Chief of Staff · Operations leader · Strategy-to-delivery translator
I'm the person you hire when the business has outgrown a single brain. Eleven years building the operating backbone of high-growth companies across nine industries. Last two mandates: 100% revenue in 12 months, a 10% cost cut, and a 90% efficiency gain on a million-record reconciliation.
Johannesburg, South AfricaWorking across 4 continents5 languages
Most companies scale until the founder is the bottleneck. Decisions stack in one inbox. Meetings run long because nobody is sure who owns the outcome. New senior hires land, things shift for a quarter, and the same problems return in new language.
I'm hired to fix the layer underneath that. Not the strategy, not the product, the machinery that lets both work. A Chief of Staff who reads a P&L, builds the reporting stack, runs the cross-functional programme, and writes the policy, then stays to make sure the thing actually runs.
My default question isn't what we do next. It's what the system for this looks like. If the answer only works at today's headcount, or only works because a specific person is in the seat, it isn't the answer.
The output is leadership making better calls with less ad hoc communication. Cleaner handoffs, reporting that tells the truth, a senior team that knows what it owns. I've done this in management consulting, fintech, software, AI, aviation, logistics, corporate finance, manufacturing, travel, and solar.
Six years fully remote, across time zones from Latin America to South East Asia. Distributed is the default setting, not an adjustment.
Off the clock
Curious for a living. Spare time tends to go on podcasts about geopolitics, current affairs, history, how-to tech, and personal growth, and on books about business and psychology. Functional training keeps the head clear. Padel keeps it competitive. Friends are the quiz-night type, which suits me. Home is two opinionated furbabies who have strong views on my working hours.
Apr 2025 — PresentKvell Dynamics Pty Ltd AI & software development
Chief of Staff & Head of HR
Led the operational rebuild. Redesigned the operating systems end to end and turned a legacy platform into a scalable mobile and web product.
Simplified 200+ processes and grew adoption from 20 to 45 users across 6 divisions.
Ran 4 to 5 concurrent projects, coordinating 15+ engineers across product, operations, and delivery.
Built the internal backbone: project costing, resource allocation, HRMS rollout for 45+ employees, vendor management.
Cut software licensing spend by roughly 50% through consolidation and vendor rationalisation.
Scaled the team from 0 to 5 and pulled time-to-hire from 6 weeks to 2.
Sep 2021 — Mar 2025Troesser & Co. GmbH Management consulting
Head of Corporate Development & Chief of Staff
Strategic partner to the CEO. Delivered 12+ cross-functional critical projects a year, from design through to continuous improvement.
Cut costs by 10% and lifted reporting transparency by 30% by rebuilding budgeting, forecasting, and the KPI stack (sales, pipeline, NPS, staffing).
Ran a €90k automation programme across finance, IT, HR, and marketing spanning 6 global entities (Power Automate, Zoho Books, CRM).
Supported sell-side M&A on a €3M financial services deal, divestment strategy for a €4B logistics group, and liquidity optimisation for a €7.5M automotive group.
Launched operations in Portugal and South Africa, including legal entity setup.
Held the communication rhythm across 8+ countries: agendas, reporting, leadership events, follow-through on deliverables.
Nov 2014 — Aug 2021VAT IT Group FinTech
Seven years, four roles
Joined as a Client Service Executive in Johannesburg and left running the Latin America branch remotely. Four roles, one through-line: more clients, bigger revenue, bigger teams, every time.
Jan 2020 — Aug 2021 · 1 yr 8 mos
Branch Manager, Latin America
Owned the regional P&L. Hit 100% of revenue targets in 12 months.
Lifted client satisfaction by 15% and cut attrition by tightening the sales, marketing, and service handoff.
Built and held client and partner relationships across the region, remote from Johannesburg.
Jan 2019 — Jan 2020 · 1 yr 1 mo
Global Head of Operations, Aviation Taxes
Doubled product sales and grew the client base by 160% in 12 months through an end-to-end restructure of product operations.
Designed the reporting tools and scalable processes that cut processing errors and lifted speed.
Aug 2016 — Dec 2018 · 2 yrs 5 mos
Business Development Executive
Grew the Latin America client base by 200% (30 to 90 clients) in 18 months.
Outperformed 40+ sales reps globally: 2nd in 2018, 8th in 2017.
Revitalised a dormant €600k book, added 30% revenue through client-centric service design.
Nov 2014 — Aug 2016 · 1 yr 10 mos
Client Service Executive
Hit 100% of revenue targets and lifted client profitability by 15% through operational analysis and process reshaping.
Managed customer and partner accounts across the US, Latin America, and EMEA. 10% retention gain.
Eight things I do well. Same toolkit, different shape depending on the company.
01
Operations & delivery
The engine room. Throughput, reliability, the handoffs that either run cleanly or bleed time. I make the boring parts boring.
02
Systems & process design
An operating system the company can grow into. Org shape, decision rights, rituals, reporting lines. It should still work at double the headcount.
03
Programme management
Many streams, one cadence. Turning bespoke work into repeatable platform shape without starving the work that still needs to be bespoke.
04
Project management
End-to-end ownership. Scope, cost, timeline, the tradeoffs, and the unpopular call on when to say no. 12+ critical projects a year at Troesser.
05
Team building & leadership
Hiring and managing across geographies. Last team I built: 0 to 5, time-to-hire from 6 weeks to 2. Management consistency over headcount every time.
06
Product strategy
Market reality translated into product decisions. Roadmaps that serve the customer and the P&L on the same page, not alternating weeks.
07
Business development
Revenue growth the durable way. Pipeline, partners, client relationships that outlast the quarter. The number I come back to is 200%.
08
AI as leverage
AI put to work on execution speed and decision quality. Small teams behaving like bigger ones without the headcount cost. It earns its place or it goes.