About me

Change is the only reliable constant

For my entire professional career I have been lucky to be able to make an actual impact on the companies and organisations I have worked for. Whether this was in an engineering role, a product manager or director, I strive to maximize impact and value. There is a natural drive within me to not only let the products or services I manage thrive, but also to empower the organisations and people I work with.

Competencies

Curriculum Vitae

I studied Erath Sciences and a natural and social sciences program (Beta-Gamma) at the University of Amsterdam from 2008 to 2013. For me this was a perfect mix for my personal development, allowing me to grow my analytical side and IT skills from the STEM fields, as well as the ability to research, define and map both change and networks as taught by the social sciences. Besides the main curriculum I took the time for tons of extracurricular activities allowing for personal growth. I enjoyed traveling, got involved in student-politics, did a research-internship and joined the board of a student organisation. All these experiences have formed me and have given me insights in how to move a product forward.

Following my curriculum and research-internship I developed, in association with John Grin, amongst others, a post-graduate level course on transition management. This allowed me to teach to both students and professionals alike regarding big societal transitions. During this time we used a lot of real-life examples from disrupting products and how they were able to seize their chance to see exponential growth.

in 2012 I started working at a start-up, still finishing up my studies at the same time. After a short time I became a manager of one of the departments that I grew from 5 to 25 people, and of course a member of the management team. I have seen the rocky road many start-ups follow up close, both the lows and the peaks, always keeping my eyes on the prize. When te company was fully acquired by the parent company in the US my focus shifted to the scaling and development of our products.. At this point un my life I started my journey into product management. Taking on the responsibility of managing a pilot in automating our core software product I succeeded into creating a tool with national coverage, allowing us scale up massively and to tap into new markets and offer new products to our customers.

After this automation pilot I was requested to come work at the parent company in California to work on improving this product and allowing it to be used for the global market. During this period I not only got to experience the life on an actual software floor, it also got me familiar with the Agile mindset and lean startups. Leaving The Netherlands and moving halfway across the globe was not a lighthearted decision of course, but an opportunity too good to pass on. With great joy I took on the responsibility of managing the R&D department, first as a Product Manager and later as the Director and General Manager. Doing market analysis, using new tech, great tools ant methods and of course by listening to our end-users I was proudly able to improve on our automation efforts and other products used to enhance the customer journey.

Unfortunately my time in the States ended quite abruptly with the unexpected bankruptcy of the corporation due to some external factors outside of our control. This period alone had thought me quite a lot, but unfortunately this also meant I had to leave the states based on the Visa I was granted to come work there. After my return to The Netherlands I immediately started to use my knowledge and experience to help start-ups, improving and building on their products, strategies and visions, and of course mapping the stakeholders and end-users to help them grow their companies. Whist doing this I also developed myself as an interim-professional who supports companies and organisations as an IT-leader in different roles. Product management of course, but I also helped organisations work more efficiently based on their products and defining great value streams.

I also gained some unique and invaluable experience during my career so far. Combining the seemingly incompatible worlds of an Agile mindset and work methods with the bureaucracy of the European tender system comes to mind. The fact that I have worked on products in all stages of maturity, from R&D development phase all the way to end-of-life, in organisations ranging from a start-up all the way to large government organisations gives me a unique insight in how to manage any product. This also has provided me with all the knowledge and know-how to allow me to jump into any challenge thrown at me and help improve on the products or services of any customer.