I'm Jon Hathaway.
British-born, raised on the East Coast of England, and forged in the infrastructure trenches of Berkshire — the UK's Silicon Valley. I've spent 25 years as a global troubleshooter and evangelist — building, fixing, and leading technology organizations across data centers, startups, and Fortune 500 boardrooms.
I started Nocelion because too many companies are stuck between the leadership they need and the leadership they can access. I've been the operator in the room at every scale — from founding a consulting firm to running a 200-person engineering org with an $80M budget. That experience is what I bring to every engagement.
The Journey
I started at COLT Telecom in 1999 — Cisco networking, data centers, the heavy-iron side of technology. By 2003 I'd founded my first company, a technical consultancy, and spent four years learning how to build a business from nothing. That was followed by Rackspace, where I was the highest-grossing pre-sales engineer in the UK and the youngest on the enterprise team, and then Novell/SUSE Linux, winning multi-year contracts against RedHat and Oracle in the finance sector.
In 2010 I moved into pre-sales architecture at Computer Associates in Berkshire, where I found the intersection of deep technical expertise and business outcomes. I became their top-performing Solutions Architect globally — and led a landmark deal that created an opening to come to the United States. My wife, our kids, and I made the move, and we've been building a life here ever since.
I spent three years at IGT in Las Vegas building SaaS platforms for the gaming industry, leading 70 engineers across two continents and connecting thousands of machines to a centralized cloud platform. Then I founded HATech, a cloud consulting firm that grew to $5M in revenue and delivered over 200 projects for 65 enterprise clients across healthcare, finance, hospitality, and gaming. During that time I also served as a Principal Solution Architect at IBM for their highest-value accounts.
At Dick's Sporting Goods, I built their platform engineering organization from the ground up within a 1,200-person technology org. I managed an $80M annual budget, 200+ engineers, and 900 edge locations. I led a $30M+ annual cost optimization program, served as Incident Commander during a major ransomware event, and developed the "atomic store" edge deployment strategy that I presented at Microsoft Ignite to over 1,000 attendees.
Those experiences taught me something important: the companies that need technology leadership most are often the ones that can't access it. Mid-market companies can't attract enterprise-caliber operators. Enterprise organizations keep losing CTOs at month twelve — not because they hired the wrong person, but because they're asking one person to do two incompatible jobs.
I've been on both sides. That's why I started Nocelion.
The vision is bigger than one executive partnership at a time. I'm building toward integrated executive pods — pre-built leadership teams that bring together technology, product, data, and security under one accountable partnership. Instead of hiring four individual practitioners who've never worked together, companies get a team with shared methodology, shared accountability, and shared incentives.
That's coming. And it's built on the same principle that everything at Nocelion is built on: technology leadership should be accountable to outcomes, aligned with incentives, and grounded in the kind of experience that only comes from doing the hard work at scale.
If you're leading a company that's hit the ceiling on what your current technology leadership can deliver — or if you're looking for a partner who brings Fortune 500 discipline at growth-stage speed — I'd like to hear about it.
Nocelion LLC
2025 — PresentFounder & Principal Advisor
Mesa, AZDick's Sporting Goods
2024 — 2025VP, Platform & Infrastructure Engineering
RemoteDick's Sporting Goods
2022 — 2024Senior Director, Platform & Infrastructure
Pittsburgh / RemoteIBM
2021 — 2022Principal Solution Architect
RemoteHATech LLC
2015 — 2022Founder & Chief Architect
Tempe, AZIGT
2012 — 2015Director of Systems Engineering
Las Vegas, NVComputer Associates
2010 — 2012Lead Cloud Architect
Slough, UKNovell / SUSE Linux
2008 — 2010Data Center Pre-Sales & Technical Specialist
Bracknell, UKRackspace
2007 — 2008Enterprise Solutions Engineer & Technical Architect
Stockley Park, UKComplex-ite.net
2003 — 2007Managing Director & Chief Architect
UKCOLT Telecom
1999 — 2003Senior E-Business Consultant / Network Trainer
UKWhat Drives Me
Strategy that ships
Plans that move on Monday, not next quarter. I think strategically and act operationally — the best strategy is worthless if it doesn't survive contact with reality.
Honest assessment, grounded in evidence
I'll tell you what I see — backed by data, experience, and a genuine desire to help you succeed. Directness without empathy is just criticism. I care about getting it right.
The model adapts to what you need
Some engagements start as a sprint and evolve. Some stay long-term from day one. Whether the right answer is a focused project, embedded leadership, or an ongoing partnership — the engagement fits the work, not the other way around.
How I Work
Diagnose
Every engagement starts by understanding what's actually happening — where money is leaking, what's underperforming, and what to fix first. Evidence-based, not assumption-driven.
Architect
Design the structure that makes the next phase work — whether that's a technology roadmap, vendor strategy, team redesign, or operational governance.
Deliver
Hands-on execution alongside your team. I stay close enough to the work to own outcomes, not just advise on them.
Adapt
The engagement evolves with the work. A sprint can become embedded leadership. A project can become an ongoing partnership. The model fits what you need next.
Whether it's a focused sprint or an ongoing partnership — the conversation starts the same way.