I bet that you have not met a CTO who cares that much about end users!
Where does this "UX CTO" come from?
It's my unique blend of thinking about user experience via my engineering background, passion for compliance and CTO career in an agency.
You can watch my 90-second intro to learn more!
Quick Bio
- Co-founder, CTO and Client Services Officer at Cyber-Duck Ltd. We partner with clients to design, build and optimise their digital experience platforms, turning them into award-winning solutions. Today, as we employ 100+ staff, my role consists of supporting the team with processes and recommendations to make better decisions. I am mostly involved in growth, both as new business and Account Management. My team and I recently won the "Business Development Team of the Year" at the Drum Awards 2021.
- Part-time Youtuber publishing "Digital Blitz", a series of short video briefs on everything UX, Tech and Compliance. I also started interviewing Product Leaders to showcase amazing products putting all their efforts and investing in UX, Tech and Compliance.
- BIMA 100 Winner in 2022 in the "Strategists and Consultants" category, for my contributions to the digital community.
- Member of the "Headless Developer Advisory Board" with Acquia, advising on the development of new headless CMS technologies for the benefit of developers and clients.
- Enterprise Advisor for the Elstree Screen Arts Academy with Herts LEP, helping develop their career programme, and improve student employability and awareness about careers in the digital space. Guest speaker at Founders4Schools and Teens in AI.
- Mental Health First Aider based on the training from MHFA England. This course teaches in-depth skills for providing first aid to people who may be experiencing mental health issues such as depression, anxiety and psychosis.
- CMI Level 3 Certificate in Coaching and Mentoring (QCF) from the Chartered Management Institute.
Becoming a creator
Joining Write of Passage #5 and On Deck Performative Speaking fellowships during the Covid19 pandemic really pushed me out of my comfort zone and improved my reading > thinking > writing > teaching process. I am now on a mission to share my experience to everyone working in digital. By following best practices, designers, developers and marketers can make BETTER decisions, build BETTER products and deliver BETTER experiences for their teams and customers.
I am publishing articles and educational videos about how my role as a CTO supports our team in delivering successful digital transformation projects for clients. I cover topics such as:
* People - Leadership on growing a team, managing clients and partners;
* Process - Delivering efficiency & compliance with ISO / GDPR standards;
* UX - The importance of usability and accessibility in building digital services;
* Technology - Open-source CMS / DXP platforms, API and MarTech tools.
Growing a business
Upon joining an e-commerce startup in Florida back in 2005, I immediately knew that it was the right path for me. I love being involved in many areas (tech, sales, operations, IT...) and small companies are an amazing place to learn by making decisions that shape up a business. Moving back to London in 2006, I joined Cyber-Duck Ltd. As a co-founder, we have seen the company grow organically from strength to strength: from a 2-man band back then to a 90+ strong team today.
The development of our amazing team, the evolution of our services / operations and continued growth throughout the years (including during the 2008 and Covid19 crisis) has been the most rewarding experience I could dream of.
Family life & Sports
Outside of work, I enjoy spending time at home and travelling with my pilot wife and 2 amazing daughters. I am passionate about developing them into grateful and well-rounded human beings, exploring foreign cultures and letting them discover their passion. I ran the Vitality triathlon in London back in May 2015. I really enjoyed pushing myself and the training it took months before to get into shape.
We keep our sanity through sports, enjoying runs and mountain bike excursions in leafy Berlin!
If you want to get in touch, I will see you on LinkedIn, Twitter or Strava.
I have also started sharing my favourite tools and platforms to be productive and efficient in my day-to-day life. Most are affiliate links.