From leading global distribution partnerships to navigating the opportunities created by AI, this conversation explores trust, cross-cultural collaboration, and why the strongest partnerships are built on shared value and a deep understanding of users.

Q: Can you start by telling us a little about your role at Opera and what your day-to-day looks like?

A: My role at Opera focuses on leading strategic partnerships and expanding our global distribution footprint to support the growth of our active user base. Beyond the corporate terminology, though, the essence of my work is very human: building relationships, creating bridges between organizations, and helping an international team perform at its best.

In the fast-moving browser ecosystem, every day brings a different challenge. I may be working with product and engineering teams to remove a technical obstacle, coaching a team member, or negotiating a complex distribution agreement with partners in different markets around the world.

I have called Barcelona home for 20 years, and living in such an international city has reinforced my global perspective. It allows me to approach growth not simply as a matter of scale, but as an opportunity to create meaningful value for our partners and, above all, a better experience for our users.

Q: Partnerships often sit at the center of business growth, product strategy, and execution. What do you enjoy most about working in that space?

A: What I enjoy most is the human chemistry required to turn different perspectives into a shared outcome. Partnerships sit at the intersection of product, engineering, commercial strategy, and cultural understanding. Success depends on bringing all of those dimensions together.

After university, I lived and worked in France, Belgium, and Ireland. Experiencing different languages, cultures, and professional environments taught me that adoption is never purely rational or technical; it is also personal and contextual. Those experiences continue to shape the way I work today.

I enjoy finding common ground between organizations that may initially appear very different and helping them align around a shared ambition: bringing a product we believe in to more users.

Q: What does a truly strong strategic partnership look like today beyond contracts and distribution agreements?

A: A contract establishes the framework, but trust is what makes a partnership durable. A strong strategic partnership is built on shared ambition, empathy, transparency, and a genuine interest in the success of the organization and the people on the other side of the table.

One of the most formative experiences in my professional life came shortly after university, when I worked in call centers and door-to-door sales in Ireland. It was challenging and humbling, but it taught me lessons that no business textbook could have provided. You learn to connect quickly, listen carefully, understand what matters to people, communicate clearly, and handle rejection without losing your sense of purpose.

Those lessons remain central to my work at Opera. In negotiations, I try to understand not only what a partner says, but what is driving their priorities. The goal is not simply to close an agreement, but to build a relationship that creates sustainable value for both sides and, ultimately, for users.

Q: AI is rapidly changing how products are discovered, distributed, and personalized. How is that reshaping the way you approach strategic partnerships today?

A: AI is changing the way products are discovered, delivered, and experienced. As distribution becomes more dynamic and personalized, our approach to partnerships must evolve as well. For me, this means looking beyond traditional distribution channels and thinking about how partnerships can create more relevant experiences for users.

At Opera, AI is becoming part of the browser experience, which creates opportunities to work with partners who share a forward-looking view of technology. At the same time, I believe the more technology automates discovery and delivery, the more important human judgment becomes.

The question is no longer only how to increase visibility or reach. It is how to use technology responsibly to deliver the right experience at the right moment, while respecting user trust, privacy, and context. Technology can make the connection more intelligent, but people still need to decide what makes that connection valuable.

Q: In global partnership work, alignment between business, product, and operational teams can become complex very quickly. What usually makes that collaboration work well in practice?

A: Effective collaboration is built on transparency, composure, and a shared commitment to solving problems. Global work rarely follows a perfectly predictable plan, so the ability to stay calm, listen, and adapt is essential.

In 2010, I took a sabbatical year to travel through Southeast Asia, where I immersed myself in yoga, meditation, and Vipassana retreats. That period changed the way I relate to uncertainty and helped me develop a greater capacity for observation, patience, and self-awareness. These are personal practices, but they have had a very practical impact on my professional life.

Today, I lead a team of four talented people across different cultures and generations. My international experiences have taught me that people may interpret priorities, feedback, and conflict in very different ways. Mindfulness helps me avoid reacting too quickly, look for the underlying issue, and keep the group focused on solutions.

In a global technology environment, priorities can shift quickly and operational complexity is inevitable. My role as a leader is to bring clarity to that complexity, keep the team aligned around our growth objectives, and turn challenges into shared problems to solve rather than sources of friction.

Q: In today’s market, where competition for distribution and user attention is higher than ever, what separates long-term strategic partnerships from short-term transactional ones?

A: Transactional partnerships tend to focus on immediate outcomes, while strategic partnerships are built for sustainable value. The difference is visible in how both parties think about product quality, user experience, trust, and long-term objectives.

A lasting partnership requires more than reaching a short-term milestone. It depends on a willingness to understand each other’s roadmaps, invest in continuous improvement, and respond to changing user needs. When both organizations are genuinely committed to creating value for users, the partnership becomes more resilient and has room to grow as the market evolves.

The strongest partnerships are those in which success is not defined only by the initial launch or distribution volume, but by whether users continue to find real value in the experience over time.

Q: Looking at the industry today, where do you think the biggest opportunities for growth and partnerships will come from over the next few years?

A: I see significant opportunities at the intersection of AI-powered personalization, privacy-conscious technology, and locally relevant user experiences. People are looking for smarter tools, but they also expect technology to respect their time, context, privacy, and attention.

The next generation of partnerships will likely combine technological capability with a strong understanding of what users actually need. This requires global scale, but also local sensitivity: recognizing that users in different markets have different expectations, habits, and priorities.

That is one of the things I find particularly exciting about my work at Opera. Working from Spain while collaborating across international markets gives me the opportunity to connect technology, business, and local market understanding. Ultimately, I see global growth not simply as reaching more people, but as creating partnerships that remain relevant and valuable wherever our users are.