About
Strategy. Leadership. Architecture. Code.
I operate where these four disciplines converge, because the most complex challenges don't respect organizational boundaries.
The Integration Thesis
Most consultants advise but don't build. Most architects design but don't lead the teams that implement. Most executives set direction but have long since lost touch with the code. I've spent twenty-five years deliberately avoiding these traps.
The result is an integrated perspective: the technologist informs the architect, the architect informs the leader, the leader informs the strategist, and the strategist still writes production code, because that's where ideas meet reality. These aren't separate modes I switch between. They're lenses I apply simultaneously to every problem.
This matters because the hardest challenges span all these domains simultaneously. I architect from technical understanding, not abstraction. I lead through strategic communication, not authority alone. I execute from realistic planning, not optimism.
Three Pillars
The Strategist
I think in P&L, market dynamics, and multi-year horizons. My background includes an MSc in Business Development, direct C-level reporting relationships, and hands-on experience with transformation programs, M&A due diligence, and commercial strategy. Technology decisions always connect to business outcomes, if I can't articulate the commercial rationale, the solution isn't ready.
The Leader
I've built and led international teams of professionals across multiple countries, reporting directly to CEOs with dotted lines to group functions. But leadership isn't about headcount, it's about building organizations that deliver beyond your direct involvement. I've designed organizational structures from scratch, established performance frameworks, and developed leaders who continued to grow the capability after I moved on.
The Technologist
I still build production systems. Not as a nostalgic hobby, but as a discipline that keeps every other capability grounded. My recent work includes full-stack development (Vue.js, NestJS, Python, Go), cloud-native architecture (AWS, Kubernetes, Terraform), graph databases (Neo4j), and AI integration (LangGraph, LangChain). When I evaluate an architecture or challenge a timeline, I speak from current, hands-on experience.
Selected Work
dethernety
Solo-architected and built a graph-native, AI-integrated threat modeling platform. Full-stack development: Vue.js, NestJS, GraphQL, Neo4j, LangGraph, AWS infrastructure. From concept to production, demonstrating that the technologist foundation remains active, not historical.
dether.net →CETIN Corporate Spin-off
Led the security stream of a multi-country corporate spin-off from Telenor CEE. Not merely executing a predetermined plan, I architected how security would function across technology separation, organizational restructuring, and financial modeling. Delivered while maintaining full operational responsibility for business-as-usual.
Regional Security Organization
Ground-up design and build of a regional security organization at Telenor Common Operation. Not an inherited management position, I designed the organizational structure, defined short and long-term strategy, established individual targets and motivation frameworks, then executed and tracked delivery across multiple countries.
Guiding Principles
Technology serves business outcomes
Elegant architecture means nothing without commercial impact. Every technical decision should trace back to business value, revenue protection, cost optimization, risk reduction, or competitive advantage.
Leaders build organizations that outlast them
The measure of leadership is not personal performance but organizational capability. The goal is to create structures, develop people, and establish practices that continue to deliver after you've moved on.
Maintain the foundation while you evolve
Career progression should be additive, not substitutive. Strategic capability built on leadership experience, built on architectural depth, built on hands-on technical skill. Lose the foundation, lose the credibility.
Beyond Work
Outside of technology, I play drums and saxophone, practice street photography, and study history, particularly how complex systems and organizations have succeeded or failed across different eras. These aren't disconnected interests; pattern recognition transfers across domains.
If you're facing a challenge that spans strategy, technology, and organizational complexity, let's talk.