Mario Hoek
Verified Expert in Product Management
Product Manager
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Toptal member since February 11, 2020
Mario is a seasoned, customer-driven professional with over 20 years of experience in the management of digital transformation projects, developing, planning, and launching products in the telecommunications, financial, and media industries. He has helped companies create winning digital strategies and design world-class user experiences. Mario's clients include Sony, Virgin Mobile, Monsanto, Huawei, and Blackberry.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- Agile Product Management
- Digital Transformation
- Product Management
- Product Strategy
- Team Building
- Team Mentoring
- Telecommunications
- User Experience (UX)
Work Experience
Chief Product Officer
Pyypl
- Launched a fintech app in the MEA region with over one million customers.
- Build and manage a product, design, QA, and technology team.
- Created the structure and process to execute and manage the product roadmap.
- Built the design system to support the app and website.
Group VP Products
Virgin Mobile Middle East and Africa
- Launched the first digital mobile operator in the Middle East.
- Transformed our development processes from Waterfall to Agile.
- Built a new digital product, design, and technical team.
- Managed the product roadmap across the group companies.
- Shifted the focus from developing product features to customer experiences.
Head of Market and Product Planning
Blackberry
- Provided market and customer insights in the Middle East telecommunications market to support the regional and EMEA business and decision-making process.
- Developed insights and forecasting to support the product planning process for the current and future product portfolio.
- Identified and analyzed new market opportunities and threats to recommend priorities for product development and positioning.
Senior Business Consultant
Huawei
- Provided consulting service to telecommunications operators at the C-level and marketing teams to recommend, re-align, and improve their product strategy and customer propositions.
- Provided data analysis and recommendations to build the knowledge base and trends in the Middle East telecommunications market.
- Represented Huawei mobile and fixed broadband solutions to on industry forums and conferences.
Marketing Director
S2M
- Designed and developed a product proposition and customer experience for a mobile TV product.
- Supported business development for the commercial agreements with mobile operators.
- Recruited and built the marketing team in a new start-up company.
Head of Mobile Data and VAS Products
Proximus
- Handled P&L accountability for the consumer data division, exceeding revenue targets.
- Developed and implemented the product roadmap for the data proposition and value-added services.
- Led the product and content teams to improve the customer experience.
Head of Mobile Products and Services
Sony
- Developed new products to introduce digital services on Sony’s connected products (imaging, music, gaming).
- Built, trained, and managed a cross-functional team in Brussels and Berlin.
- Built relationships with content providers and mobile operators to launch Sony's digital products.
Managing Director
Synkronis
- Founded an email marketing company and successfully managed to secure funds to take it to launch.
- Hired the team and built the product to successfully launch the company.
- Helped to transition the team to be integrated into one of the parent companies.
Area Sales Manager
Iris
- Managed sales for OCR products in various European markets.
- Negotiated agreements with OEM companies for integrating the Iris software into their product range (printers and scanners).
- Developed and implemented the go-to-market plan for marketing the Iris OCR products.
Strategic Marketing Manager
Monsanto Europe and Africa
- Introduced decision analysis for portfolio management for the Monsanto biotech products.
- Developed market research projects and processes for the introduction of biotech products in the European markets.
- Handled business analysis for key biotech and agrochemical products in Europe and Africa.
Project History
Consumer App for Virgin Mobile KSA
https://virginmobile.sa/en/Led the product, design, and development team to launch a digital platform in the Saudi mobile telecommunications market.
I built and managed the team and worked with the local operating company to launch this in the KSA market. I also maintained and implemented the product roadmap and introduced Agile and Scrum to the company.
Education
Bachelor's Degree in Marketing
EHSAL - Brussels, Belgium
Master's Degree in Applied Physics
Delft University of Technology - Delft, Nethelands
Skills
Tools
Jira, Slack, Confluence, Trello
Paradigms
Agile Product Management, Agile, Scrum
Industry Expertise
Consumer Products, Telecommunications
Other
Product Strategy, Product Management, Team Mentoring, Team Building, Digital Transformation, Product Planning, People Management, Product Launch, Product Ownership, User Experience (UX), Product Roadmaps, Customer Experience Management, Product Design, Strategy Development, Business Analysis, P&L Management, Business Cases, Aha!, Microsoft Excel, Project Management, Design, Mobile, Marketing
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