CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE THOUGHT LEADER. CORPORATE AND BOARD ADVISOR.
Throughout Brian’s career, he has been at the forefront of delivering impact at scale, leveraging cutting-edge technology to resolve today’s business challenges and prepare for tomorrow’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) challenges.
Brian is a successful tech consulting startup entrepreneur; a proven Gartner Senior Director analyst veteran and most recently, an executive leader (Chief Strategy Officer) at publicly traded company CM.com. His passion for customer engagement, digital business, artificial intelligence and customer experience focused leadership have been a consistent theme throughout his career.
16 Years in Technical Consulting and Strategy
At the beginning of his career Brian developed himself as a contact center specialist across application development, process design and business strategy.
Over the years Customer Relationship Management became his core discipline and whilst at Gartner he helped numerous organizations develop next generation customer contact strategies.
Brian’s ability to balance this with his deep knowledge of the enabling customer engagement technology landscape held him in high regard with his clients.
6 Years in
Entrepreneurship
Along the way Brian set up two consulting firms, one specializing in CRM implementation for Oracle Siebel and Microsoft CRM and the other providing CX consulting for the c suite.
As CEO of the startups, Brian employed over 15 consultants with a revenue of over 3 million EURO and with 30% EBITDA.
Brian has pioneered new innovation that’s fundamental in shaping CX strategy. He’s successfully transformed leading European brands, driving growth and delivering on strategic goals.
10 Years in Senior Executive Leadership
As Chief Strategy Officer of CM.com, (a CPaaS company). Brian tripled the company’s revenue, establishing it in five new countries, and doubling its global workforce over two years.
As the VP Contact Center for ABN AMRO, he was part of the management team that build the first in-house Netherlands-based contact center.
At Atos he led the CRM and Customer Intelligence Business Unit (45fte), introducing customer journey analytics to increase customer loyalty, satisfaction and lifetime value.
Top CX Leader in 2021
Brian was recognized as one of the most influential advisors for customer experience in 2021.
Chief Strategy Officer and C Suite Executive Life
As Chief Strategy Officer in CM.com’s executive committee, Brian was responsible for the company’s drive to secure and grow its industry leadership through new innovative products and services. Brian was instrumental in shaping the development of the company’s innovative platform and applications, leveraging the latest thinking in Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things and Cloud. He also helped initiate inorganic growth through various merger & acquisition investments, develop a new product positioning and the associated GTM strategy, and set up and grow a new global partnership program.
Testimonials
“Throughout my years of interacting with Gartner as a client, I came across quite a long list of expert analysts, but no one was like Brian. Unlike others, he cared to learn, asked all the relevant questions, and provided very insightful and valuable feedback.”
George Skaff, SVP of Worldwide Marketing, Daon
“Brian and I met 4 yrs ago at Gartner. I got to know Brian as a business- and outcome oriented professional, empathetic and with technical background to challenge. Some of his professional and personal assets are his strategic thinking, drive and focus on customers.”
Derk Jan Brands, VP and Managing Director Benelux and Nordics, Pegasystems
“Some analysts crunch numbers. Others, still, have vision and personality. These are the analysts – and Brian is one of them – whose insights and predictions can’t be ignored. Brian equips executives across the enterprise to make the right decisions and stay ahead of change”.
Rob Hilsen, Director Corporate Communication and Strategy Zendesk i
“Brian is a very experienced entrepreneur with a thorough experience across the CRM market. He is a focused, energetic individual, with strong leadership skills. Brian has the rare gift of transforming complex business challenges into simple business plans ready for execution. He is a typical “out-of-the-box thinker” and has a tremendous network.
Bart Jan Oskam, Business Owner of Attached
“Brian is a brilliant analyst and industry leader with a clear view of the market and its future. Honest, direct and always focused to having a respectful dialogue. After every conversation, I sharpened my company strategy and created tons of new ideas”.
Dirk Jan Dokman, Enterpreneur (former owner of CX Company)
Brian and I worked together in the Management team of ABN AMRO’s contact center. Coming from one of Hollands largest bank’s talent class, Brian was a young and eager manager, with a heart for business and for his employees. Brian is always result driven, transparent, honest and clear to his employees and colleagues. He was very effective in managing the sales department”.
Marc van de Meer, Senior Lecturer Marketing Communication, Research, Consumer Psychology
