Meet our team.
Between us, we’ve spent years doing organisational design and restructuring work the manual way. We came together because we knew there was a better way.
Meet the team at Hawthorne who built Modus.
Mahesh Vallabh
Mash has spent built a genuine reputation in operating model design and transformation across New Zealand, in both government and private sectors. He’s co-founded Ahu Jobs, Inside Consulting, and Talent Echo, and that background shows up in how he thinks about talent strategy and business transformation. He brings his expertise, relationships, and credibility that come from doing this work for years, which means we build tools for the problems we know leaders are dealing with right now.
Nick Walsh
Nick leads the technical side of Hawthorne, from product architecture to the code. He’s spent his career across HR technology, people analytics, and recruitment, and that background means he understands what these systems practically need to do, not just how to build them. He’s built Modus from the ground up, using Python and AI to turn years of organisational design thinking into something leaders and HR teams can actually use.
Olivia Burrell
Liv brings broad experience across strategy, change management, and operating model design. She’s the person business leaders turn to when they need to plan transformation and manage that change well. Her expertise is what shapes how Hawthorne comes across, from the stories we tell to the look and feel behind it, making sure the way we communicate is as considered as the work itself.
We regularly share insights on organisational design and business transformation.
5 August 2026 - What Efficiency Actually Looks Like
Sometimes the honest answer is "we have too many people for this workload." Sometimes it's "we have exactly the right number of people doing the wrong things."
Find our latest blog posts here.