Victoria Bester promoted to Head of Products & Innovation at Semmtech
Dutch IT and data consulting firm Semmtech has appointed Victoria Bester as its new Head of Products & Innovation.
Victoria brings a wealth of experience to the position, having transitioned from a background in international knowledge management consulting to a key leadership role within Semmtech.
She joined Semmtech in 2022 after nearly four years in her native Johannesburg with iOCO, the largest system integrator in Africa. Prior to stepping up, she worked as a Lead Consultant.
Semmtech is an IT consulting firm that specializes in data interoperability, helping complex organizations connect and share information across different software systems. The firm applies semantic modeling and Linked Data technology to standardize data, making it machine-readable and integrating information from a wide variety of sources.
By separating data from specific software applications, Semmtech helps its clients ensure information remains usable even if an organization changes its systems or technology vendors. The firm provides its consulting and software tools to government entities, multinationals, and players in the engineering and construction sectors.
“I have had a long and winding road to get here, probably because I am always looking for a new and better way to do things,” Victoria states. “I seldom take no for an answer and if I strongly feel that something is possible then I pursue it until I make it happen.”
Finding data solutions
Her roots in the industry grew from a fascination with data structures, leading her to Semmtech’s unique approach in the field. “I joined Semmtech because I was very intrigued with their solution to a problem I saw others face often, how to make information interoperable and enable seamless exchange between systems,” Victoria explains.
“When I realized they had an approach and methodology, I knew this would be the place for me. Since joining, I have worked with some of our largest customers on exciting projects. Our customers have big ambitions and sometimes the solutions to their problems or the tools they desire don’t exist yet, but the underlying methodology does. This has opened the door for me to work with our colleagues to find new ways to solve things.”
In the Dutch market, Semmtech’s work supports some of the largest economic and societal transitions, such as the energy transition, water management, infrastructure, and housing.
Cultivating scalable innovation
In her new capacity, Victoria focuses on transforming raw ideas into scalable market solutions. For a niche organization operating in a highly competitive knowledge market, moving away from entirely bespoke systems is essential. Victoria aims to combine semantic modeling with emerging technologies, including AI, to address long-standing data challenges.
“Every project and customer interaction brings the possibility of challenging the status quo and finding an improved way of doing things,” Victoria says. “In our Products & Innovation team, we aim to incubate ideas that our consultants come up with, often in collaboration with our customers, and turn these ideas into scalable solutions that can be deployed as products for our customers.”
This approach allows Semmtech to scale its operations more effectively. By building configurable products that handle heavy data lifting, consultants can dedicate their time to unique customer problems. According to Victoria, her passion for this work stems from interests she began developing at an early age.
“Twelve-year-old me, who won an unexpected prize for creativity and innovation at the end of primary school, would be proud,” she notes.
Collaborative development and open source
A core element of Victoria’s way of working involves co-creation with clients and a commitment to open-source technology. The organization actively balances costs and benefits with its partners to advance semantic tech across the industry.
“We love to co-create. Our door is always open to discuss solving problems together. Importantly, we are still very invested in open-sourcing our products,” says Victoria.
“Where we work together with a customer for a significant improvement in a current product offering, we aim to make previous versions of a similar product available as open-source. We believe in investing in the advancement of semantic technologies, and in our everyday work this means collaborating on meaningful research projects and working with those moving the industry forward. Open-sourcing is one important component of this approach.”
Olivier Stulp, Chief Operations Officer at Semmtech, expressed confidence in Victoria’s appointment. He noted that while Semmtech has historically been innovative from an academic standpoint, the company needed a leader who could practically bridge the gap between theory and marketable products.
He described Victoria as the perfect choice due to her mindset and her willingness to pioneer entirely new applications of our proven methodologies. “We believe that Victoria is the right person for the job, with an inquisitive and experimental mindset, not afraid to try something that has never been done before,” says Olivier.
Going forward, Semmtech plans to develop reusable solutions, offering a mix of licensed data products, configurable components, and open-source solutions to better serve its growing global client base.
