About
Our Why
At GWD Associates, your success is our priority.
We focus on strategic guidance and tailored solutions to help small to medium-sized business grow their sales in dynamic industries. With decades of experience in business management, sales growth and customer services, we are committed to delivering measurable results and sustainable growth for our clients.
Gary is a dynamic and strategic leader with ability to identify issues and the vision to transform a business from the grass roots up. Throughout the many years of learning, experimenting, and succeeding, Gary has developed a reputation as a transformation specialist. In each role as CEO he has led the rejuvenation of businesses often lagging in the transformation into the digital-age and the myriad of customer experience, client management, sales and service channel development.
Meet Our Founder, Gary Denson
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Recent assignments have seen Gary take his transformation model into the Drug & Alcohol Rehabilitation industry and then again back into transforming an online insurance company. After a decade of losses, the business is now on a clear path of profitability, with ten years of consistent top-line growth.
As seen during his time as CEO and Country Manager of CIGNA Thailand. Within just 5-years through civil unrest, the GFC and the worst Thailand floods in 100 years, he took the business from a $7m loss to a $4.5m profit. Prior to that he has been Regional CEO for ReMark in Singapore, regional VP Bancassurance for AIG and Head of Direct Marketing for the Bank of Melbourne.
During his time as CEO of Cigna Thailand he was responsible for business turnaround management, business development, the strategic design of affinity marketing partnerships & programs, and establishing strategic alliances with brands such as Citibank, Standard Chartered, HSBC, GE Finance, Bank of Ayudhya, Siam Commercial Bank, Krung Thai Cards, Reader’s Digest and Octopus Card in Hong Kong. He also created bancassurance strategies for the Bank of Asia; Bangkok Bank (Thailand), Max New York Life (India), Birla Sunlife (India) Southern Bank Bhd (Malaysia), ChinaTrust Bank (Taiwan) and Bank Permata (Indonesia).
Now back in Melbourne, Gary is sharing his knowledge and expertise across a range of business-building and affinity marketing initiatives. His strategic and pragmatic approach along with an ability to achieve extraordinary results has earned him an enviable success record in performance improvement & business turnaround management.
Our History
With over 30 years of experience in executive business management, sales growth, and marketing expertise, GWD Associates is known for being a highly respected and results-driven firm. Founded by Gary Denson, we are committed to hands-on leadership and delivering measurable success to the SMEs we serve.
In recent years, GWD has played a pivotal role in revitalising struggling companies and driving them towards prosperity. GWD led a transformative restructuring effort of Direct Asia Insurance (Singapore), steering the company towards profitability after a decade of operating at a loss. Through strategic initiatives focused on accountability, KPI implementation, and sales and marketing optimisation, GWD achieved an impressive 45% growth within six months, setting the stage for sustained success.
At Cigna Thailand, GWD’s leadership Management ushered in a period of remarkable growth and profitability. Under this guidance, the company experienced exponential revenue growth, secured new affinity business partners, and launched innovative initiatives such as Thailand's first direct response TV channel, which generated substantial new sales. Additionally, GWD Associate's strategic focus on employee engagement and operational efficiency led to significant reductions in staff turnover and acquisition costs, while earning the company recognition for its high employee engagement scores and data security accreditation.
Through strategic vision, leadership expertise, and pragmatic approach, GWD Associates continues to empower businesses to realise their full potential and achieve sustainable growth.
At Direct Asia Insurance (Singapore), GWD led a strategic overhaul that boosted sales by 45% in just six months, ending a decade-long period of no profits.
Record-breaking Business Turnarounds
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At Cigna Thailand, GWD drove annual revenue from $10 million to $75 million and secured 20 new business partners. Innovative strategies, like launching Thailand's first direct response TV channel, propelled the company to new heights of success in the highly competitive insurance market.
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Unparalleled Leadership Impact
Across diverse sectors and companies like The Cabin and ReMark, GWD's leadership prowess was consistently evident. At The Cabin, we increased client occupancy by over 150% in months, and at ReMark, we achieved strong revenue and profit growth while expanding into new markets. GWD's hands-on approach and strategic vision have consistently driven tangible business results.
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Exponential Growth
Highlights
Grew annual revenues from $USD10million to $USD75million
Sales growth from USD16m to USD70m p.a
Secured 20 new affinity business partners
Launched Thailand’s first direct response TV channel hitting sales of USD8m
Reduced staff turnover from 30% to 8% per month
Reduced acquisition costs by 33%
2nd highest Employee Engagement score (4.02) globally
Achieved ISO & PCI-DSS data security accreditation
Testimonials
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Gary was our Chief Executive Officer. We both are Executive Committee Board members of the CSG which met monthly to review the important issues in relations to the operation and financial performance of the group.
When Gary started at CSG, the revenues/patients-customers were down because of the new regulation from Google preventing the advertising of addiction treatment on Google which was the main channel how CSG previously obtained patients-customers. Gary had to establish the new channel, Affinity Partner to diversify away from Google advertisement which he successfully accomplished within a few months. He built and led the team of 4-5 people to reach and cover the major partners around the globe in a short period of time and always report regular updates to the CSG Executive Committee. He also supervised the team to successfully recruit the Head of Clinical Unit from the US to lead the clinical operations of CSG, one of the most critical success factors for addiction treatment businesses. I also admire his leadership skills and his determination to pursue his opinions even when the situations are difficult.
Throughout the period of 11 months that Gary led the team, we asked the management team (11 members) to evaluate how Gary performed and the overall score came out over 80% with the strongest score on the fact that he had generated a good working environment for employees and also presenting the good image for the Company's brand and reputation. His weak score (70%) was on the good understanding of the business and all department activities which I felt was a fair comment given the fact that Gary did not have a direct industry background before joining CSG.
I would like to recommend Gary for your organisation particularly as a leader which requires a strong partnership program.
-Aongorn Somprasong, Managing Director
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Gary Denson is a man with vision. He has the ability to visualise an end state and the character and intellect to take people on the journey with him. I had the pleasure of working with him over many years as the partnership between our two firms grew. His desire for all business partners to realise their goals is part of his holistic approach to business success. Through his leadership people realise ownership of ideas and are empowered to realise outstanding results. This dynamic management philosophy became embedded in Cigna’s culture and the entire team aligned to deliver against their goals and the regions. Through his leadership Cigna’s market share increased significantly and we are proud to use this relationship as a ‘best of breed’ exemplar when speaking to other clients of how to execute a Greenfield relationship successfully in Thailand.
-Adrian Apperley, Group CEO, CWA -
As the CEO for Cigna's Thailand franchise Gary was a key client of Assist America, a provider of emergency medical services for business and leisure travellers, in the Asian region. Gary recognized, early on, that value-added assistance product enhancements would be a powerful business tool so together we worked to bring various levels of emergency travel related services to the Cigna Thailand insurance portfolio. Currently approximately 60% of the portfolio is enhanced with an Assist America emergency services product and this number is growing. Gary is a strong leader and team builder as demonstrated by his success in creating one of the most successful business teams in Thailand's insurance sector. He is creative, determined and focused, with excellent marketing and strategic skills coupled with the ability to identify opportunities, create a viable strategy and engage his people to deliver it. The business outcome has been excellent... resulting in Cigna Thailand becoming Assist America's largest and most profitable account in Asia in 2012.
-Steven L Novkov, Chief Representative, Asia to Assist America.
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In almost 7 years of working with Gary Denson, his experience, professional approach, positivity, and leadership has always impressed me. Gary genuinely believes in and values partnership, and he takes the time to understand the perspectives of all parties. The domain we specialise in, analytics, is sometimes difficult to grasp, but Gary is very perceptive and understands our value, leveraging our expertise to the max’. Because of his skill and willingness to listen, and to seek an optimal outcome, he can consistently galvanise everyone around a consensus and align the team to a vision. I have seen him achieve fantastic results, he is respectful, encouraging and an uplifting leader. What impresses me most about Gary is his exceptional instinct to find the win-win perspective in every situation, and he is clearly energised at the prospect of turning challenges into opportunity. This talent makes working with Gary a true pleasure.
-Mr. Chin Yen, Managing Director, PulseMetrics Pte Ltd
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During Gary’s tenure as CEO of our new Thai venture he worked directly for me until my posting to China in 2010. When he took on the role in 2008, the company in Thailand suffered from a myriad of issues relating to personnel, morale, sales were virtually nil, and the company was losing money on an earnings basis. In just a few short years he completely turned the business around. He managed to grow revenue by a full 700% with annualised sales growth of 54% taking the company from a loss to significant profitability. The company is now recognised as the leading innovator and direct writer of A&H business in Thailand. This achievement was almost entirely due to Gary’s drive, perseverance and leadership qualities. I give him full credit for the success. He is a skilled and effective general executive and a strong team player with extraordinary capacity and drive.
-David Skinner, ex-Regional President, Cigna Life, Accident & Health
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I had the pleasure of working with Gary when he was CEO of Cigna, Thailand. During that time his extraordinary energy, intellect and ability to harness his team saw GE Finance’s insurance business achieve unprecedented growth. Initially cautious we gave Gary only part of our business as we had two other key long-term players selling our product. In a very short space of time it became clear that Gary’s sales strategy, hands on leadership and affinity marketing expertise was beyond anything we’d experienced, so we awarded him the entire portfolio.
Gary’s ability to think creatively and remain completely focused on the business objectives and the solution, while taking his team on the journey is remarkable to observe. He is analytical, has an intimate knowledge of affinity marketing, is completely customer centric, has relationship management in his DNA and is a nice guy to boot. It is rare to find a business partner as personable, with strong strategic skills and a vision that can translate into outstanding and measurable business results.
-Paul Woodgate, Regional Leader EMEA & ASIA, GE Capital
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In 2008, when Gary was the CEO of Cigna Thailand, he approached us to discuss a partnership where Cigna would take on the direct distribution of our insurance products. Gary was convinced Cigna could yield better results and improve customer satisfaction so asked to go ‘head to head’ with the incumbent vendor, a firm that was well and truly entrenched in our business. Several years on the results of his expertise are still evident with Cigna now Tesco’s largest direct distribution partner in Thailand. Gary had the courage to take on an entrenched player and the skill and guile to beat them at their own game.
-Patrick Graham, CEO, Tesco Financial Services, Thailand
