Amsterdam Area
Seasoned technology leader with deep expertise in Infrastructure, Exadata, and Engineered Systems. As VP of Systems Solution Engineering for Oracle EMEA, I lead a high-performing team of solution engineers delivering complex presales strategies that accelerate enterprise cloud transformations across Europe, Middle East, and Africa. Proven track record in driving multimillion-euro deals, building cross-functional teams, and forging strong partnerships with sales, customers, and internal stakeholders. Recognized multiple times as Presales of the Year and for Business Partnership excellence through innovative Oracle-on-Oracle solutions and customer-centric delivery. Passionate about emerging cloud technologies, multicultural team leadership, and helping organizations maximize the value of Oracle's infrastructure portfolio. Fluent in Dutch (native) and English. Always open to meaningful conversations with fellow technology leaders and innovators in enterprise infrastructure.
VP Solution Engineering, leading Oracle’s Exadata Platform team across EMEA. Responsible for strategy, customer success, technical excellence, and team development, helping organizations modernize their most critical database and data platform environments through Exadata, Exadata Cloud@Customer, and associated recovery solutions.
Overall responsible for Solution Engineering within the EMEA Cloud Systems organisation that supports Oracle’s sales across the full Systems portfolio of our products. As a VP, my primary focus is to drive the growth and success of the company. To achieve this, I prioritize the following areas of focus: • Leadership Development: I believe that developing a strong pipeline of future leaders is essential for the long-term success of any company. As such, I would prioritize developing leadership development programs and initiatives that help employees grow and develop their skills. • Innovation and support Product Development: To stay competitive in today's fast-paced business environment, companies like Oracle must be innovative and agile. I focus on fostering a culture of innovation within the team, supporting development of new products features and solutions, and ensuring that we stay ahead of market trends. • Operational Excellence: Efficient and effective operations are critical to delivering high-quality products and services to our customers. I prioritize streamlining processes, eliminating waste, and increasing efficiency throughout the company. • Customer Focus: Our customers are the lifeblood of our business, and I prioritize developing strategies to deepen our relationships with them. This would include developing customer-focused initiatives, improving customer service, and leveraging technology to better understand and meet their needs. • Talent Acquisition and Retention: Attracting and retaining top talent is critical to the success of any organization. I prioritize developing and implementing strategies to attract and retain top talent, as well as fostering a culture of inclusion and diversity.
Leading the Solution Engineering team within the EMEA Cloud Systems organisation that supports Oracle’s sales across the full Systems portfolio of products. Why Oracle? Because we design the architecture to be identical on-premises and in the (hybrid) cloud, if you run for example Exadata or Private Cloud Appliance on-premise, you can move seamlessly to the cloud whenever you’re ready, and you can move as much or as little to the cloud as you want. Oracle has three deployment models which includes all the same technology: 1) Public Cloud 2) Cloud at Customer 3) On-Premises Solutions
Started to work at 1st and later the 2nd line helpdesk and then moved into the field. Few years later I got the internal job offered to be a Account Engineer, later renamed to Proactive Technical Analyst. In this job I was performing a trusted technical advisor role for my customers through delivery of proactive analysis and customized concepts resulting in increased system availability with a constant eye on customer satisfaction. This role was completely based on dealing with and in difficult customer situations. The job was mostly customer focus and technical related, at that moment of time in 2010 I was the first who got trained on Exadata and was involved with the first Exadata installation in whole EMEA.
Coming from a very flexible company, IBM was really different to work for at this moment in time and also for me in my moment of experiance. I performced almost the same activities as at Sequent and added some skills about : - Strong technical NT and Exchange skills to provide support to IBM NUMA-Q's customer base. - This includes software installations and configurations, networks, printers, etc; Experience debugging adn resolving system level problems; Strong communication (written and verbal) and customer relation skills were required. I realized after a few months this might not be the company I want to work for the next years and when Sun Microsystems reached out for me the decision was taken very easily to move on.
This was a really special company to work for, and this was my first American company. Traveling started for me with this company and I have really enjoyed working for Sequent until the final day it was acquired by IBM. Part of my daily tasks were : - New System Installs. - Re-configuring current systems to meet product group needs including racking hardware, cabling, loading software and installing third party products. Perform system upgrades of both hardware and software as new products are released. Responsible for maintaining the operational intergrity of all the systems in the lab, including the ability to troubleshoot hardware and software problems as they arise and replace components as needed. Include onsite customer support which would include new installs, uninstalls, add-ons, system upgrades, troubleshooting and parts replacement. Perform under moderate pressure and maintain a professional interface with the customer. Some lifting as well as moving fully loaded system cabinets.
At this company I really learned to work independently. The following tasks were part of my daily job: - Managing ICT systems, applications and security systems, maintenance documentation. - Maintain and monitor the networking infrastructure WAN / LAN. - Perform backup procedures. - Providing support to business and end users. - Monitors ICT systems to ensure availability and operational quality. - 1st and 2nd line support incident / problem management. - Contribute in the design and implementation of innovative solutions. - Willingness to perform work irregular hours and to participate in the standby schedule.