Portrait of David Barreto

David Barreto

Business, Digital & AI Transformation Executive
Ex-CEO & CIO/CPTO · Digital Strategy in Regulated Environments

📍 St Julian's, Malta 🇪🇺 EU citizenship (FR + PT) 🗣 FR · EN · PT · ES

Aligning business, product, technology, data and AI

Technology, product and digital/AI transformation leader with 20+ years experience. I have built this expertise over more than 20 years of experience, progressively moving from technical and delivery roles to CIO, CTO, CPO, and Chief Transformation Officer positions.

I worked in highly regulated SaaS, fintech, and legaltech environments, where I have led transformations affecting technology, operations, product, and organizational change, with a direct impact on business performance.

20+ years across SaaS, legal, fintech and regulated industries

Digital & AI Transformation Advisor
Confidential | Bank | Malta
2026 – Now

For a Corporate & Institutional Banking company, creation of a new financial product and setup of their digital transformation and AI adoption roadmap. From strategy definition to concrete implementation to drive measurable incomes. Contract ends in August 2026.

  • Digital Strategy & Roadmap: Assessing digital maturity, defining transformation priorities, and building actionable roadmaps aligned with business objectives.
  • AI Strategy & Integration: Identifying high-value AI use cases, selecting the right tools and models (GenAI, ML, automation), and embedding AI into core business processes.
  • Change Management & Adoption: Aligning leadership, upskilling teams, and driving organizational change to ensure lasting transformation, operations change management and training.
  • Governance & Risk: Designing AI governance frameworks, ensuring regulatory compliance (DORA, NIS2, GDPR, EU AI Act), and managing ethical considerations.
Chief Product & Technology Officer
Leascorp | Fintech | Nantes, France
2022 – 2025

Designed and delivered the organization digital transformation program and interim of the CIO, CTO, CDO and CPO roles within a leasing fintech startup, operating in regulated environments. Set up DORA, NIS2 and GPDR compliances and audits.

  • Set up the IT and Support departments and ICT governance based on ISO27001 and ISO9001 standards, budget planning and control.
  • Audit, definition and delivery of a 3 years digital transformation roadmap across operations, sales, HR and accounting/finances.
  • Built and delivered the product vision and roadmap, architecture and technologies selection, leading the delivery of a cloud-native (Azure) SaaS with Agentic AI features.
  • Stakeholder management to transform operations using automation and AI to reduce manual tasks and improve throughput.
  • Implementation of data‑driven operating model, data pipelines, real‑time monitoring, OKRs and performance monitoring.
Revenue +200%7 → 35 FTE Product TTM 18 mo+35k contracts +150k users+70% automation −60% ops cost90% roadmap on launch
M365, Azure, Azure DevOps, Symfony, SQL, Vue.js, Dynamics 365, Business Central, SAP, Salesforce, Zendesk, Jira, Notion, Datadog, REST APIs, Cursor, Lovable, GenAI & Agentic AI, ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude…
Chief Information & Technology Officer
Groupe Harmonie | Legal | Paris, France
2015 – 2022

Led the technology and digital transformation strategy for a network of 50+ insolvency practitioners in a regulated legal environment. Partnered with executive leadership on company-wide modernization combined with operational efficiency programs.

  • Delivered MH25, a tailored e-justice ERP SaaS on hybrid cloud (Kubernetes/AWS/GCP) with AI automation — migrated 4 legacy systems.
  • Designed a cloud-based DMS/CMS architecture consolidating multiple sources.
  • Process-optimization programs reducing operational costs and improving service efficiency.
  • Built and scaled cross-functional engineering teams with governance and delivery standards.
  • Aligned IT, operations and business units; ensured regulatory compliance.
50+ offices supportedTTM 24 mo 80% automation−70% ops cost +500k cases+2M users 60+ tech FTE · 5 locations
Node.js, Java, Symfony, PostgreSQL, Kubernetes, AWS, GCP, GitLab, React, Confluence, Grafana, Sage, SAP, Odoo, Cegid, Redis, MongoDB, Terraform, REST, GraphQL…
Head of Growth
Serres Val de Loire | Ecommerce | Vernantes, France
2014 – 2015

Reporting to CEO, defined and deployed an omnichannel growth strategy to accelerate B2B and B2C e-commerce transformation, prioritizing profitable customer acquisition, retention, and average order value optimization. Coordinated marketing, product, and operations teams and rolled out an automated CRM program.

  • Led the redesign of the online store with a seamless migration, ensuring no data loss or service disruption
  • Defined and executed the growth roadmap (acquisition, activation, retention, revenue)
  • Designed and managed A/B testing experiments on product pages, checkout funnel, and emails
  • Implemented an analytics stack (tracking, dashboards, attribution) and an A/B testing playbook
  • Launched paid campaigns (SEA, social ads) and SEO/content initiatives
  • Developed a CRM program (segmentation, lifecycle flows, abandoned cart recovery)
  • Collaborated with supply chain and customer service teams to automate processes
TTM for redesign: 4 months +9000 orders+20 000 customers Conversion rate: 6.6% Expansion to overseas territories and international markets
Head of Digital Transformation
KWeb | Digital | London, France
2013 – 2014
Digital Marketing Manager
Nova Concept | Marketing | London, UK
2011 – 2012
Digital Project Manager
Faciliclic | Digital | Saumur, France
2006 – 2011
IT Manager & Développeur Full-stack
Conseil Micro Services | IT & Web | Saumur, France
2004 – 2006

Earlier roles

Founder & CEO (Part-time)
DBCS — Digital Agency · Paris, France
2011 – 2026

Founded and scaled an asset-light digital growth agency (10 FTE + on-demand freelancers), delivering end-to-end digital, marketing and technology solutions and advisory across SMEs and enterprise clients.

  • Full commercial ownership: BD, sales strategy, deal structuring & closing.
  • 500+ digital projects delivered for 100+ clients including long-term enterprise partnerships.
  • Strategic advisor translating business needs into scalable digital solutions.
  • Built multidisciplinary teams across sales, marketing, dev and delivery.
  • Performance tracking, automation and data-driven decision-making.
Monday, Notion, HubSpot, GA, Meta Ads, Pipedrive, GCP, AWS, Jira, PowerApps, Zapier, Snowflake, Slack, Laravel, Symfony, SQL, WordPress…

Core areas of expertise

Strategy & Leadership

Digital & technology strategy · Business transformation & operating models · Executive leadership & CEO partnership · Value creation & growth execution · Organizational design & scaling · Technology governance.

Platforms & Engineering

SaaS & platform architecture · Cloud & distributed systems (AWS / Azure / GCP) · API & integration design · Scalable system architecture · DevOps & delivery automation · Data platforms & real-time systems.

Transformation, Data & AI

E2E digital transformation · Process automation & operational excellence · AI & data-driven operating models · Product & engineering transformation · Compliance & risk in regulated environments · Cybersecurity.

Languages

French C2 · Native English C1 Portuguese A2 Spanish A1

Recent certifications

Microsoft AI & ML EngineeringMicrosoft · 2026
Microsoft Program ManagementMicrosoft · 2026
Google AIGoogle · 2026
Agentic AI and AI Agents for LeadersIBM · 2026
AWS Generative AI & AI Agents with Amazon BedrockAWS · 2026
CISSP 2024Alison · 2026
ISO/IEC 27000:2026 Series AmendmentsAlison · 2026
ISO 27001:2022 — ISMSAlison · 2026
Artificial Intelligence Product ManagerLatitude · 2026
Artificial Intelligence EvalsLatitude · 2026
OOS & OOT Management for Regulated IndustriesAlison · 2026
Diploma in Business Administration & Corporate ManagementAlison · 2026
HR Management and ServicesAlison · 2026
ITIL 4 Leader: Digital & IT StrategyPeopleCert · 2022

Education

Master's degree — Software Architect
V.A.E. CCI Nanterre, France · 2020
Master's degree — Digital Project Management
V.A.E. CCI Nanterre, France · 2020
Bachelor's degree — IT Management, Software Development
Lycée Chevrollier, France · 2004
High School diploma — STI Mechanical Engineering
Lycée Sadi Carnot, France · 2002

Let's talk

Location
St Julian's, Malta