Fernando Ponte. A man with a passion for Business Intelligence and airplanes
Fernando Ponte was born in a city bordering Brazil and Uruguay. He literally lived with one foot in Brazil and one in Uruguay, but for the past nine years, his feet have been well and truly grounded in Tauranga with Stellar.
Meet our Lead Consultant, an Oracle expert and man of many (not only) vintage hobbies.
To the other side of the world… and directly to Stellar
It was a very lucky coincidence that brought Fernando to Stellar. “I was just looking for overseas experiences in 2010 when Stellar came into play. They offered a position to a former manager, who at that time wasn’t looking to relocate. He just sent me as reference (thanks Cesar) and three weeks later I was traveling to NZ and starting a new life.” Fernando started working in the Stellar office in the beautiful beach town of Tauranga. Even though Fernando has never suffered any major violence back in Brazil, he knew straight away he was in a good place: “When I saw the Mount Maunganui Police Station closing at 4 pm on a Thursday afternoon, that made me feel safe”, says Fernando.
What Fernando appreciates the most at Stellar is support from his colleagues, who make him feel comfortable doing his job and are there for each other “when you ask or need help”. Fernando has a very nice metaphor for Stellar. For him, Stellar is like “Small winemakers delivering to the best restaurants”. The winemakers are small enough, and therefore agile enough, to know intimately the directions the restaurants are taking and have the skills and experience to match the wines expertly to the customers’ menus.
Oracle has a special vibe for Fernando…
Fernando graduated with a Degree in Applied Mathematics in the ‘90s and started working with IT and Business Intelligence/Data Warehousing at the same time, and he has never moved away. Initially, he was a Microsoft guy using the first beta versions of Analysis Services and SQL Server while reading data from Oracle Databases (among other sources). He progressed fully into Oracle around 2008. Fernando really enjoys the tools: “Microsoft makes things way easier to use while Oracle still has that geeky vibe”, he says.
He has many specific skills including Business Intelligence and Data Warehouse Strategy, Business Intelligence and Data Warehouse Quality Assessment, BI/DW Architecture or BI/DW Training/Education. One of his last projects was with a Tauranga based supply chain customer, where together with other colleagues he created a great BI strategy and a roadmap. Fernando has also provided end-user training in a variety of tools at Vodafone, Trustpower and Tegel.
… however, the airplanes beat it
Fernando has always been fascinated by airplanes and once tried to join the Air Force. However, he is not into flashy jet planes, his passion is with vintage aviation. He realized his dream in 2013 when he was able to take a ride in 1943 built WW2 Spitfire located in Ardmore. Not surprisingly, Fernando is a history fan. He is fascinated by moments in history that we relive in our current days and the fact that things tend to repeat due to human nature.
Fernando’s other passion is music and of course, as for any Brazilian, soccer is his main sport. He knows how to enjoy good food and he is lucky enough to have a wife who is a pastry chef and chocolatier.
There are many topics you could talk about with Fernando. You could get some advice regarding any aspect of data and analytics, but also have a nice chat about many perspectives of history or culture and if you do meet up with him you should definitely ask him for a sample of his wife’s delicious handmade chocolates. But be careful, one is never enough.
