The T from BBT says «goodbye»

After dedicating his professional life exclusively to BBT, Christian Treyer now works as a Senior Security Engineer for the global Volaris Group, headquartered in Toronto. Quite a long way from home, you might think, but in fact he is still very close to BBT. Not only because he has recently joined BBT’s parent company, but also because «his» BBT is part of the security portfolio that he looks after.

By Ivana D’Addario, Marketing Manager at BBT

Christian Treyer was already responsible for security at BBT. Now at Volaris, he looks after the security of 40 different global companies in the technology solutions sector for insurance companies, banks and credit institutions. He travels a lot or works from home. His new job involves regularly visiting and auditing these companies to ensure that they are actually practicing the required IT and data security. The imposed catalog is undoubtedly a challenging task, as it contains around 50 criteria that companies must operationalize in favour of cyber security. However, once fulfilled, this not only creates the security structure, but also a basis for technical forensics in the event of an incident. As a result, Christian’s job naturally also involves keeping his finger on the pulse of cyber times in terms of threats and risks, vulnerabilities, trends and technologies. To do this, he also has to navigate the darknet and use appropriate tools to search for stolen data or carry out ethical hacking. This is the only way he can effectively advise and coach the companies assigned to him so that they ultimately become more secure – and stay that way.

As a former security officer at BBT, Christian is ideally suited to this task. On the other hand, as a former entrepreneur at a software company, he sees the topic of cyber security with different eyes. «As an entrepreneur, you not only bear the full security risk, but also have sleepless nights when the going gets tough», says the 45-year-old. He has transferred this responsibility to Volaris, at least in practical terms; BBT was sold to the buy-and-hold acquirer Volaris in 2017. But not emotionally. His heart still belongs to BBT. «BBT has always been my family. If BBT needs me, I’m there immediately and at all times», he adds caringly.

Christian’s life’s work

27 years at BBT. Until Christian’s move to Volaris at the end of 2023, he had never worked anywhere other than BBT since he was a 17-year-old high school student. Back then, in 1995, he and his fellow student Malte Bögershausen were asked by Hermann Biner – then a math and IT teacher at the high school of Brig – to take part in a software development project for health insurance companies. Both agreed and BBT Software GmbH was officially founded just nine months later, with the acronym of the founders’ names Biner, Bögershausen and Treyer chosen as the company name. Thus Christian, the T of BBT, had already created a life’s work as a teenager.

Six years after the takeover by Volaris, Christian came across an attractive job advertisement on the Group’s internal HR portal for a Senior Security Engineer in the team of Volaris Portfolio IT Director Kevin Couto. Initially without great expectations, he inquired about the vacancy – and was ultimately accepted. Despite all his love for BBT, he then decided to break new ground and move to Volaris.

He had already broken new ground when he sold BBT. So he is a little used to parting ways with BBT. «The takeover of BBT by Volaris in 2017 was a very difficult and at the same time wonderful moment for me», says Christian. He sinks into his thoughts for a moment, looking in a different direction. «I asked myself the question What have I done? The change of culture, being part of a group for the first time and the associated working methods as well as efficiency expectations of Volaris were not always easy for me and BBT as a family-run, down-to-earth Swiss SME», he says. But he soon got used to it, because «thanks to Volaris, BBT has developed into a noticeably more mature and secure company». BBT has benefited greatly from Volaris’ extensive SME experience and has reached a completely new level in the area of IT security, for example.

This is precisely thanks to Volaris’ corporate philosophy, which follows the decentralized «buy and hold forever» business model. Volaris buys software companies and holds them forever – or vice versa: never sells them. The founders’ former life’s work is thus preserved and, what’s more, continuously expanded. At the same time, the companies retain a high degree of autonomy.

The common denominator

Christian joins colleagues at Volaris, some of whom, like him, are former founders and entrepreneurs. «When I talk to other former company owners, there is always one key common denominator: the big worries about the future are gone, because the company’s continued existence is assured». In addition, the newly experienced freedom that they now enjoy as employees is good. Then he smiles and adds: «I didn’t know that at all. And I really enjoy it!»

We wish Christian all the best in his future career and life. And we can say this at this point: We miss you. Come and visit us again soon.