A middle-aged man with dark, wavy hair and a full beard, wearing a light blue dress shirt, looking at the camera against a plain, light-colored background.

Thomas Ordahl operates at the intersection of brand strategy and major organizational change—M&A, corporate separations, and market repositioning—moments when aligning brand decisions with business decisions is critical to driving growth and successful transformation.

His career spans consequential mergers, separations, and transformations, such as the recent creation of the Versigent brand as part of its spin-off from Aptiv. Other engagements include:

  • Developing the Kyndryl brand as part of its separation from IBM

  • The creation of Trane Technologies with the spin of Ingersoll-Rand

  • Development of the Aptiv brand and revitalization of Delphi Technologies as part of their split

  • Evolving Abbott’s brand to better reflect its role as a leader in healthcare technology

  • The creation of the NEOM name and brand, the new economic region within Saudi Arabia

  • The merger of Dow DuPont and subsequent spin of Dow

Before founding OrdahlCo, Thomas spent a decade as Global Chief Strategy Officer at Landor where he built and led a 250-person multidisciplinary practice across 28 offices in 23 countries.

Thomas writes and speaks regularly on strategic branding. He has written for the Economist, Admap, and Forbes and has been interviewed by the Financial Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Fast Company, among others. He has lectured at NYU Stern School of Business and presented at events hosted by organizations such as the Economist, Columbia Business School, and the Marketing Society.

He was a contributing author to Perspectives on Purpose: Leading Voices on Building Brands and Businesses for the Twenty-First Century (2019).