Nico Verdonck
IT Leader | ICT Strategy & Operations | People Management | Service Delivery | Cybersecurity | Hybrid Infrastructure
Salary / Daily rate
3570 Alken, Belgium
Mobility: Belgium
Freelance, open to permanent contract
Can come onsite
Skills
Languages
About me
Intro
Experienced IT leader with a strong focus on building stable, secure and scalable ICT environments that support business performance and operational continuity. Over the past decades, I’ve led diverse teams across EMEA and developed a reputation for bringing structure, clarity and reliability to complex IT landscapes. My leadership style combines strategic thinking with pragmatic execution. I enjoy improving processes, strengthening governance, enabling teams and ensuring predictable, high‑quality service delivery. Collaboration with Finance, PMO, Security and operational stakeholders is a natural part of how I work, and I thrive in environments where alignment and teamwork are essential. With a solid background in infrastructure and IT technologies, I understand the technical foundations of enterprise environments, but my focus today lies in people leadership, ICT operations and delivering measurable business value. Strengths: • ICT strategy & operations • People leadership & team development • Service delivery & process improvement • Vendor & budget management • Infrastructure & cloud oversight • Supporting high‑availability environments I’m driven by continuous improvement and by helping organisations progress through reliable, thoughtful and business‑aligned IT leadership.
Work experience
Manager Network Solutions
Colruyt Group
Jun 2025 - Present
1 year 5 months
Hybrid
IT Operations & Infrastructure Leadership • Managing and coaching infrastructure managers and system engineers, with a focus on team development, feedback and continuous improvement • Leading a team of 15 across Belgium, with cross-functional collaboration with a team of 10 in India • Managing strategic vendor partnerships including Cisco, Juniper, Orange Cyber Defence and Fastly • Integrated ITIL processes via ServiceNow, improving incident and ticket management across the organisation • Conducted finance review — analysing current costs and invoices against actual services to ensure billing accuracy and cost control • Aligning infrastructure initiatives with business priorities across Security, PMO, Finance and Retail operations
Career Break
-
Dec 2024 - Jul 2025
8 months
VF Corporation
Jan 1994 - Dec 2024
31 years
2880 Bornem, Belgium
Manager Network Services EMEA
Jul 2017 - Dec 2024
7 years 6 months
2880 Bornem, Belgium
Regional ICT Operations & Infrastructure Manager - EMEA • Managed EMEA-wide IT infrastructure budget of €5M (opex & capex) across multiple countries and sites • Served as single point of contact (SPOC) for all IT infrastructure matters across the EMEA region, covering network infrastructure, datacenters, contact centres, telephony and workplace • Led strategic vendor consolidation to a single European hardware partner (New Era Tech, Cisco), streamlining procurement and reducing operational complexity • Directed major transformation programs: SD-WAN migration for retail environments, contact centre migration to cloud, and data centre relocation • Led IT infrastructure due diligence and integration for all mergers and acquisitions across the EMEA region • Developed and owned the regional IT infrastructure strategy and roadmap, aligned with global standards and long-term business objectives • Collaborated closely with Senior Security to ensure infrastructure compliance and risk management • Led and coached multicultural teams combining 4 direct reports with extended external partner networks across the region
Europe Network Lead
Mar 2016 - Jul 2017
1 year 5 months
VF Europe - Bornem
Regional Infrastructure Team Lead - Coordinated European infrastructure teams and ensured standardisation across multiple countries. - Improved governance, documentation and operational structure to support reliable service delivery. - Supported strategic planning, lifecycle management and cross‑regional alignment.
Network Architect (Global)
Jan 2013 - Mar 2016
3 years 3 months
VF Europe - Bornem
Global Network Architecture
Network Engineer (Engineering / Architecture)
Nov 2004 - Jan 2013
8 years 3 months
VF Europe Bornem
Network Engineer
Jan 1998 - Dec 2004
7 years
VF Europe - Bornem
Production Planner
Jan 1994 - Dec 1998
5 years
Sint-Niklaas, Belgium
Production Planner
Programmer
AMC Belgium
Jul 1993 - Oct 1993
4 months
Education
Narafi - Vorst
Information Technology
1990 - 1993
3 years 1 month
Narafi Instituut Vorst
Information Technology
Licenses & certifications
Scrum
Issued: May 2026