Fred Stark

Fred Stark is the CTO of Forterro. As CTO, Stark is responsible for the technology and product strategy of each software solution in the company; global research and development operations; as well as group-wide cloud infrastructure services.

Stark joins Forterro after an extensive career in software development. Prior to joining Forterro, he served as the vice president of e-commerce and digital for American Express Global Business Travel, where he managed a global team in four locations. In his role, Stark directed the development of many well-known customer- and consumer-facing applications, including the American Express booking application, which is the flagship customer app for business travelers. He also managed the supplier management platform, which performs real-time content selections to fulfill corporate travelers’ needs while optimizing supplier revenue.

Stark also served as CTO for KDS, a Paris-headquartered SaaS software company. At KDS, he refreshed and consumerized an aging product, supporting the growth and expansion of the company until it was acquired by American Express in 2016.

Stark launched his career in France as the co-founder of Almonde, an asset & liability management software company. Stark led the development, engineering, and support of Almonde until the company was acquired by Misys PLC. Stark then joined Thomson Reuters, where he managed the development of Kondor Global Risk and, later, the development, carve-out, and spin-off of its trading platform Kondor. This business later merged into Misys (now Finastra), where Stark took responsibility for the fusion of its capital market products (Kondor+, Summit and Sophis).

Stark has held a passion for technology since he discovered 6502 assembly on his school’s Apple ][, and he began coding his first commercial application in 1983. Unbeknownst to him at the time, he designed and implemented an ERP system on NeXTstep in 1992 for a cable television company. He continues to code to this day and remains an active member of the retro-computing community.

Stark holds a bachelor’s degree in operating systems and a master’s degree in theoretical computer science from the University Jussieu Paris.