My new book: "The Cherry Model", €29,95
Technology teams, entire companies even, need a certain rhythm to adapt to change. A certain method that you can follow as a leader to support your team in growing to innovation. Anneke and Tims book "The Cherry Model" is about this method and gives plenty of examples from their experiences. Both successful and less successful, all with the intention for others to learn from it. Read more...Welcome
Welcome to my homepage. It may feel a little old-fashioned. That’s because it is! This website has been live since 1995 and I have kept it updated ever since. You may have noticed that the URL is anneke.com, my first name. I am proud to say I am one of the earliest people with access to the internet, and was thus able to acquire the URL of my own name.
With this ancient-feeling website, you may get the impression that I don’t like innovation, which is far from the truth. In fact, I am passionate about innovation and it has always been a big part of my daily work. Since 1997, I have led IT teams, first at KPN, then at TomTom, Coolblue, Jumbo and Wehkamp. You can find my career overview on the Resume page. Currently, I am a management coach, writer, interim manager, and I sit on several advisory boards.
I love working in the technology industry. I am grateful to all my employers who have given me the opportunity to lead their IT teams through big transformations. During my first 10 years at KPN this telecom company transformed from a monopoly set in its ways, to a professional service organisation entering the mobile market. Both TomTom and Coolblue grew tremendously while I was heading their IT departments. At Jumbo, I was allowed to found and lead the Jumbo Tech Campus which, among other things, made their online proposition successful and future-proof. My last employer is e-commerce company Wehkamp. As their CTO, I helped the IT-organisation navigate the fickle and challenging market circumstances due to the Covid pandemic of the early 2020s.
In 2022, I received a top 3-nomination as "Most Innovative Leader" and “CIO of the Year” in Dutch ICT Media. In 2019 and 2020, the Dutch feminist magazine Opzij included me in their list of “Most Influential Women in the Netherlands”. In 2016, 2017 and 2019, I was named one of the “50 Most Inspiring Women in Tech” in the Netherlands by Inspiring Fifty, a global initiative to increase diversity in tech.
However, helping companies innovate isn’t my only passion. One of my advisory roles is as a board member of WWF. Their slogan “Be One With Nature” is very close to my heart. I feel it is our duty as people to make nature a first priority and keep the earth liveable, not only for us humans, but for all living creatures. I believe this is possible if we work together and take hard action. In my personal life I do this by creating a food forest (robijnsbos.nl) in our 3-hectare garden. My goal is to locally grow food for as many people as possible in a way that’s also beneficial to the natural ecosystem.
Spending time with my husband and children gives me great joy. Next to that one of my biggest hobbies is carpentry. I enjoy making my own furniture. However, I must admit that I haven’t had a lot of time for this in recent months as I’m working on a big new adventure: I have been writing a book! A nonfiction management book with tips and tricks that I have personally obtained through decades of bringing innovation to companies. I hope to finish it in the summer of 2023. Please send me an email if you’d like to receive a notification when it’s finished.
I like sharing my knowledge, helping others thrive and learning new things every day. Please take a look at the coachings section of this website if you’re interested in learning with me and from me.
