Gianmaria Odello, Milan, Italy passed away Wednesday, March 4th, 2015 after losing his battle against cancer.
I met Gianmaria in July 2003 in Stresa by Lago Maggiore in Northern Italy. Gianmaria was the country manager for Watermark in Italy and I held the same position in Denmark. Watermark was a Dutch company that had made acquisitions all over Europe in an attempt to build a business as an international value added reseller of Dynamics AX. The only trouble was that the core of the business was based on Baan and the AX business was still to be developed. Gianmaria made an impressive turnaround in Italy and became Watermark Entrepreneur of the Year in 2004. After I left Watermark in September 2003 to start my own company we stayed in touch.
In 2007 I asked Gianmaria if he would join me in establishing an international consulting business. Gianmaria was in the middle of a project for Porini and wanted to finish his obligations there before joining me at TBK Consult. In early 2009 Gianmaria called me and announced that his project with Porini was coming to an end and on March 1st of the same year we met in Copenhagen to sign the papers. He later became a shareholder and a member of the board of directors.
After a career in the Italian navy Gianmaria joined Digital Equipment Corporation in 1980 to build a new career as a sales executive in the tech industry. He also worked for ITP, ALPI, Informatica, MAPICS, SAP, Watermark and Porini before joining TBK Consult to make his experience and insight available to the software industry. Building a business is never a walk in the park and even though he was in Milan and I was in Copenhagen we were never more than a Skype call apart. Gianmaria was passionate about the TBK Consult mission and built a very successful business helping Italian software companies achieve local and global growth.
Gianmaria was an officer, a gentleman and a friend. He was a man of his word and someone you could trust 100%.
We will all miss him, but his integrity and passion for TBK Consult and the Italian software industry will continue to inspire us.
