The long story.... 😉

Way back…
I was born on 13 September 1983 in Eindhoven (The Netherlands). I quickly moved back to Oosterhout with my parents. As a child I was always interested in computers and gadgets. Luckily I wasn’t indoors to much playing with computers, but also found my way outside (e.g. playing baseball). In 1998 I programmed my first websites, before I started my study in Business Economics in 2000. At that time I also had another passion. Deejaying and producing electronic dance music. But the digital world kept fascinating me. I self-learned HTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL, Javascript, and jQuery. I soon found out it was important for websites to be found on Google. In 2002 I wrote my first paid search engine advise for a training institute. When Google Adwords was launched in 2004, I jumped right in. I was spending a lot of time on building websites and optimizing them for search (SEO) and for paid advertising (SEA) during my studies.

In 2007, one year after meeting my wife Silvy, I joined a full service internet agency as an account manager and consultant. I sold projects, managed them, and advised clients on e-commerce, websites, and custom SaaS applications. My interest increasingly shifted toward online marketing. In 2009, after both Silvy’s father and my own father passed away, I joined TiasNimbas Business School as a global online marketer. I managed SEO, SEA, affiliate programs, analytics, and social media for one of Europe’s leading MBA business schools.

My curiosity for demand generation led me into the world of profiling, buying journeys, and marketing automation. Complex B2B products were not bought at the click of a button. I wanted to understand what happened between the first touch and the actual purchase. In 2010 I joined a B2B marketing agency. I worked for companies like Nutricia, Q Park, DSM, Woonzorg, and KPN on marketing automation, privacy, lifecycle programs, and buying journey optimisation. During this time my first daughter Suze was born. Hundreds of conversations and dozens of implementations later, I realised I wanted to go even deeper.

In 2012 my second daughter Iza was born. And I joined Quintiq’s global marketing team as marketing automation manager later in 2012. Quintiq was a fast growing global leader in supply chain planning and optimisation, recognised by Gartner as best in class. When I joined, the company had around 600 employees. Within three years it had grown to 1,000. I hired, built a team of five, and expanded my responsibilities several times. Together we enabled colleagues around the world with technology, processes, insights, and best practices. 

In 2013 we moved into our newly built house. Around that same time I was deep diving into Marketo and Salesforce. I became one of the very first Marketo Certified Experts worldwide when Marketo launched its certification. In 2013 I also took over leadership of the Dutch Marketo User Group. A year later Marketo recognised me as a Marketo Champion, naming me one of the world’s top 50. That kickstarted interviews, invitations, and speaker requests. In early 2015 Marketo again named me in the top 50, and one month later my team at Quintiq won the international Killer Content Award for our advanced lead nurturing strategy. This led to keynotes at conferences such as SiriusDecisions Summit, Marketing Nation, and MarTech Conference, and eventually to paid corporate speaking opportunities. More and more companies asked if I could help them directly.

Although I became head of global marketing operations at Quintiq, the entrepreneurial itch became too strong. I left to start my own company. In December 2015 I began my first freelance projects with Trend Micro as my launching customer. That same month I was named Marketo Champion for the third time.

In 2016, with a growing customer portfolio, I founded SMOps Interim & Advies BV and later SMOps Software BV. By 2017 I was managing so many strategic projects that I needed operational support. I moved into my first proper office in Oosterhout, and that same year Silvy and I married. Our daughters, then seven and five, played a special role that day. New clients soon followed, including PinkRoccade, Graydon, Planon, LeaseWeb, Fontys, Unit4, Showpad, Synack, Eplan Cideon, and Xebia. I was involved in many marketing automation projects as well as GDPR and email preference centre initiatives. Workshops, trainings, and keynotes became a steady part of my work.

In 2018 I met Jacques van Seeters, then an advisory board member and customer. After many discussions we agreed to grow the company further. The timing was right and customers were extremely satisfied with our work. Jacques helped shape the commercial side of the business. The team grew and I focused more on technology, operations, and our best practice marketing technology stack. By late 2018 the company attracted more clients such as Rockwool, DHL Express, Graco, MCS, Sungevity, Wolf Oil, and several security companies whose names cannot be disclosed. We also realised that customers appreciated us for the way we worked and for our mindset. It was clear that the brand SMOps no longer represented who we were.

In February 2019 we rebranded the company to Chapman Bright. Along with the new identity, we launched my long time passion project: the Chaploop. It brought together years of experience in a framework that finally connected all topics in marketing technology in a meaningful way. For the first time there was a repeatable model that combined people, processes, data, and technology into a complete methodology. I registered both Chapman Bright and Chaploop as trademarks. Toward the end of 2019 I travelled to Stockholm for a keynote at Marketing Automation Day. There I met Warren, a fellow speaker who shared his journey from business owner to author and professional speaker. That conversation stayed with me. While waiting at the airport lounge the next morning, I opened my notebook and wrote the preface to my first book, Marketing Automation Untangled.

In early 2020 we moved into our new office in the historic Gekroonde Bel, a former beer brewery from 1901 with room for growth. Only weeks later Covid hit. There was no opening party. For two months we saw no new leads, although existing projects kept running. After a few months the digital surge began. The world moved online. Demand for digital marketing and sales skyrocketed. Chapman Bright entered a period of strong growth.

In 2021 our Marketo business was booming. We welcomed many new clients and hired juniors for our MarTech Academy. The team became more diverse in age and background. It enriched our culture and introduced new challenges that required me to grow as a leader. Growth continued in 2022. I shifted away from client delivery and focused more on management and company development. It became a new area of personal growth. This was also the year I bought my dream house and spent countless hours renovating it myself.

2023 became a year of reflection. I celebrated my 40th birthday with a big party in a local bar where I also performed as a DJ again. It felt incredible to reconnect with that passion. Yet professionally I realised that managing a company full time did not fully fulfil me. Around mid year I started experiencing inguinal pains that affected my energy levels. Still we hired more people toward the end of the year to meet growing demand, although signs of a slowdown in the post Covid digital boom were becoming visible.

In 2024 I underwent my first surgery for the inguinal pains, although the results were disappointing. At Chapman Bright we began experimenting seriously with AI to evolve our services, since traditional marketing automation was offering little innovation and clients increasingly needed new forms of value. This shift made it clear we needed different skills in our team. Some people could adapt and grow while others could not, which meant making difficult decisions. A second, more extensive surgery followed in September but without improvement. By late 2024 the pain had become so severe that I could not sit for more than fifteen minutes and I had dinner standing for over three months. Even in that period business started to improve again due to our new AI driven direction and we slowly began hiring once more.

Alongside work I co founded Club Cuisine with Wouter. It brought together feel good house music and quality food in relaxed Sunday afternoon events. It also gave me a chance to DJ again, something I had always loved. At the end of 2024 I performed at a nineties and zeroes revival event, which sparked a new creative chapter. With help from AI I returned to music production in early 2025. I released a carnival anthem that I performed at the city theatre and produced jackin house as Dj Diego D as well as salsa influenced and afro house tracks under the alter ego Ritmes de Kanderi. I enjoy making music although I promote it minimally because my focus and passion are needed at Chapman Bright.

In early 2025 I started receiving pain injections which finally worked. My energy returned and with it the drive to work like myself again. With this renewed energy I focused on redefining my own leadership style. I knew for months what I needed to change. Now I could act on it. I shifted to leadership through innovation, working closely with consultants and clients to co create new solutions. We grew our expertise in next generation automation. This resulted in a complete overhaul of our website texts, pitch decks, vacancy texts, and other materials in mid 2025. In October I underwent my third surgery for the recurring pain. This time it seems successful. We now clearly understand which skills and competencies the team needs, both now and in the future. Many clients have already adopted our new approach, which means we are hiring again.

Today I channel everything I have learned into shaping what is next for Chapman Bright. The role of automation, AI, and agents in B2B is accelerating. But technology alone is not enough. My mission is to empower people with these capabilities. True transformation comes from combining human creativity, clarity, and judgment with automated processes and intelligent systems. Chapman Bright is moving toward a future where people manage outcomes while automation and AI handle the repetitive work. It is a future that frees teams to focus on what truly matters. I am committed to helping build that future, one improvement cycle at a time.