About Catch-22.nl

Carlo van Houtum (1971)Carlo van Houtum

As a self employed professional Catch-22.nl is the name of my company. I am an enthusiastic, driver all round senior manager with 20 years experience in several digital environments and disciplines.

Digital Innovation & Knowledge

The common denominator in my carrier is digital innovation. In the nineties I’ve started as a professional at Wolters Kluwer Nederland. I was responsible for the first digital steps of Automatisering Gids, initially on cd-rom and after that the online presence.

Since that time digital has my interest and I think is fantastic to see what is happening in the digital world. Business models are being reversed, the impact of apps and how life is being made easy. As a person I am curious and always want to find out how things are working. Therefore it’s my personal interest to see what the challenges are in e-commerce environments, how organisations transform & innovate and how app development works.

Experience

Before I started as a freelancer, I’ve worked for several organisations, a.o. Sanoma, Sdu Publishers and Buurtlink. In the roles I’ve worked in environments where “digital” was key. I’ve been responsible for sites like Startpagina.nl, Overzicht.nl, Proefabonnementen.nl en Buurtlink.nl. In these roles I gained experience with:

  • define strategic direction;
  • execution and operationalising strategy & business development;
  • managing teams;
  • managing projects;
  • product management & -development;
  • profit & loss responsible

Digital transformation, platforms & e-commerce

Since 2012 I am self-employed. I’ve played key roles in several projects at Action, LeasePlan Digital, North Sails Apparel,  SBS Broadcasting, Staples, Douwe Egberts Masterblenders 1753, ID&T and Kluwer.

Tasks I am typically responsible for are defining and executing strategic goals, change management, managing and motivating multidisciplinary teams and budget realisation & planning.

Acting as a liaison between business and technology is when I am at my best, being able to translate business into (digital) technologies & solutions and vice versa. My key competences are making sure the defined (strategic) goals of a project are being executed as well as optimising processes in such a way that this will lead to decision making and concrete results.

I am a pragmatic thinker and have a no nonsense management style. I am convinced that empowering team members, succeeding together and having fun will lead to the best results.

What else?!

I am a proud father of two daughters (Sam and Janne) and married with Barbèl. Cooking is for me pure relaxation. Also I’ve discovered bike racing and that’s also giving me a lot of energy. Curious or interested? Please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Carlo van Houtum