After the successful launch of the consulting business, and the completion of the first major development milestone on the application development side, I was asked to take over the development of the nacent business in Europe. I was the main technical executive, responsible for delivering the product together with Arturo Colantuoni Sanvenero, the European head of marking.

Rivermark was the project code name for what later became one of the most profiled and exciting programs Whirlpool Corporation did in the last 10 years. In the initial 3 person team, I was responsible for scoping and developing business opportunities in an emerging space: the networked community. This happend in 2nd half 1999.

My first assignment when brought over to join Whirlpool Corporation at its headquarter in Benton Harbor, Michigan, was to develop a business case for the use of self-service and the Internet. I literally stumbled into this assignment. Wolfgang Richter, the US-CIO that hired me, asked me where I wanted to work, the Supply Chain or the Customer Management team. That was a no-brainer to me.