stefmartin

As a hobby, I created a two-player abstract digital board game, simple yet complex, playable online or offline on the same touch screen. The project became substantial when I added a solo mode featuring opponents of increasing difficulty, which I trained using an AI engine I developed from an open-source implementation of AlphaZero—the technology that established AI's supremacy over human players in the game of Go. Try the game! https://rektang.com

Amid the rising demand for communication services in the aviation sector and the emergence of high throughput satellite services, Orange Business convinced a major airline to trial in-flight Internet access for passengers. I progressively took responsibility for most aspects of this business development program. After a multi-year design, build and delivery phase, and a successful commercial trial, we secured a contract to deploy our solution and operate services across the airline's entire short- and medium-haul Airbus fleet (113 aircraft). My responsibilities covered sales, contract negotiation, revenue management, risk management, multi-layer governance, incident and problem management, crisis management, satellite solutions for fast-moving devices, cabin connectivity, onboard hardware design, airworthiness and certification, fleet-wide hardware and software / content deployment, hardware maintenance management, over-the-air updates, captive portals, content adaptation, rights management, onboard payments, taxation, cybersecurity. My team and I received the Orange Business Award in 2019 for the "Innovation" category. We also tendered to provide a leading aircraft manufacturer with a connectivity solution for business jets. I was in charge of all user experience aspects.

Around 2010, Orange Business Services transitioned from being primarily a telecommunications infrastructure provider to becoming a key player in the cloud and IT services markets. I was hired to contribute to pre-sales, build and delivery efforts for key large accounts in these new fields. I managed the first IT outsourcing program undertaken by Orange, successfully migrating the Enterprise Resource Planning system of a leading consumer electronics manufacturer with minimal downtime, ensuring operational continuity for a network of plants, warehouses, as well as logistics, quality control and R&D entities. I also secured and led the delivery of a corporate social network for a world-leading luxury group, driving innovation in internal communications and collaboration tools.

With the rise of Web2.0, Orange embraced new business models leveraging digital communities built around user-based content. Around the same time, a Technocentre was established to streamline innovation from R&D labs to Orange's commercial markets across Europe. I took a CTO role for the division exploring Web2.0 opportunities (with an annual budget of €7m). We successfully launched Orange's first digital communities, centered on user-created mobile pre-iPhone apps (Djinngo), games (Whosegame), music (Soundtribes), and geolocated pictures (Pikeo). My team and I received the Orange Innovation Awards in 2008 for the "Startup" and "New Territories" categories.

During the rise of the "triple-play" model among telcos, the Orange group pursued a diversification strategy which yielded sustained R&D investments around mobile-centric services and entertainment. I assumed a senior executive role, guiding R&D strategy alongside executive sponsors from Business Units, the Innovation Directorate and regional operations. I oversaw innovations successively in two critical areas: - Mobile Centric Services (with an annual budget of €50m) - Entertainment & Content Services and Platforms (with an annual budget of €30m). As Deputy Domain Leader for Mobile Centric Services, one of my key achievements was importing the concept of contactless payment from Japan and laying the technological foundation for what would become Orange Bank, 15 years later. As Domain Leader for Entertainment & Content Services, I ensured continuous technological support for Orange’s new ventures in music streaming and IPTV.

A deal with the Innovation Directorate during the "ePop" adventure was that in case we wouldn't spin-off, I would join and work for them. I was given a mission to create a platform to help innovation teams across the France Télécom group find synergies and mutualize costs. I also led a cycle of meetings with international R&D executives where overlapping innovation projects were combined to reduce the group's overall expenses.

After the burst of the dot-com bubble in 2000, I co-founded an in-house venture focused on developing a data-routing service. It evolved into a presentation layer for news feed services used in the finance industry, leveraging real-time semantic analysis based on AI assets developed in France Télécom's R&D labs. I developed a business plan, secured a €2m seed funding from France Télécom's Innovation Directorate, hired a team, led the design and development project, negotiated business partnerships, and co-authored 12 patents in semantic analysis. We successfully trialed our solution with traders, asset managers and analysts who used to receive 40k text news per day, all of which potentially affecting their decisions. But in the midst of the 2003 financial crisis, despite users willing to pay for a fully industrialized service, we were unable to secure the Series A funding necessary to effectively spin-off, leading to the closure of the project.

With the liberalization of telecom services in Europe in 1998, France Télécom created spin-offs in most countries to compete with local incumbents on the fixed, mobile and Internet service markets. Those "alternative operators", together with historical partners, leveraged innovation and expertise from the parent company's R&D center. I was responsible for managing relationships with and set up all projects for affiliate and partner operators in Argentina, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Portugal, Senegal and Spain. I also initiated the "Innovation Marketplace" community, organizing networking events to promote mutualizable R&D activities and forge synergy agreements within the France Télécom group.

In the 1990s, France Télécom operated network infrastructures in partnership with incumbent telcos in Africa, Asia, South America. I was in charge of network infrastructure management tools for international markets, writing functional and technical specifications, selecting development subcontractors, overseeing releases, and training expert users.

I implemented data processing and network components for an accounting and banking management software suite.

ADA Developement (Classified)