I'm Barbara Arnst, nice to meet you!

About Me

I am a transformation leader pioneering the evolution from Agile 1.0 to 2.0 and now to “+AI", at enterprise scale.  As VP Transformation at Telenet, I'm leading one of the more ambitious Human-AI operating model transformations, moving beyond pilot projects to fundamental organizational rewiring for the age of AI.

My 25+ year career spans the Corporate, Consulting and Investment worlds – Principal at Bain & Company, Investor at PE firm Gimv, and COO at Groupon. What sets me apart: my drive to make organizations become more adaptive, effective, and meaningful places to work – no matter what it takes.  I collaborate with leaders to reimagine their company's operating models and make deliberate choices about how to sparkle and sustain change.

I'm excited (scared?) to now tackle the next frontier- designing operating models that can work for the age of human and AI collaboration. The crux will not be ”how much can we automate”, but to be deliberate about where humans will make the difference, to define guardrails that build trust between humans and AI and to get the organization to ditch (Agile) ways of working that in the face of AI already feel “quant”.

I bridge theory & practice by combining deep transformation experience with management research studies on the topic of Self-Managing Organizations (Vlerick) and my MBA degree from INSEAD. I am excited to continue to enlarge my impact through speaking, advisory and board engagements.

I live in Antwerp, where you can often find me out running (or walking a very charming golden retriever).