About Olivier
Born in Belgium 🇧🇪
Olivier Dubuisson was born in 1981 in Belgium, into a family where intellect and ambition were paramount. His father, an insurance broker, and his mother, a dedicated chemistry teacher who later became a headteacher in some of Belgium's most prestigious schools, provided a nurturing yet challenging environment.
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Olivier's fascination with technology was evident early on. By the age of 8, he was navigating his first computer, an IBM PS/2, demonstrating an innate prowess for technology. However, it wasn't just the digital world that captured his imagination. His profound appreciation for design and aesthetics led him to join an early-years Architecture program at the Abbaye de Floreffe at 16.
There, he ventured into designing furniture, houses, and commercial buildings, marking the beginning of a passion and an eye for beauty.
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Despite his passion for architecture, Olivier's curiosity and ambition urged him to explore the field of computer sciences. At 17, he began experimenting with internet applications, notably assisting his father in transitioning to an online platform, "insurfree.be", which allowed clients to access their insurance policies online.
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Determined to further his expertise and driven by a quest for knowledge, Olivier enrolled at the ECAM Brussels Engineering School. There, he pursued a Master of Sciences in Computer Sciences, a decision that would shape his professional journey.
During this period, Olivier lived with his grandfather, André Dubuisson, a successful industrial leader whose wisdom and guidance left an indelible mark on him. André's influence was profound, instilling in Olivier a sense of purpose and a strategic approach to decision-making that would guide him throughout his life.
Early career
2004 > 2005
Following his studies in Brussels, Olivier joined a non-profit organisation named Medsoc. He built his first experiences developing hospital applications for patients and pharmacy management.
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It is during this time that he first researched the value of the customer experience, by setting up interviews and research panels with the users of the products he was in charge of.
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His ambition and drive motivated him to explore other opportunities. One particular position he was interested in was for a Belgian company manufacturing and integrating RFID solutions. Olivier remembers his interview like it was yesterday: he gave the company the idea to use RFID for simplifying the check out experience in stores. While at the time, he was classified as "too disruptive" for that position, this idea is now used at Decathlon and many other stores as part of the best customer check out experiences.
The Arinso era
2005 > 2012
Along with his friend Jonathan, with whom he developed one of his ventures, Olivier joined Arinso, at the time a medium-sized business headquartered in Anderlecht, Belgium. Its CEO, Jos Sluys, gave Olivier the opportunity to develop the web presence of the company.
Olivier rapidly grew to other functions, delivering large transformations for the likes of Rolls-Royce, in Derby, UK, then moving to Shell, in The Hague, Netherlands, where he spent 3 years of his professional life. In parallel with his travel to client sites, Olivier was in charge of the development of a near-shore development center in Casablanca, Morocco. His affinity for people management and leadership continued to grow from there. It was at the completion of the Shell HR Transformation that Olivier transferred to the London office of Arinso.
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In London since 2009, Olivier focused on building the User Experience consulting practice, and won major transformations programs at notable organisations such as Barclays, Shell, Airbus and Centrica. His P&L went through unprecedented growth, yielding double digits CAGR and a multi-million pounds portfolio.
The bp era
2012 > 2019
Initially looking to oversee the final steps of the SAP HR implementation and with a $60M annual budget, Olivier quickly became the lead of the next generation digital platforms for the HR function.
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He drove the delivery of major products across well-known platforms, such as Salesforce, Microsoft Bot Framework and Sharepoint.
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In 2016, his career took a new turn, leading the Employee Experience for bp globally. Through his dedication to bringing human-centricity to the workplace, Olivier became one of the leading figures of "Employee Experience" worldwide, alongside Marc Levy at AirBnB and Magali Demierre at GE.
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While working on those transformation efforts, he also led the HR Innovation agenda, which delivered a future vision for the Digital Experience of bp.
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Olivier developed the first HotHouse® methodology at bp.
The Novartis era
2019 > 2023
Joining Novartis in 2019, Olivier led the People Experience Program, contributing to the Culture Transformation by shifting the mindset of people towards people-centric thinking.
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His leadership resulted in his team receiving unprecedented recognition, and allowed them to play a critical part in the top transformation efforts of Novartis: Performance Management, Career Development, Green Fleet and many more.
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In 2020, a few months after the start of the pandemic, Olivier took the co-leadership of the flagship program "Choice with Responsibility". Using a curiosity-led approach, he encouraged business leaders and their teams to experiment with new ways of working. Established using a strong measurement framework, Olivier then led the Future of Working movement for the 108k associates of Novartis.
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By 2022, Olivier realised that the biggest impact of the pandemic would result in the restructure of the real estate portfolio and led the business case for the "Future of Working" program.
The Rythmik era
2022 > now
After completing the transformation programs at Novartis, Olivier knew he had accumulated a significant experience and recognition within the HR, Real Estate and IT communities worldwide, and was keen to leverage this in his next venture.
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Setting up Rythmik was the easiest step, partnering with his co-founder Radha, whom he met during his time at bp. Together with a third musketeer, Laurent, they went on a quest to help organisations shape their ways of working.
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His passion for disruptive thinking led Olivier to explore the impact of the metaverse on team collaboration. With the widening accessibility of Generative AI, he worked with clients to explore and experiment with such tools and assess the impact it could have on jobs.
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Leveraging his HotHouse® methodology, Olivier developed further approaches which are now widely integrated within Rythmik.