How to connect, recognise and support employees during times of uncertainty: Navigating the coronavirus for HR leaders
A little bit about the Reward Gateway Team
Life at Reward Gateway is driven by our culture, and by our clients. We’re obsessed with putting the “Human” in HR and are proud to have been 100% dedicated to HR for over a decade. Since 2007, we’ve been right by the side of the world’s most innovative HR people, giving them beautiful products and tools that they can use to attract, engage and retain their people. Here's a look at our leadership team:
Doug Butler
CEO
A little more about Doug...
Hi. As CEO of Reward Gateway I am charged with leading a talented team of professionals driving an innovative and high growth technology and service business focussed on employee engagement. Having spent much of my 30 year plus career in operational and financial roles outside of the HR industry, my time at Reward Gateway has cemented my belief in and advocacy for the strategic value of communicating with, empowering, recognising, rewarding and engaging your workforce.
The Reward Gateway team and I are passionately committed to our mission – Let's Make the World a Better Place to Work– and our uniquely focused mission, culture and values have a hugely positive impact on our own staff, our clients, and customer employees.
Did you know...
If I were to pick a colour to describe me, it'd be cobalt blue. I think of myself as cool, calm and reflective. There's passion and energy under the surface, but you won't see those fiery colours emanating from me too often.
If I were stranded on a deserted island, I'd bring sunscreen, flint and a fishing pole, but I might trade that sunscreen for bourbon.
I've been fortunate to take many trips in my life - some with my family come to mind first, but the two times my father dropped everything and put our family of seven in a station wagon to drive around the United States were the most influential. I've been to 48 out of 50 states.
As the Chief Operating Officer, I’ve got a variety of teams that report to me, including Product, Client Success, Implementation, Retail, Secondary Revenue, Client Support, Employee Support and Design. My role is to ensure every client and employee have the best experience with anything Reward Gateway related.
My love for rugby and cricket originally pointed me in the direction of becoming a qualified Sport Scientist, working with a number of sports teams specialising in biomechanics. But in 2003, I moved to the UK from South Africa, where I discovered a huge passion for product development and technology, leading to a complete career change. I then went back to university to get my MBA, specialising in finance and after three years working for Amazon, moved to Reward Gateway.
Did you know...
If I could have any superpower, it would 100% be teleporting. I love to travel and see the world. Specifically, I'd teleport every Friday to this amazing little bar on the Mexico/Belize border, which serves the best seafood known to man.
I read a lot, average at least a book a week. One of my favourites is definitely "Elon Musk" by Ashlee Vance and "Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson. They're both inspiring people who have changed the world, and I think we can learn a lot from them.
My personal mantra is the only perception that should bother you is the perception you have of yourself.
As a Chief Financial Officer, I’ll be partnering with Doug and the rest of the Leadership Team to identify and drive our company growth by connecting numbers with business strategy. I'll dig deep into our bottom line numbers and business processes with one objective in mind: Prepping RG for future growth. Before I joined RG, I've been a CFO at a number of PE and VC backed high-growth companies in technology and media professional service sectors.
Did you know...
If I could choose a colour to describe me, I'd choose champagne gold. It's a colour that's blissful, but also serene, which matches the state I tend to be in.
The best career advice I've ever received is that there's no need to make a long-term career plan. In just a couple of years' time, the world will change, and your environment and your priorities may change, too. Just think about what you want to be learning and what you want to be doing in the next one or two years.
My personal mantra is Nantokanaru, which means, "everything will be all right."
I'm what they call a "true RG Veteran" – I've been with the company almost as long as our Founder, Glenn. I was the second engineer we ever hired, and I had a pretty big part in creating the world-class technology we offer our clients.
I'm based in our London office and responsible for our Engineering and IT teams in London and Plovdiv, our system administrators in Plovdiv, as well as our Security team.
Did you know...
My favourite TV shows are "Black Mirror," "The Walking Dead," and "Toast of London." My favourite book? "A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."
I've had two great pieces of career advice I'd pass along. One is to look at the past for inspiration or guidance. In technology (and modern life) this is often overlooked. For instance, we think cloud services are a new idea but IBM did this in 1970!
The other advice is to try and understand the lower layers and then build a map from that. If you understand the fundamentals, everything else can be simplified.
I don't like to use the word "idol," but right now I'm really excited by what Elon Musk is doing, taking an engineering approach to interesting areas like rocketry and electric vehicles.
With the support of my People Team, I'm responsible for RG people worldwide. I oversee Learning & Development, Diversity & Inclusion, People Operations, Internal Communications and Recruitment. I bring my expertise to RG following my time working in companies of all sizes from small tech start-ups to companies with a staff of 200,000.
Did you know...
When I was younger, I thought being in a band would be a great idea. But having no musical ability, I think being an A&R man (a musical agent) would have been my ideal job.
if I could bring three items to a deserted island, it would be a solar-powered radio to listen to music, a solar-powered Kindle preloaded with books and a big knife, for those desert island situations that only a big knife would be good for.
If I could have any superpower it would be one that relates to people, and that would be the power to cure pain. Whether physical or emotional suffering, I would like to be able to help fix people, even if only in small ways.
I oversee our global strategy for Marketing and am responsible for a wide-spread team on four continents. Originally, I thought I was headed for the world of performance psychology, but I realized during my dissertation on leadership and the coach-athlete relationship that the business world was where I really belonged.
Prior to RG, I've grown marketing teams in the Boston technology scene and led the go-to-market strategy at a variety of different businesses.
Did you know...
The best trip I ever took was 10 days in Norway one month after I started at Reward Gateway.
If I could eat one only one food for the rest of my life it would, without question, be peanut butter.
My personal mantra? The harder I work, the luckier I get.
As our SVP of Global Sales, I look after our sales strategy and teams across our global market. My passion is working with organisations to assist them to better connect and engage with their people. With 20 years experience in partnering with companies on their engagement strategy, I help strengthen the connection between Reward Gateway’s teams and our buyers.
Did you know...
My superpower would definitely be telepathy. I love nothing more than communicating and connecting with people. Language, tone and body language are great signals, but imagine being able to know what people are really thinking. That would be amazing.
I like to think of my personal colours as all the colours of the rainbow. Here at RG, we talk about a rainbow being created every time we commence a new relationship with our clients and creating those opportunities for growth (aka rainbows) is what gets me out of bed every morning.
My "one" food would be a battle between two: mangoes and chocolate. Don't make me choose, please!
As Group Director of Retail, I'm responsible for the largest product at Reward Gateway, our employee discounts program. I oversee partnerships and operations, working with a very talented team of individuals across the globe to deliver a continually evolving employee discounts platform to drive profit and growth.
Did you know...
My personal mantra is to "love the life that I am creating."
If I could eat only one food for the best of my life it'd probably be something really bad for me like jelly sweets, because I have a real sweet tooth.
When I was little, I had a very unique desire to be a rollerblading hairdresser. I had my business model all mapped out, reaching the elderly ladies who wanted to feel their best, rollerblading between clients and rolling my hairdryer on wheels right alongside me!
I’m responsible for ensuring our Support, Implementation and Design teams have the guidance and support they need to provide our customers with the best experience.
I've held a variety of service and client-facing roles, but consider myself an RG veteran as one of the longest-running employees (nearly 10 years!) and have been lucky enough to work in both our Australia and UK offices.
Did you know...
If I could pick a colour to describe me, it'd be navy. Not only do I wear navy all the time, it's also my primary Insights colour. It makes me look smart, but it doesn't make me stand out too much, which is just how I like it!
It was hard to narrow down the best advice I've received in my career, but two things come to mind: Always treat people well and Be the hardest worker in the room.
This last quote is actually from Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who is my idol. He demonstrates more than most of what can be accomplished if you work hard, take risks, stay humble and are genuinely nice to people!
