Ivonne Altamirano

About me

Hi!

Welcome to my page. I’m Ivonne. I’m a Fractional Leader based in Berlin. My background is in Engineering and Economics, which means I care deeply about how things are built and whether they actually work.

Throughout my career in impact-driven organizations and female health, I’ve seen the same pattern: great missions often get bogged down by systems. I help founders bridge that gap. I don’t believe in “best practice” templates that don’t fit your people, and I don’t abide by the “move fast and break things” mentality when it leads to burnout and confusion.

I focus on building what I call Systems of Integrity. For me, that means creating operational foundations where the way a company works internally is coherent with the mission it shares with the world. Whether I’m acting as a fractional COO or diving into a specific project, my goal is to give you and your team the clarity and dignity to do your best work.

Outside of the “Studio” (my office), you’ll likely find me trying out new craft projects, practicing yoga and pilates, running (slowly!), trying out new foods, or advocating for better standards in women’s health.

My Journey

I’ve spent the last 15 years figuring out how to make organisations work better for the people inside them. My path has taken me from international development organisations to the fast-paced world of startups.

I am now dividing my time between supporting a select few mission-driven companies as a Fractional COO and Strategic Advisor and building my own female health project. I’m taking everything I’ve learned about data, strong teams, and discipline and putting it to work for the founders who are ready to build for the long term. I particularly love the “0 to 1” and “1 to 10” stages.

Here is where I’ve been and what I’ve learned.

COO | inne (Feral GmbH) Berlin, 2018 – 2025

This was my “home” for over six years. I joined when we were just a handful of people and helped grow the team to over 35. As the COO, my job was to make sure the company actually functioned while we built a complex health product for women.

  • Building the Foundation: I set up almost everything related to how we worked together, from how we hired and paid people to how we gave each other feedback. I wanted to make sure our internal culture was as healthy as the product we were selling.
  • The Go-To Person: I was the anchor for the team. Whether I was covering for critical roles, mediating a difficult conflict, or running our all-hands meetings, I focused on creating a space where people felt safe and heard.
  • Managing Complexity: I handled the “heavy lifting” of the business: managing supply chains, planning for the future, and leading us through strict medical certifications. I made sure the “rules” helped us do better work rather than just slowing us down.

Planning & Reporting | Fairtrade International Bonn, 2015 – 2018

Before startups, I worked at Fairtrade, focusing on how we measure the real-world impact of our work on farmers’ lives.

  • Understanding the Impact: I started as a Technical Assistant, where my role was very “hands-on” with the data. I spent my days compiling, cleaning, and analyzing information from Fairtrade audits. It was about digging into the numbers to truly understand how the program was affecting the lives of farmers.
  • From Strategy to Reality: Later, as a Planning and Reporting Officer, I moved into the heart of the organisation’s strategic process. My job was to make sure our goals didn’t just stay as “nice words” in a document. I monitored implementation and coordinated with member organisations across the globe to ensure we were actually living our commitments.

Policy & Trade Assistant | European Union Delegation Managua, 2009 – 2012

This was my first big step into the professional world, and it’s where I learned the importance of work ethic and “unseen” foundations. I was making sure the people in the organisation had everything they needed to succeed.

  • Information as a Tool: Long before AI, I was the human “filter.” I analysed bilateral trade data to support discussions and distilled a mountain of daily news into a clear, concise newsletter for colleagues in Nicaragua and Europe. It taught me how to find the “signal in the noise.”
  • Behind the Scenes of Diplomacy: I learned the discipline of coordination, from organising complex files and preparing high-level meetings to managing the logistics for large-scale press and cultural events.