Chair Showcase: Brad Thomas – Where elite performance meets strategic leadership

Brad Thomas brings a unique perspective to his Vistage peer group, shaped by elite performance. In this role, he helps CEOs gain strategic clarity as they navigate growth, transformation, and complexity.

• Former ASX-listed CEO and global technology executive.
• 25+ years’ leadership across SaaS, cybersecurity, AI and enterprise software.
• Three-time Paralympian, Medal of the Order of Australia recipient.
• Experienced Non-Executive Director and strategic advisor.
• Vistage Chair based in New South Wales.

Brad Thomas OAM has spent his career operating at the highest levels of performance—in business, in sport and in leadership.

With more than 25 years’ experience, as a global technology executive, ASX-listed CEO and strategic advisor, Brad has led organisations through growth, disruption and transformation across SaaS, cybersecurity, AI and enterprise software. His career spans senior leadership roles at Prophecy International, Microsoft, Canon Australia, Lenovo, Novell, AAPT and Telstra. He has managed complex portfolios in regulated and globally distributed environments.

Today, as a Vistage Chair based in New South Wales, Brad supports CEOs and founders navigating scale, innovation and complexity. He helps them build clarity, strengthen execution and lead with confidence.

Brad’s leadership mindset was shaped long before the boardroom.

Born in Hobart, Tasmania, Brad began competing in athletics as a teenager. There, he trained alongside able-bodied athletes and quickly gained recognition for his determination and competitive drive. In 1988, while working full-time, he was selected to represent Australia at the Seoul Paralympic Games—the first of three Paralympic appearances over a 15-year elite sporting career.

Competing at this level demanded clarity of vision, disciplined preparation and accountability. These qualities would later underpin Brad’s approach to leadership in business.

Brad competed at three Paralympic Games: Seoul (1988), Barcelona (1992) and Atlanta (1996), earning four Paralympic medals. This included a gold medal and world record as part of Australia’s 4×100m relay team in Atlanta.

In 1997, he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for services to sport. He was later inducted into the Tasmanian Sporting Hall of Fame.

For Brad, elite sport reinforced a powerful truth: performance improves through honest self-review, strong coaching and the willingness to adapt when a plan isn’t working. Lessons he continues to apply in leadership and strategy today.

A defining chapter of Brad’s executive career came as Chief Executive Officer of ASX-listed Prophecy International.

Leading a multi-brand, export-focused software group, Brad drove a full transformation from legacy platforms to a cloud-first SaaS model. This included raising capital, divesting non-core assets, strengthening governance, introducing new analytics and cybersecurity offerings, and scaling operations across multiple regions.

Under his leadership, Prophecy delivered consecutive years of double-digit growth, significantly expanded recurring revenue, and broadened its global customer base across defence, finance and government sectors.

As a result, Brad’s experience reinforced his belief that steady leadership and aligned decision-making are critical to building both performance and resilience.

Brad brings a calm, disciplined approach to leadership.

Drawing on both executive and sporting experience, he encourages leaders to be clear about outcomes, rigorous in execution and open to feedback. Rather than relying on command-and-control leadership, Brad places strong emphasis on coaching, accountability and shared problem-solving.

He believes the best results come when leaders create space for others to contribute—building alignment, ownership and stronger decision-making across the organisation.

After decades leading complex organisations, Brad saw becoming a Vistage Chair as a natural evolution—moving from leading one business to supporting many.

What resonated most with him was the peer advisory model: CEOs stepping away from isolation into a confidential, trusted environment. Here, they can challenge assumptions, test thinking and gain perspective from leaders facing similar pressures.

Brad’s role as Chair is to facilitate clarity, not prescribe answers. He helps CEOs slow down, focus on what truly matters, and make confident, informed decisions.

Brad chairs a Vistage group for CEOs and founders who are growth-oriented and ambitious, particularly those:

• Leading organisations navigating growth, complexity or significant change.
• Making decisions around technology, digital transformation or cyber risk, regardless of industry.
• Scaling teams, structures or operations as the business evolves.
• Managing complexity across people, capital and risk.
• Seeking challenge, clarity and trusted peer perspective.
• Focused on building aligned, high-performance leadership teams.

He is particularly passionate about supporting Australian-born innovation and helping leaders translate ambition into disciplined execution.

A defining point in his career was leading Prophecy International through a full transformation to a SaaS-based model. Bringing the team together to simplify the business, raise capital and refocus on innovation not only strengthened performance but also built clarity and resilience across the organisation. It highlighted for him the impact that steady leadership and aligned decision-making can have during times of uncertainty.

Brad currently serves as Deputy Chair of Limbs 4 Life and as a Technology and Cybersecurity Committee member for Paralympics Australia. He is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, the Australian Information Security Association and the Forbes Technology Council.

Across business, sport and governance, Brad is known for his thoughtful, composed leadership style. He combines commercial rigour with authenticity, purpose and a deep belief in the power of coaching.

As a Vistage Chair, Brad brings this perspective to CEOs who want to lead with clarity, navigate complexity with confidence, and build organisations that perform sustainably and at scale.

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