Professional Experiences
NetHope Inc.
Humanitarian Advisor
2015-Present
- Advisor on humanitarian preparedness and response and blockchain for a consortium of 57 of the leading NGOs in the world.
Beringer Finance
Chief Technology Officer
2015-2018
- Partner and member of senior management team of the largest tech focused investment bank in Europe.
- Responsible for formulating and managing the disruptive information technology strategy for the global expansion of the firm and for bringing the 103 year old bank into the digital age.
- CEO of US subsidiary, responsible for establishing the US presence.
- Assisted numerous startups and technology companies in fundraising efforts
NetHope Inc.
Emergency Response Director
2010-2015
- Responsible for managing and coordinating the ICT related aspects of emergency preparedness and response for 55 of the leading NGOs in the world.
- Trusted advisor to CIOs of the member NGOs on the usage of ICT in emergency response.
- Close collaboration with the United Nation’s CIOs on issues related to emergency telecommunication.
- Member of NetHope’s core leadership team, responsible for fiscal management, fundraising, recruitment, and program management of NetHope’s global emergency response program.
- Lead a broad public-private partnership focused on bringing Open Data to humanitarian response.
- Lead multi-million dollar public private technology related responses to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and European Refugee Crisis
Microsoft Corporation
Disaster Management Technical Advisor
2007-2010
- Provided trusted advice to international organizations such as United Nations, European Commission, NATO, International Federation of Red Cross/Red Crescent, and World Bank on the effective use technology in disaster response.
- Provided trusted advice to national governments on the effective use of technology in disaster response.
- Worked closely with CIOs from international organizations and national governments on ICT strategy development in emergency response
- Key member of Microsoft’s Disaster Response Team, which deployed to major natural disasters worldwide.
- Lead distributed development of a technology solution for United Nations that enabled more effective cluster coordination during emergencies. This involved working with stakeholders and users from 100+ organizations. The distributed software development effort involved 15+ Microsoft Partners and 50+ Microsoft developers and software architects.
- Lead distributed development effort of a technology solution for World Health Organization to enable better information sharing during H1N1 response.
Microsoft Iceland
Partner Group Manager/Acting Country Manager
2003-2007
- Part of a leadership team that was tasked with establishing the Microsoft Iceland subsidiary and building it up from 2 employees to 20 employees
- Managed partner channel sales and marketing team, consistently exceeding sales quotas and staying within operational budget
- Responsible for establishing local hiring process and key member in the interview process for all staff hired.
- Provided technology advice to CIOs of corporations within Iceland on effective use of technology in their organizations.
- Lead technical evangelism and all technical sales related activities within the subsidiary
- Hosted and spoke at numerous IT and developer events both within Iceland and in Europe.
- Acting Country Manager for 6 months in 2006.
University of Reykjavik
Lecturer – Computer Science Department
2002-2004
- Designed and taught classes on .net, web services and service orientated architecture development
- Most popular 3rd year class in computer science, with a total of over 600 students taught over a 2 year period
Gridland ehf
Founder & CEO
2002-2003
- Founded an IT consulting and software development start-up firm
- Main customers included venture capital firms and civil protection organizations
- Developed and sold an application for coordination of search and rescue activities
- Performed technical due diligence for VC firms on over 30 startups
IMG Capacent
Senior IT Consultant
2001-2002
- Responsible for establishing a department that focused on IT consulting to leading Icelandic firms.
- Main customers included large corporations in Iceland in addition to venture capital firms
Microsoft Corporation
Lead Program Manager
1998-2001
- Lead Program Manager on Digital Dashboard (later known as SharePoint Portal Server), leading a cross-company team that delivered 3 resource kits over an 18-month period.
- Program Manager on Microsoft Repository/SQL Server Meta Data Services, leading project management and architectural design of the technology for 2 versions of Visual Studio and 1 version of SQL Server.
- Successfully shipped technologies into major products 5 times in 3 years, always on time.
- Managed a team of 3 program managers.
- Spoke at various Microsoft conferences around the world.
Medtronic Corporation
Program Manager
1996-1998
- Project manager and chief software designer of a medical diagnostics software company.
- Managed a software development and test team of 17 people
- Successfully achieved CE/FDA certification of the software development process
Nervus (Taugagreining)
Software Developer
1994-1996
- Wrote software for neurological diagnostics software
- Responsible for embedded development on digital signal processing chips
- Responsible for development and architecture design of business layer of solution
Rank Xerox Ltd.
Software Developer
1993-1994
- Wrote device drivers for color laser printers
- Performed a number of proof-of-concept development for potential patent applications.
Axel Software
Software Developer (part-time)
1986-1991
- Worked part-time along school as a software developer, writing software for high-school and college student information system
Volunteer Experience
United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination Team (UNDAC)
Member
2005-Present
- Active member of a UN expert team of disaster management professionals, that get deployed on a few hour notice to anywhere in the world to help coordinate the response of the international community.
- Deployed to Ghana Floods in 2007 and Indonesia Earthquake in 2009.
- Work closely with high level national government officials on issues related to disaster response and information management
- Responsible for technology related training of UNDAC members 2005-2009
ICE-SAR
Urban Search and Rescue Team Leader
2005-2010
- Lead the team during Haiti earthquake response, where it was the first international team to arrive.
- Responsible for growing the team to around 70 search and rescue experts from 6 different rescue organizations.
- Successfully lead the team through international peer certification in 2009, qualifying it as a medium rescue team.
- Actively involved in INSARAG, the UN umbrella organization of international rescue team as an active participant in various working groups, defining certification standards, operational processes, etc.
- Lead 2 peer-certifications of international teams and member of two other certifications.
ICE-SAR
National Search and Rescue Command – Member
2005-2009
- Member of the national SAR command, responsible for coordinating the efforts of 100 SAR teams around Iceland in collaboration with law enforcement and civil protection activities.
- Incident manager and coordinator for over 300 incidents of search, rescue, and disaster response.
ICE-SAR
Regional Search and Rescue Command – Incident Commander
2001-Present
- Lead the regional SAR command for the capitol area, responsible for coordinating the efforts of SAR teams in collaboration with law enforcement and civil protection activities.
- Incident manager or section manager for over 400 incidents of search, rescue, and disaster response.
King County Emergency Operation Center Support Team
Leader
1998-2001
- Lead a team of 30+ volunteers that provided support to King County Office of Emergency Management during disaster activations and to King County Sheriff’s Office during search and rescue missions.
ICE-SAR – Hafnarfjordur Rescue Team
Member
1994-Present
- Member of a local search and rescue team, responding to searches for missing people, rescues of injured people and disasters.
Education
University of Iceland
Masters – International Development
2017-2019
In process of completing a master’s degree in International Development. Currently writing thesis.
University of Iceland
Diploma Studies – International Development
2013-2017
Completed Diploma Studies in spring 2017.
University of Copenhagen
B.Sc. Computer Science & Chemistry
1991-1993
Majored in both computers science and chemistry.
University of Iceland
Chemistry
1989-1991
Studied chemistry before transferring to Copenhagen.
Awards
- Microsoft Alumni Foundation – Integral Fellow Award 2012 – Finalist
- Humanity Road – Global Citizenship Award 2012 – Humanitarian Service Award
- UNICEF Humanitarian Innovation Fellow – 2013
Committees
- US State Department – Member of sub-committee on the use of Information and Communication Technology in International Disasters – 2010-Present
- Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – Technology Partner Network Advisor – 2012-2016
Languages
· Fluent in English, Icelandic, Danish, and Swedish.
Work permits
· US Green Card Holder, EU/EEA Work Permit
Humanitarian Emergencies –
Field Experience
- Ghana Floods(2007)
- Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar (2008)
- Hurricane Ike in Texas (2008)
- Sichuan Earthquake (2008)
- Pandemic Outbreak (2009)
- West Sumatra Earthquake (2009)
- Haiti Earthquake (2010)
- Japan Earthquake/Tsunami (2011)
- Horn of Africa Famine (2011)
- Philippine’s Typhoons (2012 and 2013)
- West Africa Ebola Outbreak (2014-2015)
- European Refugee Crisis (2015)
- Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico (2017).
References
References available upon request
