Experienced technology executive Maarten Van Gool has joined Ocean Technologies Group, as Chief Financial Officer.

Maarten’s diverse experience in technology businesses spans three decades with blue-chip organisations building strong fiduciary controls and successful businesses and teams. He started his career with global technology giant HP in the Netherlands during the early 1990s and thereafter moved to Palo Alto to join Agilent Technologies as part of the core team who spun off Agilent from HP and took the company public. During Maarten’s time as Global Financial Control Director and then Global Compliance Director for Agilent Technologies, he led the creation of a global compliance shared services center based in India. He has since held leadership roles with Tom Tom, AVG (acquired by Avast software) and was most recently was CFO and then CEO for Lobster Ink, a leading online learning provider to the global hospitality industry.

At Ocean Technologies Group, Maarten takes over as the Group’s Chief Financial Officer from interim-CFO Matthew O’Sullivan, who led the integration of Ocean Technologies Group’s six operating brands and remains with the Group in an advisory capacity to provide his diverse experience to several high-impact programs.

“Having spent my entire career with people in innovative technology businesses that led and shaped technological solutions in the sector they operated in, I am very excited to be a part of the Ocean team as we play our role in maritime digitalisation and innovation, especially in regards to the maritime human element. I have been following the role of seafarers and the shipping industry as key enablers of globalisation and felt our team has a pivotal role in helping the industry arrive at its own “new normal” to deliver safety and performance through online learning. My most recent role as CEO of Lobster Ink saw us establish a global online learning standard that serves over a million users in over 200 countries. I am excited to join the team and put my experience to use and support the work that we do for over a million seafarers globally.”

In welcoming Maarten to the team Group CEO Manish Singh commented,
“Maarten not only brings diverse technology and online learning experience to the team, but also a great work ethic and a demonstrated track record at working with colleagues within the business and with customers, partners and suppliers to create more efficiency within the value chain. Maarten will lead our finance, business operations, infrastructure and governance teams. In the immediate term, Maarten is also working with our recently appointed Chief Revenue Officer, Johan Gustafsson, to identify measures which further improve the ease of doing business, reduce operational response times and enhances overall customer experience. I wish Maarten great success in his role and am certain he will add great value to colleagues, customers and partners alike. ”