Founder and managing director Tony Davis says: “Maddox Consulting has built a strong reputation in the aviation sector, providing business strategy consulting and transaction support to airlines, airports, infrastructure investors and governmental bodies. The coming years will see the aviation industry grapple with yet more fundamental issues, such as airline consolidation, new infrastructure investments and the integration of air and ground transportation networks. With the addition of Augusto, Maddox Consulting is better placed than ever to provide expert advice on these issues, based upon a deep understanding of the sector.”

Maddox Consulting’s client experience ranges from British Airways and Qantas to Air Malawi and Air Bosna, from Eurostar to the Stansted Express, from Exeter Airport to Stewart International Airport (New York). The firm has also advised the UK’s Department of Transport, BAE Systems, banking group Macquarie and JP Morgan Private Equity.

Viansson Ponte brings Maddox extensive experience of providing business strategy and transaction advice to airlines, airports, business aviation operators and investors. Before joining Maddox, Viansson Ponte was managing director of executive aviation broker Big Air, which built a strong franchise serving charter customers in London’s financial services sector. Previously, he spent nine years with premier strategic management consultancies L.E.K. Consulting and Catalise, working on a range of aviation assignments in the UK, continental Europe, the Caribbean and Middle East. Viansson Ponte’s early career was spent in investment banking with Deutsche Morgan Grenfell.

Viansson Ponte’s experience includes advising on the expansion and ultimate sale of airline Go!, the restructurings of Brussels Airlines and BWIA West Indies Airways/Caribbean Airlines, the development of Sharm El Sheikh International Airport and the acquisition of Aeroporti di Roma by Macquarie.

A high resolution image of Augusto can be found here.

The move comes in response to a growing awareness in the IT professional and managerial community that to deliver the full benefit of technology to organisations, just as much emphasis on ’soft skills’ is warranted as technical competence. It’s now become quite evident that IT professionals won’t truly get ahead until they understand how their actions and reactions impact on others’ behaviour and working relationships.

This new series of books aims to provide practical guidance on a range of soft-skills areas for managers in IT and also for others, including those who deal with IT professionals, in order to facilitate more effective and co-operative working practices.

The first four books in this special IT Governance series have been written by widely-respected business author, trainer and consultant, Sarah Cook, with the fifth being penned by experienced HR consultant and trainer, Naomi Karten, drawing on her background in psychology and on her technical and managerial experience in IT.

Both authors have combined a highly practical and results-focused approach with a host of tried and tested techniques to make the series as easy to read and use as possible for the busy IT professional. The language is jargon-free, with a bibliography and a helpful glossary of terms included at the end of each book.

• Building a High-Performance Team: Proven techniques for effective team working aims to provide a springboard for creating a strong team, detailing how a manager’s work, in IT or elsewhere, cannot be achieved without collaboration and teamwork. This book will help you assess where your team’s strengths and weaknesses may lie and to develop a plan for unleashing its full power
• Coaching for High Performance: How to develop exceptional results through coaching outlines how coaching is a forward-focused and goal-oriented tool for unlocking potential, usable at any time and in any place, via telephone, e-mail and face to face, and one which can be invaluable in helping resolve issues with colleagues, key stakeholders and senior management. The book also elaborates on how coaching can encourage self-discovery and awareness of self and others
• The Effective Manager: Management skills for high performance will help you develop your management skills. Whether you are new to management, or have been a manager for some time, management is a skill that has to be learned and developed in order to gain the trust and respect of team members and achieve group and organisational goals. This book is designed to assist you in understanding the characteristics of a high-performance manager, to help you assess where your strengths and development areas lie and, most importantly of all, create a plan of action for achieving your full management potential
• Leading for Success: Unleash your leadership potential to achieve extraordinary results is aimed equally at those new to leadership and also at those who have been a leader for some time. Gone are the days when leadership was merely a quality that people at the top of the organisation needed to demonstrate: for organisations to succeed today, they need distributed leadership, leadership demonstrated at every level throughout the business. This title examines the differences between management and leadership, discusses leadership style, how to develop and communicate vision, goals and strategy, using empowerment and delegation, and how to maximise your leadership capability
• Changing How You Manage and Communicate Change: Focusing on the human side of change deals with the issue of change from a refreshingly different perspective. In the workplace, all too often, those in charge focus their attention on the technical aspects of change, at the expense of the people. Yet change will proceed more smoothly and effectively if serious consideration is given to the people aspects. This book offers ideas, guidelines and advice to help you implement change in a way which respects those affected, using communication skills as guidance tools

“Written in straightforward language and in a style that makes its content accessible and highly-practical, this invaluable series of books will give IT leaders the information and knowledge they need for high performance in the workplace,” says Alan Calder, Chief Executive of the books’ publisher, IT Governance.

Building a High-Performance Team (ISBN 978-1-905356-80-5), Coaching for High Performance (ISBN 978-1-84928-002-0),  The Effective Manager (ISBN 978-1-905356-88-1) –published 24th February 2009, Leading for Success (ISBN 978-1-905356-92-8) – published 24th February 2009 are all priced at £24.95/$36.25/€27.19 and can be ordered at http://www.itgovernance.co.uk/catalog/511. The books are also available for download.

Changing How You Manage and Communicate Change (ISBN 978-1-905356-94-2) –published 31st March 2009 is priced at £29.95/$43.51/€32.64 and can be ordered at http://www.itgovernance.co.uk/catalog/511.The book is also available for download.

Save £29.80 by getting all five IT Governance soft skills titles at the special offer price of £99.95/$145.22/€108.92 at http://www.itgovernance.co.uk/catalog/511

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In response to the growing need for intelligent, practical and hype-free guidance, IT Governance will publish a Best Practice report, ‘Green IT – Benefits and Best Practices’, in September, providing essential practical starting point for managers on how to get to grips with greening their IT infrastructure. The report will be complemented by ‘Green IT in Practice’, a hands-on book on the subject from IT Governance which describes, in clear and straightforward terms, how one organisation – the John Lewis Partnership – implemented a Green IT strategy.

These publications form a part of IT Governance’s rapidly growing range of cutting edge green IT resources, which include a full range of guidance around the ISO 14000 Environmental Management System, all designed to support organizations that wish to implement a Green IT strategy while maintaining that essential bottom-line focus.

There is a clear need for such a strategy. As a major power consumer, the IT sector is directly and indirectly responsible for producing significant amounts of greenhouse gases and toxic waste. Analyst firm Gartner calculates that the IT and communications sector is responsible for approximately 2% of global carbon dioxide emissions – the same amount as aviation, an industry vilified by environmentalists.

Going green, IT-wise (implementing an IT strategy aimed at more efficient use of power) can cost time, capital and effort. But finding ways to reduce energy and materials usage, save space and reduce greenhouse gas and polluting emissions are not just ‘ethically’ worthwhile, they promote better operating efficiencies and help organisations reduce operational cost.

In fact, used wisely, IT can make a positive contribution to tackling climate change – The World Wide Fund for Nature published a report in May 2008 that suggests IT could deliver a billion tons of CO2 reductions, for instance. But getting there is the challenge.

Alan Calder, Chief Executive of IT Governance, points out, “Many global companies now view green initiatives as necessary to staying competitive, quite a change from the views of yester year. Now businesses realise that they can make long-term savings and increase operational efficiencies through implementing greener ways of working, especially around technology. And this is especially true in difficult economic circumstances like now. Green IT in Practice and our new Best Practice Report on IT gives business leaders the information and insight they need to boost their green credentials.”

Green IT in Practice (ISBN 9781905356614) is due to be published on 2 September 2008, priced at £29.95, with a pre-publication discount of 20% available for all early bird purchasers.

The green IT Best Practice report Green IT – Benefits and Best Practices is also due to be published in September 2008, priced at £295 and with a special pre-launch discount of just £99.95.

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