Fractional CTO · Platform Architect
27+ years of shipping software, architecting infrastructure, and growing engineering teams. I walk into organizations, take ownership of the entire technical stack, and don't stop until it works.
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I started programming on a Commodore 64 as a kid. By 1997 I was managing Windows server parks at Heineken. I migrated entire companies from Windows to Linux, built the Netherlands' first crowdfunding platform for ABN AMRO, and spent a decade as CTO building a mobile payments platform across 18 European countries.
Today I architect and operate enterprise Kubernetes clusters, ship production code across the full stack, and lead engineering teams. Often all in the same week.
Most fractional CTOs stopped coding years ago. I didn't. I build libraries that other developers actually use. When I review your architecture, I'm not guessing. I can open a terminal and prove it.
Fair warning: I don't wait for six meetings and a committee decision. When something is broken, I fix it. When a process is paralyzing your team, I'll route around it, ship the solution, and then we'll get compliance and documentation caught up. That's not recklessness. That's how you book real progress. If you need someone who colors inside the lines, I'm not your guy.
My real strength isn't any single technology. It's recognizing shifts in the landscape before they become mainstream and positioning companies to capitalize on them. I moved clients to containerization before Docker was a household name, adopted Elixir for high-concurrency workloads years before the industry caught on, and I'm deep into AI-assisted development right now. Not reading about it, shipping with it.
The tech stack is never the point. The point is making sure your company is technically ready for what's next, not scrambling to catch up.
I've guided organizations through SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, and HIPAA readiness. Not as a checkbox exercise, but as the architect who built the infrastructure those audits inspect. When auditors ask questions, I'm the one who answers them.
I don't hand you a PDF and disappear. I take ownership of your problems as if they were mine, work alongside your team, and ship results before the next board meeting.
I join your leadership team part-time and own your technical strategy. Architecture decisions, team structure, hiring, vendor evaluations, compliance roadmaps. The strategic brain without the full-time price tag.
I design and build your cloud-native platform from the ground up or rescue the one that's on fire. Kubernetes, CI/CD, observability, security, cost optimization.
I help you build, structure, and level up your engineering team. Agile processes that actually work, code quality standards, developer coaching, and the mentorship culture that retains talent.
Your team is probably using AI tools already. Without governance, that means duplicated code, security holes, and senior engineers who quietly refuse to touch it. I set the rules, pick the tools, and get your whole team shipping with AI. Not experimenting. Shipping.
Hired as CTO to build a mobile payment service from scratch. Over 8 years, I assembled and led a tech team that grew the business into a leading European mobile payments platform operating across 18 countries. I traveled to each country to implement carrier integrations on-site. You can't simulate a mobile network. Built the metrics and KPI systems that let a small team outcompete rivals with bigger budgets.
Architect and operate ~250 Kubernetes nodes across full DTAP environments with a multi-cluster hub-and-spoke architecture for Mobility Investment Group (parent of Mobiliteitsfabriek and Reisbalans). Manage significant cloud spend including active cost optimization and migration assessments. Responsible for compliance across SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, and HIPAA readiness. Full GitOps workflow, automated policy enforcement, and zero-downtime database operations.
Built the Netherlands' first crowdfunding investment platform for ABN AMRO's innovation incubator. Led the team from prototype to production, including pen testing, payment integration, and coaching ABN's internal dev team and hosting partners through security audits. The lessons evolved into a white-label crowdfunding technology.
Built the full technology stack for a fitness company: member administration, payments, subscriptions, a virtual coaching system, and performance tracking. Mobile companion app with a shared component library. When the company grew rapidly, I stepped into the COO role to run day-to-day operations, freeing the founder to focus on commercial growth.
Since you are not looking for the traditional software engineer I can fully recommend Gerard. I have been a client of Govannon while being a Senior Innovation Manager and New Business Line Manager at ABN AMRO and a CEO of SEEDS Investment BV. I continued being his customer after leaving the banking industry because Gerard knows what businesses and you really need.
I work with funded startups and scale-ups that need senior technical leadership without the full-time commitment. Based in the Netherlands (CET), with 4–6 hours of daily overlap across all US time zones.