Vince Menzione

Founder of Cloud Wave Partners LLC

I help technology leaders thrive in an era of rapid, tectonic change—mastering Microsoft, AWS, and Google partnerships to drive growth, innovation, and impact.

From scaling startups to leading a $4.6B business at Microsoft, I’ve learned one enduring truth: success is built on meaningful connections—between people, ideas, and opportunities. And the multiplier is always trust.

I was raised in a close-knit Italian family in New Jersey. My grandfather arrived in the U.S. with $20 in his pocket and built sustainable businesses through grit and determination. My dad—an Army veteran of WWII—taught me that integrity and trust aren’t “nice to have.” They’re everything. Those lessons became the foundation of my leadership.

I’ve spent my career building—and rebuilding—organizations through partnerships:

In the startup world, I helped scale a company from $6M to $125M and to a successful public exit.

At General Dynamics, I turned around a struggling division—driving exponential growth, securing $20M in defense appropriations, and delivering roughly a third of the company’s revenue by aligning partners around execution.

Then came nearly a decade at Microsoft, where I led the U.S. Public Sector Partner business through a major transformation. We grew revenue from $2.5B to $4.6B, helped shape the modern cloud reseller model, and built high-performing teams known for alignment, results, and credibility.

But along the way, I saw a gap: leaders didn’t just need strategy decks. They needed focus, practical frameworks, and a trusted space to learn from one another.

So in 2017, I founded Ultimate Partner® to be that compass for technology leaders navigating ecosystem-led growth. Through the Ultimate Guide to Partnering® podcast (270+ episodes) and Ultimate Partner LIVE events, I bring together top voices from Microsoft, AWS, Google, and the broader partner ecosystem. I also developed the 8 Principles of Partnering Success—a practical framework leaders use to align strategy and drive measurable outcomes.

My mission is simple: empower leaders and their organizations to grow with clarity, connection, and credibility—building partnerships that scale with purpose.

If you’re building in the hyperscaler ecosystem—and want to grow faster, execute better, and lead with trust—let’s connect.

Founder

Over six years ago, I embarked on a mission to empower partners struggling to navigate the complex world of tech giants like Microsoft, Google, and AWS. 

Having witnessed the industry from multiple perspectives – leading a $4.6 billion Ecosystem at Microsoft, spearheading partnerships for a billion-dollar company, and hosting 200 episodes of the Ultimate Guide to Partnering®, I’ve gained invaluable insights and crafted a manifesto of principles to guide your success.

In an era defined by tectonic shifts, such as the global pandemic, economic headwinds, and the rise of AI, the role of hyperscalers has become increasingly critical. With investments of billions of dollars in ecosystems, technology, and customer acquisition costs, they have secured over $200 billion in customer commitments to durable cloud budgets. We stand on the precipice of a marketplace moment where simplifying and streamlining economic models associated with co-selling and ecosystem-led growth will shape the decade ahead.

Yet, as vendors and organizations demand more from us while resources diminish, we ask, “Where do we go? How do we navigate these seismic shifts? How do we thrive during this decade of the ecosystem?”

If you’re a partner, you’re likely grappling with these questions. The watering holes of the past no longer offer the guidance required to transform into a Cloud GTM and embrace Ecosystem Led Growth. That’s why Ultimate Partner exists – to be your trusted compass amidst the noise.

Visit our website, tune into Ultimate Guide to Partnering and join The Ultimate Partner LIVE events.

Tobias Byron

Byron Partners Pty Ltd

Helping rapidly growing companies significantly accelerate, or slow growing companies turn around, and then accelerate. Leveraging Artificial Intelligence where it currently makes sense, other tools and approaches where they make sense. 

Example recent engagements:
1) Helping a fast growing EV charging scale up company significantly improve in five countries. The company since starting working with them have grown 100+%. Work is including leveraging Amazon’s way of designing and working, sales and process optimisations, and leveraging Artificial Intelligence.
2) Raising capital for a rapidly growing global AI company
3) Helping a world class productivity measurement software company enter Australia 
4) Coaching and training Senior leaders and teams to leverage AI, to become significantly more effective, including giving them significantly more time back into their calendars so that they can do more what they love to do
5) Driving a turnaround for an ASX listed company's 15 entities
6) Helping a Retail client grow rapidly
7) Helping a Telco startup raise funds and grow rapidly
8) With AI helping a FS company automate their processes
9) Helping a listed FinTech company rapidly grow
10) Training 100+ C-suites on AI, including 'showing the ropes; and getting them to effectively use AI in their daily work.

Founder and Director

Commonwealth Bank

Helped CBA accelerate further, including rolling out Agile for 18,000 employees (Retail, BB and Tech), simplify group processes, made CBA work more digitally, and helped them significantly reduce costs.

Led two roles in parallel:
1) Head of Strategy, Chief of Staff and COO for CBA's multi billion dollar Group Technology. Member of CBA's Group Technology Leadership team. Accelerated CBA further through technology and improved insights, and helped them save significant savings (with the same deliverables). Helped them on their core banking modernisation strategy and helped them kick off this work.

2) Led the rollout of the CBA-wide Agile way of working (the group's 'PACE' program) across the Retail bank, Business bank and Technology. Accelerated the rollout of Agile for 18,000 employees and further improved CBA's delivery, running and managing of their businesses Group wide.

Executive General Manager, Strategy and Performance, Technology

Delivered consulting to several top tier organisations (helped Telstra (Australia's premier Telco) reimagine their private and public cloud solutions and to become more Amazonian, become more Agile and to deliver significant results; helped a top tier consulting firm break into the cloud arena; helped a fast-growing global AI company to become more Amazonian to help them grow even faster).

Founder/Consultant/Expert

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Developing, driving and delivering Regional and global work to further increase Amazon Web services' revenue growth and overall success. Work included developing and driving cutting edge AI enabled solutions to boost revenue, increase senior leadership insights and to significantly reduce fraud.

Productivity Leader APAC and Japan (APJ), World Wide productivity team

Driving strategy and productivity uplift at Amazon Web Services to help AWS APAC and Japan (APJ) grow even faster.

Productivity Leader APAC and Japan (APJ)

Leading AWS Australia and New Zealand's Strategy, Operations (COO) and Enablement at Amazon’s billion $ Cloud business. Was part of Australia’s and New Zealand’s core leadership team. Helped AWS ANZ reorganize, grow and run even faster.

Head of Strategy, Operations (COO) and Enablement ANZ

Macquarie Group

Built and led a global improvement team. Significantly improved their retail and business bank, improved their investment bank business, improved central IT, Finance and Risk, increased leadership effectiveness as well as implemented an improvement culture.

Managing Director and Global head of Operational Excellence, Macquarie Group

Partners in Performance International

Helped Partners In Performance (PIP) with a new large client's board (ASX top 10) in Australia and helped PIP grow in Europe.

Turnaround expert

Ernst & Young's lead Partner in their Merger Integration / Operational Transaction Services in Sydney and New South Wales, Australia. Focus was to lead and manage the group plus lead teams to support clients to successfully merge or divest. Grew the team, improved profitability and delivered up to 120% bottom line synergy delivery for key clients.

Lead Partner Merger Integration

Focus was to make PIP's clients deliver rapid and sustainable results working across Australia and New Zealand to deliver significant additional profits. Helped customers turn around from almost bankruptcy to profitability, go from flat revenue to significant profitability and helped clients accelerate. Additionally  helped PIP diversify to several additional industries.

Management consultant, Lean Expert and Senior Engagement Manager

McKinsey & Co

Working in Europe, USA and Asia delivering strategy and significant operational improvement to multinational large organizations.

Management consultant, Lean Expert and Engagement Manager

Byron Consulting Group

Started and led Byron Consulting Group. Focus was Business Improvement and Strategy development. Clients ranged from rapidly growing entrepreneurial companies to large multinationals.

Entrepreneur and CEO

My career to date has exposed me to innovation, complex performance and culture transformations, rapid growth and optimization work within small agile start-ups to large multinational multi billion-dollar organizations spanning over 30 countries.

Main focus has been within strategy, innovation, operational, process or organization optimization generating sustainable results of 20-30+%. My transformation experience has covered front line (revenue), mid and back office (cost and revenue), finance, technology and risk. Digital transformations, innovation, rapid scaling or rapid turnarounds are close to my heart. I am also a continuous learner and have in the last years also learned and worked with Artificial Intelligence.

I have worked within a range of industries including financial services, tech, telecom, healthcare, steel, heavy industries, vehicle manufacturing, mining, government, consulting and with a recent focus within financial services, telco and the Cloud.

I like to be known as a “doer” and an entrepreneurial big thinker and leader. I pride myself on managing and growing teams that have a meaningful and measurable impact on the business rather than just making recommendations that go nowhere. I help companies optimize their businesses to the greatest possible extent, significantly build the capability of people I come into contact with and do it with sustainable results.

Specialties: Leadership, Strategy, Digital transformations, Innovation, Scaling, Change management, Culture change, Rapid company turn around, entrepreneurial environments, Lean, Design Thinking, Human Centered Design, Automation, Artificial Intelligence and Cloud.

Key note speaker at multiple conferences and events.

Developing, driving and delivering local and global work to further increase Amazon Web services' revenue growth and overall success. AWS is a ~$70bn (USD) global run rate business. Work includes driving initiatives for Autonomous sales.

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Vince Menzione

Tobias Byron

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