Juan Carlos López Calvet — Oslo, Norway

Redefining what a CTO delivers in the AI era —
turning data, AI and engineering into growth, trust and businesses that outpace their industry.

Technology and business transformation executive. 25+ years building and reshaping companies across media, telecom, e-commerce, mobility and energy — from cryptography research and NFC patents to operationalising AI at group scale.

See the impact Get in touch
25+years building and transforming technology businesses
~40%platform cost reduction after re-architecting Schibsted's data platform
2 yrsfrom founding RACV Solar to profitability
100s of millionsof behavioural events processed daily on platforms I own
How I show up

Not the corporate CTO.
The one who builds what's next.

01

AI, operationalised

One of the few executives who has taken AI from strategy deck to daily operations at group scale — publisher licensing with OpenAI, enterprise Claude rollout, and an AI Lab shipping newsroom products.

02

Business builder

I create P&Ls, not just platforms. Solar energy, home security, e-commerce, IoT ventures — identified, built, and grown to profitability.

03

Deep technologist

MEng in telematics with a cryptography dissertation. Named inventor on patent publications in mobile ticketing, SIM/RFID and service discovery. I speak engineering natively.

04

Transformation leader

Corporate separations, SEK 6.55bn acquisition integration, platform modernisations — delivered without incidents and with the teams stronger afterwards.

"We don't want engagement for engagement's sake — we want informed citizens."Redefining Engagement podcast, 2025
Selected impact

Proof, not promises.

OpenAI partnership

Established Schibsted's strategic publisher partnership with OpenAI — one of Europe's early content licensing deals, creating recurring revenue and a seat at the table on how journalism appears in AI products.

Enterprise Claude rollout

Negotiated Anthropic enterprise arrangements and led the launch of Claude across Schibsted with phased security controls, moving a media group of thousands into daily AI use.

Zero-incident separation

Led the Data & AI workstream of Schibsted's split into Media and Marketplaces. The Pulse platform separation completed without incidents, then re-architecture cut platform costs by ~40%.

SEK 6.55bn integration

Leading shared Data & AI integration with TV4 and MTV following Schibsted's acquisition — architecture, platform reuse and enterprise AI tooling across the enlarged group.

Videofy: lab to open source

Took an AI article-to-video experiment from the AI Lab into newsroom production, then open-sourced it — covered by Nieman Lab and journalism.co.uk.

New businesses, real P&L

Founded RACV Solar and reached profitability in two years; grew Home Security revenue ~20%. Established Telstra Energy with a board-approved market-entry strategy.

Presenting at the Twipe Digital Growth Summit
Twipe Digital Growth Summit
Fireside panel at the WAN-IFRA Asian Media Leaders Summit
WAN-IFRA Asian Media Leaders Summit
AI Beyond Text keynote at the WAN-IFRA Paris AI Forum
WAN-IFRA Paris AI Forum
The arc

From elliptic curves to enterprise AI.

The through-line of my career is taking technology that is about to matter and building the business around it before it's obvious. NFC and IoT at Telenor when phones were still dumb. Renewable energy at Telstra and RACV before it was mainstream. E-commerce logistics during the pandemic. And now AI — not as a pilot programme, but as licensing revenue, newsroom products and a group-wide operating model.

I lead through senior specialists and business leaders, and I'm at my best when the learning curve is steep and the mandate is bold.

Juan Carlos López Calvet
Career & experience

Where I've built.

2022 — now

Schibsted MediaDirector of Data & AI · Oslo (previously Director of Data, News Media)

+
  • Built and lead the group Data & AI function supporting editorial, product, subscription, advertising and corporate teams across all Nordic brands, reporting to the CTO.
  • Corporate separation: led the Data & AI work to establish independent media capabilities after the split from Marketplaces — zero-incident Pulse separation, then ~40% platform cost reduction.
  • Commercial AI: established the strategic OpenAI publisher partnership creating recurring licensing revenue; negotiated Anthropic enterprise arrangements and launched Claude group-wide.
  • Platforms at scale: accountable for infrastructure processing hundreds of millions of behavioural events daily — the data foundations for personalisation and dynamic paywalls.
  • Acquisition integration: lead shared Data & AI priorities with TV4/MTV after the SEK 6.55bn acquisition.
  • Innovation into operations: established the AI Lab; evolved Videofy from experiment to newsroom product to open source.
2020 — 2022

Schibsted E-commerce & DistributionChief Technology Officer · Oslo

+
  • Owned technology strategy for Norway's largest distribution network as it expanded from print logistics into e-commerce and last-mile services.
  • Directed platform modernisation, reliability, security, cost efficiency and vendor orchestration in an operationally critical environment.
  • Led the first cross-functional e-commerce growth programme — business-model assessment, partnerships, proof-of-concept architecture. Board member of Distribution Innovation and Morgenlevering.
2019 — 2020

Ferdia & Kahoot!CTO, Ferdia · Privacy Compliance Officer, Kahoot! · Oslo

+
  • Built the technology platform and engineering capability for a mobility-as-a-service venture, turning a new bus-mobility proposition into an operating digital product.
  • Supported Kahoot!'s transition from startup to international enterprise through privacy compliance enabling responsible growth.
2016 — 2018

RACVGeneral Manager, Smart Living · Melbourne

+
  • Founded RACV Solar — identified the opportunity, built the business, profitable within two years.
  • Grew Home Security revenue ~20% and built growth strategies across solar, smart homes, home care and trades.
  • Launched Samsung SmartThings in Australia, RACV Energy Compare, and the Tiny Home advocacy programme.
2012 — 2016

TelstraGM Technology & Strategy · GM Innovation & New Growth · Melbourne

+
  • Established Telstra Energy with a board-approved strategy for entering renewable generation, storage and services on telecom assets.
  • Led trials spanning solar PV, lithium storage and control systems; built the business models and partner ecosystem.
  • Conceived and launched the Telstra Innovation Centre (later Telstra Labs) and the Hybrid/Backup Modem launched as Telstra Frontier.
2000 — 2012

TelenorVP Technology & Products, Objects · CTO, Iris · Research Manager, R&D · Oslo

+
  • Designed and delivered Shepherd, an IoT platform connecting devices and applications through reusable APIs — powering home security and eHealth services across Norway.
  • As CTO of Telenor Iris, built an RFID supply-chain platform for customers including Gilde, Bama, Veolia and Container Centralen; won Telenor New Business Seed awards two years running.
  • Led a team of 12 researchers in wireless, security and mobility; partnerships with Nokia, Samsung, IBM and NXP; developed early NFC/RFID mobile-payment concepts and the patent portfolio behind them.
"Our first principle is to enhance, not replace. Trust is our north star."WAN-IFRA Asian Media Leaders Summit, Singapore 2025
Talks, interviews & media

On stage and on the record.

Juan Carlos López Calvet speaking on stage

A frequent speaker and workshop leader on AI in media across Europe, Asia and Latin America — WAN-IFRA, INMA, the Nordic AI in Media Summit, NorwAI and the European Festival of Journalism.

Keynote feature · WAN-IFRA

How Schibsted is using AI for its newsrooms and readers

Feature built around the Asian Media Leaders Summit keynote in Singapore: Schibsted's AI principles, the three-horizon framework, Videofy and ARIA agents.

Read → Video interview · Podcast

Redefining Engagement

Long-form conversation on Schibsted's north-star metrics, AI in journalism, and why informed citizens beat engagement for its own sake.

Watch → Press · Press Gazette

On the Schibsted–OpenAI deal

Quoted at the World News Media Congress in Kraków on why Schibsted chose to license content to OpenAI and what publishers gain from a seat at the table.

Read → Webinar · WAN-IFRA

The Schibsted Formula: making AI pay its way in news

Solo deep-dive on data-driven AI investment decisions and commercial AI strategy in publishing.

View → Talk · Nordic AI in Media Summit

Videofy: agentic article-to-video at scale

Presenting Schibsted's agent-driven video pipeline at the Nordic industry's flagship AI summit in Copenhagen.

View → Conference · INMA

AI cost governance for publishers

On standardising event schemas to cut costs up to 40%, and keeping token economics honest as models evolve.

Read → Festival · Voices, Florence

AI between practice and power

Two sessions at the European Festival of Journalism & Media Freedom on what's real and what's not in newsroom AI.

View → Open source · Videofy

Schibsted open-sources Videofy

The AI Lab's article-to-video tool released to the industry — covered by Nieman Lab and journalism.co.uk.

Read →
What drives me

Purpose over position.

My purpose

To build the technology, teams and businesses that let organisations thrive in the AI era — and to prove that trust and ambition belong in the same strategy.

I am at my best when

The learning curve is steep and the mandate is bold.

I'm translating something deeply technical into a decision a board can make with confidence.

I'm building with people who care — turning specialists into a team that outperforms its size.

I will never

Ship AI that trades user trust for short-term metrics.

Hide behind slideware — I build, measure and show.

Stop being hands-on enough to challenge the engineering as well as the strategy.

Boards, advisory & credentials

Beyond the day job.

Corporate boards

Independent Board Member, Arbor. Previously Distribution Innovation and Morgenlevering.

AI & research governance

Executive Board, NorwAI (NTNU). Steering Board, MediaFutures. Board of Advisors, WAN-IFRA AI in News Publishing.

Education

MEng Telematics Engineering, ITAM — dissertation on elliptic-curve cryptography. Executive coursework in financial analysis, quantitative modeling and disruptive strategy.

Recognition

Telenor Global Accelerate Program. Named inventor on patent publications spanning mobile ticketing, SIM/RFID and service discovery. Languages: English, Spanish, Norwegian.

Get in touch

Ready for the next
bold mandate.

Open to CTO and technology leadership roles where AI, data and engineering are the growth engine — not the cost centre.

jc@lopezcalvet.com LinkedIn Download CV