Washington DC-Baltimore Area
Willem Koenders is an Associate Principal and Global Leader in Data Strategy at ZS Associates. He has worked at the firm for over three years, helping organizations harness data to build and sustain a competitive advantage. He is the author of The Data Product Playbook (https://www.amazon.com/Data-Product-Playbook-Designing-Delivering-ebook/dp/B0GGLS557M) Over his career, Willem has worked with more than 100 organizations across Europe, Asia, the United States, and Latin America, helping them develop their data strategy, design and implement data operating models, establish and scale foundational data capabilities, and drive real program execution. He is business fluent in English, Spanish, and Dutch and holds certifications in AWS, GCP, DAMA-DMBOK2, and Informatica. Willem is passionate about data-driven transformations and a strong advocate for “data governance by design.” Before his current role at ZS, he worked in the US and Latin America practice of Deloitte, where he served as the country lead for Nicaragua and Honduras, and as the Data Strategy & Data Management Capability Lead for Spanish LATAM. Previously, Willem worked for ~5 years in Monitor Deloitte’s strategy consulting practice providing integrated Corporate & Business Unit Strategy, Customer & Marketing Strategy, (Digital) Innovation Strategy, and Pricing and Demand Analytics. Before joining Deloitte, Willem worked at the Dutch Ministry of Finance at the Financial and Economic Policy Directorate as a graduate intern, and at Van Lanschot Bankiers as a quantitative portfolio risk analyst.
Selected projects: • Data governance operating model – global technology company • Domain-driven data governance – health plan organization • Global data protection program – MedTech sector • Enterprise data catalog implementation – product manufacturer • AI & analytics use case enablement – international airport operator • MDM strategy – educational technology company • MDM strategy – global medical technology firm • Analytics strategy – U.S.-based MedTech company • Data strategy & operating model – pharma supply chain & science org • Master domain governance implementation – global tech giant • Generative AI use case enablement – product-centric multinational
• Senior Manager in the Spanish Latin America practice across Central America, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, and Argentina • Analytics & Cognitive Country lead for Nicaragua and Honduras • Data Strategy Capability Lead for Spanish Latin America • Data Management & Data Governance Capability Lead for Spanish Latin America
• Manager in the Spanish Latin America practice across Central America, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, and Argentina • Analytics & Cognitive Country lead for Nicaragua and Honduras • Data Strategy Capability Lead for Spanish Latin America • Data Management & Data Governance Capability Lead for Spanish Latin America
• Internship with the Dutch Ministry of Finance, where I investigated Dutch venture capital policies • I devised a method to quantitatively score and benchmark venture capital policies and applied it to European countries • From a peer analysis I derived recommendations for Dutch policy practices • My work has been published by the Dutch Venture Capital Association
• Editorial work • Website administration • Conducting interviews with expert practitioners
• Backtesting and monitoring credit risk models • Improving existing and creating new credit risk models