Interview Peter Lutz

Our colleague Peter Lutz would like to introduce himself to you.

1. You are Senior Account Manager at Vitec Memorix. Tell me about your role!

As account managers, my colleague Amy and I deal with our large group of enthusiastic customers. This concerns municipalities, heritage institutions, but also companies and other organizations. I spend a large part of my time visiting customers, identifying their wishes and discussing how Vitec Memorix can fulfill them. 

There are also fun, but more complex projects such as All Frisians (a website where you can browse the historic genealogical data from many Frisian municipalities) and Archive Nets (a set of collective websites where you can browse the archival data from municipalities in Friesland, Groningen, and Drenthe). It is interesting to work with the many parties involved in this. 

Another part of my job is attending and participating in events relevant to our sector. This includes the Archive Days, NDE meetings (Network Digital Heritage, a network of organizations that are active in the areas of culture, heritage, education, and research, and supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science), but also events of our customers.

2. What do you like most about your job?

I can't be the only one who says that the human contact with customers and colleagues is the best part of the job. Many passionate people work in the heritage sector, who are truly committed to the sustainable conservation, management and disclosure of (digital) heritage. It is very nice to work with these people and to be able to contribute to this.

3. What is your background?

I grew up in a monumental building in Friesland with a very special "stinzen garden" (the word “stins” means “stone house”. The gardens surrounding these houses are famous for their early spring flowers), which also has monumental status. The importance and preservation of heritage was taught to me at an early age. In terms of education, I have a background in Japanese studies. I mainly focused on modern Japan, but I have also always been interested in the culture, such as the shrines, block printing, and taiko drumming. Thanks to this study, I had the opportunity to work in Japan and Singapore for a number of years. I eventually ended up in IT through a Japanese hardware company. Initially I worked on applications for the social domain and now in the field of cultural heritage.

4. What do you like to do most in your spare time

Actually, I have too many hobbies for my limited free time. I am very involved with music, I like to play a bit of piano and guitar. I also spend a lot of time tending our (vegetable) garden, and there is always something to do in our old Dudok house. Of course, I also find technology very interesting, especially cyber security and open source solutions.

5. What do you hope to achieve at Vitec Memorix?

With our software Memorix Nexus we have a fantastic solution in the field of collection management systems. Moreover, Nexus is extremely flexible and therefore suitable for many different market segments. I hope that we can further expand our customer base to other sectors. We are also active abroad and I think it would be great fun to contribute further to this. Maybe even to Asia? Who knows…