Westport, Connecticut, United States
Guido Bartels is a global technology and industry executive known for building high-trust ecosystems that transform industries and unlock enterprise value.At IBM, he led multi-billion-dollar global and regional business units, including Wireless Solutions, Energy & Utilities, and the Nordics. He pioneered IBM’s Intelligent Utility Network (IUN) strategy and launched a $100M smart grid investment program that positioned IBM at the center of the industry’s digital transformation. He also founded the Global IUN Coalition (GIUNC), aligning leading utilities worldwide around policy, standards, and infrastructure modernization. His leadership across Wireless, Energy & Utilities, and the Nordics contributed directly to IBM’s broader Smarter Planet strategy - demonstrating how integrated technology and ecosystem orchestration drive market leadership and long-term strategic relevance.Beyond IBM, Bartels served as Chairman of the U.S. GridWise Alliance and founded the Global Smart Grid Federation (GSGF), connecting more than a dozen national smart grid bodies across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Working alongside ministers, regulators, and global utility CEOs, he helped shape the early global architecture of smart grid policy and collaboration. In recognition of his role in electricity sector modernization, he served - as the only foreign national - two consecutive terms on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Electricity Advisory Committee (EAC).He later joined Amazon Web Services as Managing Director for the Nordics & Baltics, transforming AWS into a regional industry leader - scaling the workforce tenfold, growing revenue from approximately $250M to $1B ARR, launching the AWS Europe-Stockholm Infrastructure Region, and establishing strategic enterprise partnerships.Most recently, he joined Netherlands-based, private-equity-backed IT consultancy Xebia - reconnecting with his Dutch roots. There, he architected custom, multi-year strategic hyperscaler and regional ecosystem partnerships - including sovereign-market access agreements in the Middle East - strengthening the firm’s global position and enhancing enterprise valuation ahead of its strategic exit phase. Guido is currently operating in a portfolio phase, focused on venture creation, board and advisory roles, and selective investments across AI, digital infrastructure, and energy. He is co-founding a new venture in stealth mode focused on edge AI and distributed infrastructure while advising leadership teams on growth, partnerships, and go-to-market strategy.
Drawing on more than three decades of leadership across global technology platforms, hyperscale cloud, energy systems, and mission-driven organizations — and following an intentional transition into venture-scale execution environments — I am now focusing my time on portfolio investing, venture creation, and board and advisory roles. My work centers on applying this experience to the next generation of digital, AI, and energy infrastructure, supporting leadership teams and initiatives where ecosystem partnerships, governance, and execution at scale are critical. Since mid-2025, I have been co-founding a new venture in stealth mode focused on edge AI and digital infrastructure. This initiative is currently in pre-launch and is being developed in close collaboration with AKULAR as an execution platform while strategy, operating model, and early customer engagements are defined.
Led Xebia’s global cloud business across multi-cloud consulting, architecture, cost management, training, and managed services within a private-equity-backed growth environment. Member of the Xebia Executive Team, reporting directly to the CEO. Key impact and achievements: • Established and executed rare, long-term strategic partnerships with hyperscalers and sovereign cloud gatekeepers central to Xebia’s long-term growth and valuation positioning. • Amazon Web Services: Secured a five-year custom Strategic Collaboration Agreement, a designation held by only ~150 of 130,000+ AWS partners globally, enabling a $30M joint investment in solution development, go-to-market resources, and marketing. • Google Cloud: Secured a three-year Strategic Partnership Agreement, one of only 12 such partnerships globally out of 100,000+ Google Cloud partners, driving equal-scale investment into joint solutions and accelerated go-to-market initiatives. • CNTXT (Saudi Arabia): Structured Xebia’s sovereign-market access partnership with CNTXT, the exclusive Google Cloud reseller (Saudi Aramco–Cognite JV), enabling regulated cloud delivery in KSA and unlocking enterprise pipeline conversion in a high-growth digital market. • Collectively, these partnerships are projected to drive up to $400M in net new incremental revenue and deliver approximately $70M in partner funding over five years, materially strengthening Xebia’s strategic positioning with hyperscalers and its long-term valuation and exit optionality. • Led the evolution of Xebia’s cloud portfolio into a global, enterprise-scale multi-cloud offering aligned with large-scale transformation and durable value creation.
Directed global partner strategy for AWS’s $9B Public Sector business, expanding and strengthening the partner ecosystem and field execution across key public sector industries, with an initial focus on healthcare. Key impact and achievements: • Led the development and execution of AWS’s global partner strategy for Public Sector industries, significantly expanding ISV, GSI, and ecosystem capabilities to accelerate large-scale cloud adoption. • Drove the successful migration of thousands of ISV applications, including those surrounding major Electronic Health Record (EHR) platforms such as Epic, to AWS. • Played a central role in positioning AWS as a leading cloud platform for healthcare, particularly in enabling secure, compliant migration of electronic health records and mission-critical clinical systems. • Contributed to AWS being recognized by industry analysts (including KLAS) as a leading cloud platform for healthcare transformation, reflecting the scale of ISV and EHR ecosystem migration executed under this strategy.
Led AWS’s business across the Nordics and Baltics with full P&L responsibility for sales, partners, and customer success across eight countries. Key impact and achievements: • Scaled annual recurring revenue from approximately $250M to $1B in four years, establishing the region as one of AWS’s fastest-growing markets in EMEA. • Expanded the organization tenfold (from ~35 to 350 employees), building a strong leadership bench and localized operating model. • Led the launch of the AWS Europe (Stockholm) Infrastructure Region, advancing data sovereignty, resilience, and large-scale cloud adoption across the Nordics. • Built deep enterprise and public-sector executive relationships, positioning AWS as the leading cloud platform in the region. • Led AWS’s transition in the Nordics from startup-focused adoption to large-scale enterprise transformation, including securing the largest sovereign wealth fund globally (NBIM) as a landmark reference win in a highly competitive environment.
Member of a CEO-level advisory board convening senior leaders from Europe’s energy, digital, and infrastructure sectors to advise EU policymakers on the energy transition. Key impact and achievements: • Contributed to cross-sector dialogue shaping EU policy thinking on a digitized, interconnected, and secure European energy system. • Provided industry input to EU institutions on grid modernization, market design, and energy system integration. • Bridged perspectives between utilities, TSOs, technology providers, and policymakers to support evidence-based energy policy. • Participated in high-level engagements with EU Commissioners, Members of the European Parliament, and national energy ministries.
IBM (1988–2017) Over a 28-year career at IBM, I held senior international leadership roles across technology, industry solutions, and regional P&L management. During my final nine years, I served as a B-band executive and member of IBM’s Growth & Transformation Team (G&TT) — formerly the Integration & Values Team (I&VT) — a selective group of ~300 senior executives globally, with membership reviewed annually by the CEO based on business impact and transformation leadership. As part of this group, and alongside IBM’s most senior change leaders, I co-led enterprise transformation initiatives in addition to my line responsibilities, regularly taking on cross-company strategic assignments beyond day-to-day operational roles.
Appointed by IBM’s CEO to lead the global ABB relationship at a critical inflection point. Assumed full P&L responsibility for IBM’s worldwide business with ABB (~1,000 professionals), stabilizing core services engagements while repositioning IBM as ABB’s strategic partner for industrial IoT and digital transformation. Key impact and achievements: • Arrested revenue decline across major outsourcing engagements and restored executive-level trust. • Repositioned the relationship from traditional IT services to joint innovation in industrial IoT and AI. • Strengthened C-suite alignment between IBM and ABB leadership. • Culminated in the April 25, 2017 announcement at Hannover Messe of a new strategic partnership in industrial artificial intelligence.
Led IBM’s Nordic business ($2.5B revenue, ~7,000 employees), reporting to IBM’s EMEA General Manager & Senior Vice President (member of IBM’s Executive Committee). Key impact and achievements: • Repositioned IBM Nordic from legacy-heavy outsourcing toward cloud-, IoT- and platform-led growth, restoring long-term contract backlog from ~$1.3B to above $3.2B. • Secured landmark, long-term strategic agreements, including a 10-year, $1B+ cloud transformation partnership with EVRY, establishing IBM as the leading cloud infrastructure provider in the region. • Sponsored and closed strategic innovation partnerships with global leaders including Novo Nordisk and KONE, accelerating adoption of IoT, analytics and cognitive solutions across healthcare and industrial sectors.