Rob Hayward is the Founder of Ithaka, bringing two decades’ experience guiding senior leaders through their most complex challenges at the intersection of strategy, sustainability, and ethical business.

Known for his clarity, empathy, and ability to ask the right questions, Rob is dedicated to helping leaders navigate moral and strategic dilemmas with confidence and courage.

Prior to founding Ithaka, Rob spent a decade building Principia, the global advisory network dedicated to organizational ethics. As Principia’s founding Chief Operating Officer, Rob brought together a team of renowned academics, consultants, and practitioners around a bold mission: to build more ethical organizations.

Under Rob’s leadership, Principia became a trusted partner to boards and C-suites at some of the world’s most influential companies, including Citigroup, Bank of America, Google, Meta, and Salesforce. Rob spearheaded transformative projects across industries, guiding leaders on ethical decision-making, ethical leadership, and culture transformation, and working across functions and disciplines to establish ethics as a strategic imperative for long-term success.

Earlier in his career, Rob spent ten years with Accenture Strategy, where he helped to launch and grow its Sustainability Strategy practice. Working at the forefront of ESG and responsible business, he led client engagements worldwide and established partnerships with the United Nations Global Compact and the World Economic Forum to drive systems change across industry sectors.

Beyond his work with Ithaka, Rob is a Director at the Forward Institute, and a member of the business faculty for FASPE, the Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics. As a charity director, he has served as a trustee of Shelter, the UK’s leading housing and homelessness charity, and as Chair of Shelter Scotland. In these roles, he witnessed firsthand how courageous decisions and aligned values can drive meaningful and lasting change.

Through Ithaka, Rob continues his mission to empower leaders with the confidence, tools, and courage to make values-driven decisions. By drawing on his network built over twenty years in ethical and responsible business, Rob builds tailored advisory teams that combine domain expertise with the emotional intelligence required to work seamlessly with each client’s leadership team.