Welcome to the World of the Turnaround CEO
NEWS
November 2025
NOVEMBER 2025. IT WAS INTERESTING TO GET CAUGHT UP IN THE MIDDLE OF A FILM CREW.
While staying at Novotel Hotel in Bang Na, a suburb of Bangkok in Thailand, I was surprised to arrive back late at night to a hubbub of action and what looked like chaos in the lobby. A television film crew had commandeered the front of the hotel for a movie sequence. Cheaper to rent the lobby for an evening than to build a set. And extra income for the hotel. All guests were chaperoned around the actors and cameras including me. but being who I am I sat among them and watched everything. What appeared to be chaos turned out to be well choreographed professionalism, everyone very clear as to their part of the project, often sitting and waiting for their role, some catching up on sleep. I’ve heard that movie making is mostly hours of boredom and I certainly witnessed that. Was all very insightful and exciting. Interesting to see the real hotel receptionist moved out of her position and an actor moved in to be filmed registering other actors. I never did see the final product on TV. I’ve worked on two movie projects in the past, both in Hollywood, “Rescuers Down Under” and “Oomskas”, but this was fascinating just watching everyone..
ALLAN BRANCH
Entrepreneur, Technologist, Author and Turnaround CEO
SAVING COMPANIES AND JOBS
Allan's memoir, his first full length book, "The Vandemonian" is this extraordinary true life story and the tricks of fixing companies are all spelled out..
Allan is a pioneering robotics technologist, entrepreneur, writer and company turnaround executive. Allan created his startup company in Hobart, Tasmania, using technology to encourage learning and education in students, embarking on a career from the USA inventing, manufacturing and selling the world’s smartest mobile robots. Allan publishes articles and papers on technology, business and his travels, including his first pieces on neural nets and vision while still in high school. From there Allan uses his skills turning around struggling companies, saving jobs. This memoire is his first full length book. He shares his time between Hobart, Bangkok, Munich and Pittsburgh.
COMPANY TURNAROUNDS
SAVING COMPANIES AND JOBS
With dozens and dozens of successful hands-on turnarounds, Allan is unique in his guarantee to save your company, all jobs, all investments.
The opposite of a hatchet manager, bean counter or expensive consultant. With 30-years-experience hands-on leading highly stressed companies from seemingly inescapable disaster, Allan has developed proprietary tools and techniques to ensure your company is saved, all jobs are retained and commercial success is sustained. Biotech, fintech, agritech, robotics, AI, medicine, genetics, materials, manufacturing, FMCG like cosmetics or beverages, resources, energy. Allan's successes include pre-revenue tech startups that have stalled, family portfolios, universities, government departments, a Royal Society, and mature companies on international stock exchanges that have plateaued. Allan makes it look easy.
TECHNOLOGY
In 1979 Allan created the world's first commercially successful smart mobile robot, the Tasman Turtle, an advanced educational product to encourage learning and problem solving in school children. Then between 1979 and 1997 he created the first autonomous navigation system, the first robot vacuum cleaners, the first service robots, during that time more mobile robots than anyone. Educational, hobby, toy robots, industrial, stair climbing, television, research, luggage robots, walking robots, sensor technologies, navigation technologies, and more. For his own company and for the likes of General Electric, Radio Shack, Moulinex, Tomy, NASA. In 1979 his Tasman Turtle educational Logo robot could speak, be controlled by voice in any language, display rudimentary navigation and mapping and path planning. even learning through Pavlovian conditioning. But his technology interests started with neural nets and vision systems, novel car engines running on water, heart lung machines and transplant surgery, management systems, business machines and more. The Australian Federal Minister for Science and Technology once described Allan as one of Australia's key technologists. He was Invited Visiting Scientist to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh in 1989/90 and has guest lectured on robotics, technology commercialisation, AI, entrepreneurialism and business management at universities like UTas, CMU, Texas A&M, Singapore, Sydney University and Harvard.
THE IDEA IS EASY, IT IS SELLING IT THAT IS THE HARD PART
Nobody understands commercializing technology products and services like Allan.
A BOOK TO MAKE YOU SIT UP AND PAY ATTENTION
Told through vivid vignettes, The Vandemonian captures Allan’s extraordinary journey of invention and transformation—revealing the man behind the robots. Blending the introspective depth of Paul Auster’s Winter Journal with the transformative arc of Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes, The Vandemonian is a compelling narrative of human ingenuity and perseverance.
How do you escape a loving but dysfunctional and at times violent family hidden at the tip of the world? What do you do and how do you do it? Allan Branch found the perfect way. With the help of teachers and mentors who saw something special in him, Allan moved from the backwoods of a tiny alpine village to dominate one of Silicon Valley’s most exciting industries. Then he had to escape a second time. What made him change direction again at the top of his game? This time alone, ultimately to the high end of the corporate and financial corridors, over 20 countries, circling the globe a hundred times. Both times the inconsistencies of the technology world led to achievements unimaginable to those around him. For decades he faced disaster, attacks, tragedy, loss, between periods of euphoric highs and seemingly insurmountable challenges. This is the captivating adventure of a surprisingly complex, yet unpresupposing man, who fought the system to escape it, losing lives and saving lives along the way. Discovering disturbing personal truths.
If you aspire to something but are not sure what it is, then this is a must read. Business leaders, politicians, entrepreneurs, anyone excited by success without aggression, compassionate leadership. An uplifting example of a life and style often absent in today’s board rooms and government departments.
Coming!
THE WORLD OF THE TURNAROUND CEO
Unlike anything you have encountered or read. All the secrets that have saved scores of companies and hundreds of jobs.
ALLAN CHARLES BRANCH
YOU CAN NEVER WIN
Are there "Hitlers" amongst us?
Why there are always thugs in the world. The genetics of fascism.
ALLAN CHARLES BRANCH
BLIND FAITH
He has found the coveted "God" gene and people are killing to get it. A novel of industrial espionage.
ALLAN CHARLES BRANCH
PRAISE FOR THE VANDEMONIAN
Suthipong Suriya, known as Karb, is a multi-award winning food stylist and published author of several culinary books. In his amazing studio in Bangkok, he graciously added my memoir to his collection. Having just returned from winning six awards, this time the Gourmand Awards in Portugal, in return for a believe it or not take-out lunch, I treated his travel migraine with a Shiatsu massage.
Karb Studio
Upcoming Engagements
Contact Allan before your company collapses.
For international guest lectures, speaking engagements, keynote addresses.
For autographed copies of THE VANDEMONIAN.