We are Ithaka.
Equipping leaders to make confident, courageous decisions.
Our People
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.
Sarah Miller is a Senior Advisor at Ithaka. Sarah is an experienced executive leader, board advisor, and consultant with more than two decades’ experience guiding organizations through complexity, crisis, and transformation.
Through her consulting and advisory work, Sarah supports boards and executive teams to navigate competing priorities, manage conflict, and make confident, values-aligned decisions in high-stakes environments.
At Ithaka, Sarah partners with leaders to develop the clarity, integrity, and judgement required to lead responsibly. She designs and facilitates bespoke leadership programs and advisory engagements that surface strategic tensions, enhance constructive dialogue, and build the collective capacity to act.
Sarah brings global leadership experience across more than 30 countries, including senior roles with international development and humanitarian organizations. As Chief Executive and senior client partner at Principia, she advised C-suite leaders across corporate, public, and non-profit sectors, delivering culture transformation and leadership programs at scale.
Sarah’s board and trustee roles have spanned housing, refugee support, and enterprise development, reinforcing her commitment to equitable, sustainable leadership.
Integrating foresight and systems thinking with her expertise in conflict mediation, trauma-informed practice, and organizational development, Sarah helps leaders align around shared ambition, hold constructive dialogue, and steward responsible change.
Our team in the media
BBC Radio 4, The Bottom Line: “In denial”
Forbes, “How can leaders effectively speak out? Three strategies for success.”
Influence & Impact for Leaders: “How to Make Hard Decisions”
Governance and Compliance, “Ethics in the boardroom”
World Finance, “Tone from the top? The flawed ideal of executive leadership”
Board Talk, “Ethics As Comparative Advantage : An Empowering Agenda For Business”
People Management, “Why ethics training is fundamental to cultural change”
HR Zone: “Business scandals: Can you predict and prepare for them?”
Entrepreneur UK: “It's Rarely One Bad Apple: Getting to the Real Cause of an Ethics Crisis”
ESG Investor: “Getting to Grips with Ethical Risk”
Corporate Compliance Insights: “The Heart of Ethical Execution”
Our Values
Empathy
Leadership takes courage. At Ithaka, we respect those who choose to lead, and we empathise with the challenges it brings. By listening deeply to understand the context and complexities leaders face, we guide them toward thoughtful, courageous decisions.
Humanity
We connect human-to-human, not business-to-business. We strengthen human judgment by celebrating ingenuity, embracing fallibility, and focusing on the human dynamics that drive courageous, confident decisions.
Trust
Trust is the foundation of our work. We demonstrate our trustworthiness by bringing candour and courage to every interaction, building relationships that empower leaders to navigate complexity with confidence.
Impact
We are committed to making a meaningful difference. At Ithaka, we partner with organizations where we believe our work can significantly enhance their ability to make effective, values-driven decisions. Our focus is on delivering tangible outcomes that strengthen leadership capabilities, align actions with values, and drive long-lasting impact.
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