Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands
I build, scale, and strengthen businesses. My conviction is simple: durable value comes from clear choices, disciplined capital allocation, and leadership that stays credible and grounded over time. Not just in the good quarters. As Chief Strategy & Growth Officer at KPN, I work closely with the Board on corporate development, long-term infrastructure strategy across fibre and mobile, margin expansion, and portfolio evolution. My remit spans competitive intelligence, M&A, ventures, portfolio management and strategic partnerships. Collaborating company wide to shape the operating model and decision frameworks that allow execution at scale without losing cultural momentum. I operate where the physical, digital, and behavioural dimensions of organisations meet. That is where long-term competitiveness, trust, and legacy are shaped. I am drawn to complexity and ambiguity. Specifically, to turning strategic friction into clarity and clarity into movement. My experience covers the full company lifecycle: early-stage, scale-up, IPO, and large-scale transformation across process, people, platforms, and products. I have a particular focus on helping mature organisations renew themselves without eroding value, and a genuine enthusiasm for cost reduction creativity (#CFO friendly). Sectors: telecoms, infrastructure, mining, logistics, FMCG. Value creation levers: M&A, strategic partnerships, integrations, carve-outs, portfolio resets. My approach combines technical depth, financial discipline, and behavioural insight, held to a high bar for quality and integrity. Previously: - Digital Officer at VodafoneZiggo. - Co-founder and exited a Generative AI logistics start-up. - Management consultant at BCG. - Corporate finance at HSBC. - Commercial insurance at Hollard. I continue to advise within private equity at Calibre Capital. I am the author of Daddy Says No, a book on decision-making through the lens of behavioural psychology - my core operating system for understanding leaders, teams, products, and customer behaviour. It focuses on a simple but uncomfortable pattern: capable people often struggle not with intelligence, but with clarity under pressure; making emotionally costly decisions, or avoiding them altogether. 📘 Read it here: https://a.co/d/iuMJ8av I am comfortable at board level and accountable for outcomes, whether or not they fall within my formal remit. #getitdone Open to NED, board (supervisory) board and strategic advisory roles where complexity, transformation, and long-term value creation are at the centre of the agenda.
As Chief Strategy & Growth Officer at KPN, the Netherlands’ listed leader in telecom and digital infrastructure, I help shape one of Europe’s most advanced telco strategies. My mandate is to ensure KPN not only delivers long-term value for shareholders and customers, but also builds a safer, more inclusive, and more connected society. I lead the Corporate Strategy & Growth Office of the CEO, which integrates four core teams: 1. Group Insights & Competitive Intelligence 2. Corporate Strategy 3. M&A & Portfolio Management 4. KPN Ventures Fund
KPN, is a leading Dutch Telco with over a centuries history and €6bn in revenues, drives customer excellence and ARPA growth beyond legacy portfolios. Within this role, reporting to Chief Consumer Executive, is accountable for customer capex and priority on development roadmaps; aimed to enhance customer experience and cultivate consumer segment revenue growth. Paired with this I was tasked to enable change to way of working, setup and engagement to ensure sustainable practices of teams, products and customer propositions.
Calibre is an independent, highly respected private equity firm active across diverse industries. I scout and foster strategic growth ventures, enhancing portfolio value by identifying and evaluating opportunities both traditional industries, products and services. Examples include vegan baking brand, organic skincare, peer-to-peer delivery, plastic-free retail and more. I conduct curiosity based research and build relationships with PE's, VC's, entrepreneurs and alike, I aim to funnel a pipeline of high-impact investments. A passion, a hobby and trust it helps entrepreneurs!
VodafoneZiggo, a joint venture of Vodafone Group and Liberty Global in the Netherlands, entrusted me with leading the transformation and growth of all customer-facing digital channels for B2C and B2B. In this role, alongside a stellar digital tribe, we managed the vision and delivery of digital capabilities using modern architecture principles and DevOps, focusing on customer innovation and digital service and sales across both brands. Our digital efforts managed sales value exceeding €1.5bn annually for both segments. With the digital transformation accelerated by COVID, we rapidly implemented a data-driven approach to digital marketing and service. Additionally, I was grateful to build and manage a high-performing team, fostering a culture of collaboration and agile methodologies.
Founder to freelance expert advisory consulting on strategic planning and value engineering using alternative frameworks, data analytics, and behavioral science. Bootstrapped startup Empty Trips until the VC raise in Nov'18, assisting with strategic decision-making and growth opportunities. Key projects included developing an omni-channel lending app, creating a UI/UX prototype for a digital factory in Kenya, and building a portfolio model for tracking multi-billion commercial property developments in Saudi Arabia.
Developed and launched Surefox (rebranded as SureCargo)—an intellectual property suite incubated in Emptytrips —designed to transform cargo insurance through real-time, automated coverage. Built for instant facultative cargo policy issuance, SureCargo replaces traditional, manual insurance, setting a new benchmark in the insurtech space. Utilizing streamlined, standardized frameworks, the platform was able to arbitrage insurance rates on per voyage, modus and distance intersection offering savings and surety of cover fair to both underwriter and user. In April 2019, successfully exited this IP to Santova B.V. (Netherlands), where SureCargo remains at the forefront of cargo insurance innovation. Discover more at surecargo.net Keywords: Insurtech, Fintech, PaaS