Marijke brings deep, first-hand experience of operating professional auctions in specialist markets. While developing her own auction business, she identified the need for a professional online auction platform capable of presenting high-value works to the standards expected by specialist collectors and institutions. She originated and led the initial development of a proprietary system to meet these requirements, building it first to support her own auction operations.

Marijke established Maak Contemporary Ceramics in 2009, which has become an internationally respected art consultancy and auction house specialising in contemporary ceramic art. Maak’s success is grounded in specialist market knowledge, practical auction experience, and a strong focus on client experience, and it remains the only UK auction house to run regular, dedicated auctions exclusively focused on contemporary ceramics.

Prior to establishing Maak, Marijke was Head of the Contemporary Ceramics Department at Bonhams, organising leading international sales in London and New York. She has also been a Consultant Lecturer at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, contributing to postgraduate programmes in contemporary design and art business.

Greg is a digital business leader with extensive experience designing and delivering complex software platforms within global organisations and high-growth businesses. He specialises in bespoke software development and B2B SaaS, with a strong focus on building reliable, scalable systems that support long-term operational confidence.

Greg has led multi-disciplinary teams across strategy, design, and engineering, working closely with both technical and non-technical stakeholders to deliver business-critical platforms. His experience includes responsibility for financial and enterprise systems processing up to £1 billion annually, reinforcing a disciplined approach to security, governance, and availability.

During the bootstrapping of iRostrum, Greg led the creation of Aptumo, a multi-tenant SaaS enterprise billing solution delivered on Salesforce. At the time, Aptumo was one of the largest applications built on the Salesforce platform. Greg led both the build and subsequent rollout of Aptumo within full ERP utility environments in the UK and Australia, where it sat at the core of complex utility operations, with combined build and programme budgets in excess of £25m.

Igor is a full stack Lead Software Developer who has been working on the iRostrum system since 2013. As a full stack senior developer Igor brings 14+ years of diverse software engineering experience, system architecture design, and infrastructure operations. With a focus in functional programming, type-level programming, and formal verification, Igor’s skills are creating clean and maintainable software code with a focus on code reliability, cloud-native architecture and patterns. His use of Domain Driven Design allows him to solve business challenges and complex processes.

Igor also boasts a Master's degree in Mathematics and Computer Science.

Ilya Rachinsky is a Senior Software Engineer who believes in the power of clean code and intentional design. Since joining the iRostrum team in 2018, he’s focused on building intuitive, refined user interfaces—driven by the belief that great technology shouldn’t need a manual. With a background as a Computer Science teacher, Ilya brings clarity of thought to every project, distilling complexity into interfaces that feel effortless. He’s an expert in frontend performance optimisation and API integrations, and thrives not just on writing software, but on delivering clear, actionable solutions to real-world challenges.

Experienced in cloud-based SaaS product development, Ilya applies a practical, teachable mindset to every technical challenge. When he’s not untangling complex problems at work, you’ll find him tinkering with new frameworks (or occasionally breaking them) or chasing shuttlecocks on the badminton court.

Vera holds an MBA in Communication and Marketing and brings nearly 7 years of experience across technology, education and non-profit sectors. Her background combines customer experience, communication, and hands-on operational work, with a focus on understanding how people interact with products and services.

At iRostrum, she works across customer success and marketing, supporting both the operational side of the business and the experience clients have when using the platform — from onboarding through to live auctions and beyond. 

She finds purpose in building strong relationships, actively listening to people's needs and creating meaningful experiences for them.

Aibulat Baidavletov is a Senior Software Engineer with over 5 years of experience in full-stack development, specializing in high-load distributed systems and fintech solutions. His programming journey began at Moscow Polytechnic University, where his studies in Computer Science and Engineering sparked a passion for creating complex technical solutions. He has progressed from junior developer to senior engineer at leading technology companies, focusing on fintech solutions, payment integrations, and billing systems.

Aibulat works with microservice architecture and has expertise in .NET, cloud platforms, and DevOps practices. His approach combines technical excellence with business insight, creating solutions that are both reliable and valuable. Outside of work, Aibulat enjoys hiking and city walks to balance technical intensity with personal time. He also values time spent with his family.

Ty is an experienced Product Owner with a background in SaaS, mobile and AI-driven products. Having led the delivery of digital products from discovery through to launch, he specialises in translating business requirements into practical product solutions and building strong relationships between clients, product teams and engineering.

At iRostrum, Ty works closely with clients to understand their operational requirements and ensure these are successfully translated into the platform. He supports client onboarding, product implementation and customer success, helping organisations maximise the value of the iRostrum platform while working closely with the engineering team to drive continuous product improvement.

Bruno is an experienced Full-stack Engineer with a background in developing modern SaaS applications, intuitive user experiences and scalable cloud-based platforms. Passionate about clean, maintainable software and thoughtful user interface design, he enjoys transforming complex requirements into practical, high-quality solutions.

At iRostrum, Bruno works across both the front-end and back-end of the platform, developing new functionality and helping shape the next generation of the iRostrum user experience. Working closely with the wider engineering team, he supports the continued evolution of our cloud-native auction platform, delivering secure, reliable and scalable software that powers professional online auctions worldwide.