ExecBridge · Based in Zürich · Available Worldwide
Norbert Völkle
AI Transformation · Cloud Economics · FinTech · Regulated Industries
Bridging business and technology — a trusted executive partner who turns your AI and transformation ambitions into working reality.
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Why ExecBridge
You gain an advisor who has operated inside Swiss Tier-1 banks, global exchanges, and regulated FinTechs — not one who has only consulted them. The difference shows in every decision.
Oxford AI Strategist. Hands-on with Palantir Foundry, AI Agents, and MLOps in live insurance and banking environments. You get AI that is governed, compliant, and operational — not a slide deck.
You gain a rare combination: someone who shapes strategy at board level and personally drives execution. No gap between the advice and the delivery. No junior team doing the actual work.
30% faster CI/CD delivery. Zero-downtime go-live at Europe's 2nd-largest stock exchange. 95% vulnerability reduction in 18 months. Your operations keep running while transformation happens around them.
You gain a single senior advisor who does the work personally — no junior team, no rotating consultants, no institutional agenda. What you share stays confidential. What I commit to, I deliver.
30+ years of senior roles across Swiss financial services, FinTech, insurance, and technology means you gain not just expertise — but relationships. The right introduction at the right moment is often worth more than any deliverable.
Track Record
Current engagement with a leading international financial group, Zürich. Details available on request. 2025–today.
Delivered via Zühlke Engineering AG. The insurance company's name cannot be disclosed. One of Switzerland's oldest and most established insurance companies — among the first in the country to adopt SAFe at scale — needed independent certification that its agile transformation was legally and operationally sound.
The insurer gained a clean internal audit attestation: agile teams, release trains, CI/CD toolchain, and governance all certified as compliant with CIA standards and Swiss regulatory requirements. Board-level confidence, risk removed.
Zühlke's migration to a new enterprise CRM required someone to own the entire transformation — from stakeholder alignment and supplier management to security architecture, KPIs, marketing automation, and a clean handover to a permanent successor.
A fully operational CRM delivered with governance, consent management, LinkedIn automation, and a trained internal team. The successor inherited a running system, not a project — and has owned it successfully since 2024.
Zühlke — market leader in Switzerland with operations across the EU, UK, Singapore, and beyond — needed to deepen and systematise its global partner ecosystem across hyperscalers, market segment partners, and practice partners.
A structured global partnership strategy delivered for banking and insurance, new joint-offer frameworks established, and lean-agile methodology introduced at corporate strategy level. A permanent successor was enabled to carry the work forward — another engagement that outlasted the mandate.
Tier-1 Swiss banks and insurers gained clarity on their FinTech roadmap, a CRM that actually serves their advisors, and agile teams that deliver — not just plan.
Wealth management optimised, private banking UX transformed, SAFe scaled across multiple institutions.
Europe's 2nd-largest stock exchange migrated to a new trading platform with zero interruption to live trading — on deadline, coordinating teams across Stuttgart, Stockholm, and New York.
One of the largest exchange migration projects in Europe in 2015. Trading continuity guaranteed throughout.
A major payment company went from compliance liability to PCI-DSS gold standard — without disrupting live card operations for millions of cardholders.
95% fewer vulnerabilities. 12 agile teams scaled. 200+ leaders trained. ApplePay, tokenization, Open Banking live.
Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Monaco gained a stable, secure, multilingual environmental certificate registry — with security reporting delivered to the United Nations, New York.
A complex international multi-jurisdiction system delivered and maintained across three countries and three languages.
How I Work & Pricing
Most consultants bill by the day and you carry the risk. I work differently — every engagement is structured as a fixed-price contract for a defined deliverable. You know what you are paying before work begins.
A focused 2–4 week deep-dive into your current state. Delivers a clear picture of gaps, risks, and opportunities — with a prioritised action plan. Fixed price, fixed scope.
A functional, demonstrable prototype of your target solution. Validates the concept before full investment. Typical duration 4–8 weeks. Fixed price per deliverable.
Proves your solution works in your environment — with your data, your systems, your constraints. The foundation for a business case and board approval.
A production-ready first release that delivers immediate business value. Real users. Real data. Real outcomes. Priced as a complete deliverable, not a time estimate.
End-to-end delivery of a complex transformation — structured as a series of defined milestones, each with its own fixed price and acceptance criteria.
Pricing
All engagements are priced on a fixed-price per milestone basis. Pricing is agreed during the initial scoping conversation and depends on scope, complexity, and duration. Contact me to discuss your specific situation.
Technical Edge & Advisory
Work Experience
2025 – 2026 · Zürich
Senior Advisory Engagement
Confidential mandate — details on request
2024 – Today · Zürich
Independent Consultant — AI Strategy & Enablement
Freelance · HNWI & Executive Coaching (confidential) · Oxford AI Programme (completed 2025)
2021 – 2024 · Schlieren
Principal Consultant (FinTech · Wealth · Agile)
Zühlke Engineering AG
2020 – 2021 · Zürich / Zug
Transformation Manager & Business Analyst
Pragmatica AG
2018 – 2020 · Horgen
Product Manager SAFe · DevOps Coach · System Architect
Swisscard AECS GmbH (AMEX · Credit Suisse)
2016 – 2017 · Nidau / Biel-Bienne
Transformation & Release Manager · DevOps Coach
Quickline AG
2014 – 2015 · Stuttgart
Transformation Manager · Release Manager (Migration)
Börse Stuttgart AG
2010 – 2014 · Zürich
IT Consultant · Architect · Sales Engineer
adesso Schweiz AG
Incl. Product & Project Manager for the Swiss federal environmental certificate registry (BAFU / Bern), serving Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Monaco.
2007 – 2010 · Sursee
System Architect · Integration Lead · Project Manager
Bison Schweiz AG
Education & Certifications
2025
Oxford AI Programme — Saïd Business School
2023
Information Security — Zühlke
2022
SAFe SPC — Scaled Agile Program Consultant
2022
DevOps Practitioner
2022
IREB CPRE-FL — Requirements Engineering
2022
CPUX-UX Foundation Level
2022
BPMN 2.0 — Business Process Modelling
2001
IT Engineer — TFH Berlin
1996
Diplom-Volkswirt — TU Berlin
Get in Touch
Every engagement begins with a no-commitment scoping conversation. Tell me what you are trying to achieve — I will tell you honestly whether I can help and what it would cost.
Based in Zürich. Available worldwide. Engagements in German, English, or French. Confidential mandates handled with complete discretion.