Servant leadership · Data & AI · Strategy · Product evangelist
For 17 years in tech — 13 of them in data — I've turned silos of data into decisions people can act on. Today I help ING become AI-native: how teams work, decide and build when agents do more of the work. Before that I led ~55 people across four countries who owned data from system of record to the screen of the person using it — and on evenings and weekends I build AI-native apps myself.
years in tech, 13+ of them in data — from engineer to AI transformation lead
~55
people I led in my last role, across NL, Romania, India & Philippines
7M+
customers' data delivered to the ECB in 2 weeks
7,000+
people in 7 countries using the data products my teams ran
The value I bring
Data that earns its keep. Teams that run themselves.
I sit where strategy, data and people meet. Here's what that looks like in practice.
“People and technology leveraged to build scalable products which customers love to use.”What success looks like for me
01
Data & AI strategy
I connect big, siloed data into one picture that moves the P&L — and set the strategy that keeps it governed, traceable and as safe as the money. Data mesh, data marketplace, and a foundation ready for ML and GenAI.
02
Product culture
Start from the business problem, prototype early, aim for 10× better, fail fast and learn. I say no to the good-but-not-strategic so the right things actually ship.
03
Servant leadership
I hire managers who hire well, build self-organising teams on the Agile manifesto, and make sure the people in my stead are empowered to decide for themselves.
04
Small steps, scientifically
I taught Toyota Kata to my five direct reports; they teach theirs. Continuous improvement becomes a habit, not a programme.
Problems I've solved
The messy, high-stakes ones.
A selection from banking, trading and consulting — each one a real constraint, a real deadline, a real outcome.
Regulatory
A regulator on the clock
ProblemThe European Central Bank needed customers' transactions, products and agreements — fast.
What I didLed the response, pulling data across systems into one deliverable.
7M+ customers' data in 2 weeks
Revenue
One view of the sales pipeline
ProblemSales data was scattered, so leads and opportunities were hard to see end to end.
What I didLed the team that built and runs the sales funnel for the Netherlands and Belgium.
The primary source of leads & products sold
Customer
From reacting to predicting friction
ProblemCustomer journeys with friction were only fixed after customers complained.
What I didDesign sprint → prototype → onboarding fixes → ML and GenAI that predict friction.
Predict, don't react
Scale
Contact centres, globally
ProblemSix markets wanted GenAI chatbots, and management needed one set of numbers to steer by.
What I didLed the data side: availability 24×7, reporting and predictive insight.
NL · DE · IT · RO · ES · wholesale bank
Platform
Moving the data estate
ProblemAgeing platforms, plus a hard GDPR deadline.
What I didSteered teams through IBM PDA → Oracle Exadata → Google Cloud, reporting included.
GDPR-compliant on a tight deadline
People
Growing a data organisation
ProblemDelivery capacity and talent had to scale without losing quality.
What I didBuilt self-organising teams, a leadership pipeline and craftsmanship programmes.
⅓ of ING NL reporting · 70+ experts upskilled · ~€7M budget
Earlier proof points
30+ companies
Led Daily P&L, credit risk, VaR and accounting-position analytics for a commodity trader, with self-service BI on Tableau.
800+ hours / year
Automated release pipeline (CI/CD) at Shell — deployment time given back to the team.
42 → 0
Clearing production issues at Citi, some two years old, in under three months. A first for the team.
Career timeline
From programmer analyst to AI transformation lead.
Chennai, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague — and every step moved me closer to the people who use the data.
Jun 2026 →Present
ING Netherlands · Strategy office
AI Transformation Lead Now
I help ING's strategy office make the organisation AI-native: how teams work, decide and build when agents do more of the work.
Shipping my own products with the Claude API, Vercel and GitHub — from inbox intelligence to a banking-AI research tool. The portfolio on this site is the proof.
Product person who ships, not just specs
Jun 2021– Jun 2026
ING Netherlands
Head of (Data) Product — Service & Operations
Owned people, delivery, operations, transformation and budget for a cross-border data product area of ~55 people covering services, operations and KYC. End-to-end data, from system of record to the insight on screen.
Co-authored the data strategy for a bank of ~15,000 employees
May 2019– Jun 2021
ING Netherlands
Product Owner — Data management
Delivered the integrated sales data product for the domestic bank in NL and BE, and mentored other product owners.
Sales data continuity for the Netherlands & Belgium
Nov 2015– Apr 2019
Vittera · Rotterdam
Product Owner — Data, Analytics & Reporting
Grew from business analyst to product owner. Owned the BI backlog for 30+ subsidiaries; brought SAP data into the warehouse and self-service BI to the business.
Daily P&L, credit risk and VaR across a matrix organisation
Nov 2013– Nov 2015
Shell · The Hague (via Avanade)
BI Lead & Scrum Master
Led a globally distributed Scrum team (NL + India) on Shell's enterprise data warehouse platform.
Featured in Shell World magazine, Sept 2015, for Scrum expertise
2012 – 2013
Amsterdam Business School · TomTom
MBA, and a BI internship
MBA at the University of Amsterdam, with a BI internship at TomTom on partner reporting and market-expansion analysis.
Dec 2008– Aug 2011
Citigroup · Chennai
Programmer Analyst → Business Analyst & Project Lead
Real-estate banking systems, then led the migration of a product from Microsoft Access to a web app.
Production issues from 42 to 0 in under 3 months
2004 – 2008
NSS College of Engineering · Kerala
BTech, Electronics & Communication
Chaired a university tech fest; final-year project with ISRO, India's space agency.
Beyond the job title
Where the leadership comes from.
Born in Kerala, shaped by a youth movement and a lot of notebooks.
University days, leading a team of ~360 volunteers for a technical fest. Sponsors covered 80% of the budget.
22 years of servant leadership
Active in an international youth movement, growing from a university team to the European team. Built a city organisation from 7 people to 7 self-organising teams, all voluntary.
Visual thinker, lifelong learner
I think in pictures, so I take a lot of notes — about 20 years of journals. I read, invest in tech companies, and love turning complex things into a clear visual.
