM graduate program on securities law at Osgoode Hall Law School.
Education
Osgoode Hall Law School (LL.B. 1990.), University of Toronto (B.A. in Commerce 1987).
Terence M. Donnelly, AdvisorExecutive Vice President, Practice Leader
ICT and Public Sector
Chief Information Officer & Chief Privacy Officer
Mandrake Management Consultants Corp.
Mandrake is Canada’s largest privately held executive search firm and the exclusive Canadian partner in the International Executive Search Federation, the fourth largest network of executive search firms in the world with revenues in excess of USD$200 Million.
Mr. Donnelly has worked extensively in the selection of executive leadership and management in the information technology and communications industry for nearly twenty years. He was recruited by Mandrake in 1992, and appointed a Partner in 1994. He was appointed Executive Vice President, Practice Leader for technology and telecommunications in 1999. In February 2000, Mr. Donnelly was appointed President of Mandrake Alliance Corporate Services, Mandrake’s corporate finance subsidiary. In 2002, he was appointed Practice Leader of Mandrake’s emerging public sector practice, and serving clients such as the Government of Ontario (Vendor of Record), crown corporations and agencies, and a variety of not for profit organizations.
He currently sits on the Board of Directors of the firm and is Mandrake’s Chief Information and Privacy Officer with accountability for Mandrake and its operating subsidiaries, wwwork!com and Nexcareer Management Services. He is also Chief Talent Officer and Partner of Terranova Capital, a merchant banking firm providing both capital and advisory services to early stage technology firms.
Terence is a Director and Chair of the Compensation Committee of Atlantis Systems Corp. (TSX:AIQ), and an Advisory Board Member of the Richard Ivey School of Business Information Technology program. He has served as a member of the Board of MarketingCanada.com, SMART Toronto, the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance, and the Wireless Industry Congress. He is a member of the board of directors of the Willowdale Federal Conservative Riding Association.
Mr. Donnelly current sits on the board of directors of the Right to Play Foundation, a global charity providing sport for development programs to over 500,000 children weekly in the most destitute areas of the world with a program budget in excess of USD$20MM. He was a director and committee chair of the White Ribbon Foundation from 1993-2000, and for which he was awarded a Gold Mobius, one of the most prestigious awards in the advertising industry worldwide.
He has been married to Helene since 1988, and has three children, Nathan and Jackson, aged 12, and Bridget, aged 10. He resides in Willowdale, Ontario.
Luke Seabrook, AdvisorExecutive Managing Director
Financial Products
BMO Capital Markets
Luke Seabrook is head of the Structured Products Group and Institutional Investor Derivative Origination Group at BMO Capital Markets. These groups are responsible for development and marketing of equity derivative, credit derivative, and fixed income derivative related products, including linked note products, in Canada, the US and Europe. These businesses cover all aspects of the marketplace including Retail, High Net Worth and Institutional clients.
Prior to joining BMO Capital Markets in 2004, Luke was Executive Director of Equity Structured Products at CIBC World Markets and Vice President – Financial Institutions at Citigroup. Luke is a graduate from the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.
Luke is a frequent conference speaker and has appeared numerous times in national media, including the Globe and Mail and National Post.