Three decades. Four continents. Six sectors. Logistics, manufacturing, pharma, banking, social insurance. The bias has always been towards IT that moves business outcomes, and against IT that produces beautifully framed strategies nobody executes.
Short summary
Jo started in graphical and digital media in the early '90s. An unusual entry point that still shows up in how he thinks about systems and the people who use them. He moved into IT, completed a bachelor's degree, then an MBA in 2014, and has been a working CIO since 2005.
Across thirty years he's been the person companies call when their IT organisation has to absorb growth, an acquisition, a regulator, or a crisis. Sometimes all four at once. He leads through influence, not hierarchy. Says what he sees. Commits to dates he can hit. Leaves teams stronger than he found them.
Born in Leut, Belgium, 1972. Now Brasschaat, with family and two dogs who run the household more than he does. The CV is below. This is the person.
Reads constantly. The field moves too fast not to. Still genuinely interesting after thirty years, which is the longer-running test.
Weekends in the workshop. Furniture. Woodworking and CIO work share a discipline. You can't fake the joinery.
Six accomplishments from past mandates. Sectors named, companies never. Where Jo's fingerprints are on the outcome.
Beyond these numbers: a 10,000-unit datacentre delivered 48% under initial budget, financial reporting cycles compressed from 4 weeks to 5 business days, network OPEX reduced 24.5% in a 24/7 operation, software deployment time cut 25% through DevOps, and a 99.99% uptime record on business-critical systems through BCP and DR.
Sectors named, companies never. The pattern is what carries across all of them.
Active mandate. 650 → 1,400 employees. 9 acquisitions and 2 joint ventures integrated. ISO 27001, NIST 800, CMMC 2.0 Level 2 achieved. Security maturity 0.5 → 3.5. €7M cost savings, €2M reinvested into security.
3-year IT roadmap delivered. 60-FTE ITS organisation built. 12.5% reduction in operating costs through sourcing and contract discipline. SDLC and lightweight PMO governance installed.
Multi-country EMEA operations stabilised. 99.5% uptime on business-critical systems through crisis. PMO and SDLC framework installed. Project delivery speed +25%. Permanent CIO coached and onboarded.
Bi-modal IT transformation in a regulated environment. QC costs reduced 20%. Agile/DevOps community of practice established. GDPR compliance through anonymisation and pseudonymisation.
Global ERP rollout across 43 countries with TMS integration. 99% SLA compliance within 6 months. €25M CAPEX/OPEX. 3,500+ users. IT due diligence and integration on 2 acquisitions.
10,000-unit datacentre delivered 48% under initial budget. ServiceNow rolled out enterprise-wide. Team performance +30% through Agile and Kanban adoption. Major merger IT integration.
Network OPEX -24.5%, reinvested into security. Bi-modal IT model. Delivery speed +30% through Agile/DevOps. 99.99% uptime via BCP/DR. Security incidents -30%.
Headcount 150 → 1,500. Global ERP rollout, governance and templates across regions. Financial reporting cycle 4 weeks → 5 business days. Global core competence centres and shared services across Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America.
Award-winning anti-counterfeiting solution (Bronze Medal). Global ERP implementations for supply chain. QA/QC and SLA governance for regulated environments.
Aligns diverse stakeholders around shared outcomes across cultures, functions, and geographies. Without leaning on org-chart authority.
Executives bring sensitive subjects because the response is discreet, accurate, and useful. Not political.
A bias for closing decisions and shipping work. Strong focus on accountability and decision-making in environments that historically lacked both.
"Strategic clarity. Financial discipline. Human-centred change. That's the only combination that delivers outcomes that last."
Not a wall of certifications. The ones that come up in the actual work.
Frameworks borrowed in pieces, applied where they fit the company's culture. Frameworks serve the company, not the other way around.
Or write directly: johannes.van.tongelen@biits.be