About
I build businesses, commercialize technology and help organisations turn emerging technology into something people actually use.
For more than two decades, my work has sat at the intersection of technology, commercialization, entrepreneurship and transformation.
The technologies have changed. The recurring challenge has not: how do you take something new, make it useful, earn adoption and turn it into a viable business?
From fintech to Amazon
Early in my career at Centradia in London, I worked in business development for financial technology, contributing to approximately £4M in sales and working with more than 50 banks.
I later joined Amazon during the early expansion of its third-party marketplace in Europe. I worked with more than 150 retail clients while marketplace listings grew from approximately 3.7 million to 7.2 million during that period.
Building partnerships and new revenue
At Pangora, I led business development across Munich and London, negotiating strategic partnerships with distribution partners, affiliate networks, technology companies and media agencies.
In 2008, new deals I was responsible for generated approximately 20% of Pangora.com UK revenue.
Building and selling Expandeer
In 2009 I founded Expandeer, a digital consultancy serving organisations including Marriott Resort & Casino, Harley-Davidson, Aruba Bank and Post Office Aruba.
The company generated US$697,000 in revenue across 2015–2017. In 2017, Expandeer was sold to Deloitte Dutch Caribbean and became part of Deloitte Digital. I then joined Deloitte as Senior Manager, Digital.
Digital government in Aruba
At Futura Innovation Lab, I was responsible for Aruba’s e-government programme and digital-transformation capability across government. I led a multidisciplinary team of seven and worked with more than 45 senior internal and external stakeholders.
Six initiatives entered strategic planning: a national digital ID, Estonia’s X-Road interoperability platform, an e-government legal framework, GDPR and data-processing impact assessment work, citizen-service redesign, and a National Digital Strategy that included AI. The prioritised portfolio was approximately US$15 million.
Enterprise transformation at KPMG
I joined KPMG in Reykjavík as Manager, Digital Advisory. Part of the role involved the commercialization of ServiceNow and helping organisations think through how enterprise platforms fit into wider transformation.
From digital transformation to AI transformation
My current work is increasingly focused on AI transformation. The question that interests me is not simply what AI can do, but what an organisation should change when software can perform more of the research, analysis, decision support and execution that once depended on people.
That makes adoption, workflow design, governance and commercial judgment at least as important as the underlying model.
Building GrowthApp
In 2024 I started GrowthApp, an AI-enabled entrepreneurship platform designed to help founders move from ideas to validation and execution.
Building the product has kept me close to the practical questions around AI product design, adoption, founder behaviour, commercialization and what customers will actually pay for.
International perspective
I am Dutch and grew up in Aruba. My career has taken me through the Caribbean, the United States, Latin America and Europe, including the United Kingdom, Germany and Iceland.
I hold a BSc in Management Information Systems from the University of South Carolina and an MBA from the University of Edinburgh.
Maverick Soul
I am also an author/co-author of Maverick Soul, a book about entrepreneurship, ideas and the process of turning opportunity into action.
View the bookThe common thread
Across fintech, marketplaces, e-commerce, digital government, enterprise platforms and now AI, the pattern has been remarkably consistent.
New technology creates possibilities. Value appears only when people and organisations actually adopt it.