What shaped Cor?

After completing his military service, Cor joined Philips as a management trainee, holding a range of logistics and finance roles. The programme combined hands-on work experience with part-time education — planting the seed for a lifelong commitment to learning.

In the years that followed, he took on the role of Controller at two industrial manufacturing companies, where his remit was to build and implement the Finance & Control function. Both organisations were navigating the transition from a family-owned business to an integral part of a listed group — following an acquisition. Building organisations became a thread that would run through his entire career.

In the late 1990s, Cor made the move from the metals industry to the Agrifood sector, joining Dumeco — one of Europe’s largest fresh meat producers — as Corporate Controller. His main task, once again, was to build, integrate and professionalise the Finance & Control discipline, and to transform the organisation from retrospective reporting to proactive strategic financial management. Following Dumeco’s acquisition by Vion in 2003, he led the design and development of the post-merger Financial Accounting and Control function, the integrated management information system (BI), and internal and external reporting. He was also closely involved in a series of acquisitions, reorganisations, integrations and sector restructurings.

In 2006, Cor became Chief Financial Officer at Topigs Norsvin — an internationally operating Dutch-Norwegian cooperative in the porcine genetics industry, with subsidiaries in twenty countries. As a member of the three-person Board of Directors, he played a central role in the merger with Norwegian cooperatives and the transformation of the company from a mid-sized regional player into the undisputed number two in the world. The dynamics and complexity of that journey — with all its highs and lows — remains the defining chapter of his professional career. Within the Board of Directors, he held a broad portfolio spanning Finance & Control, Legal and Governance, Tax, ICT (digital transition, global IT roadmap, ERP implementation), Enterprise Risk Management, HR, company secretariat, export operations, central procurement and real estate management. He also chaired the sector-level collective labour agreement negotiations. Following the CEO’s departure in 2019, he served alongside the CTO as co-CEO on an interim basis for a year.

In 2022, Cor decided to put the knowledge and experience built over his long career to work for SME+ organisations — helping them reach the next level. He does this in the role of interim CFO/Finance Director and has since completed several assignments successfully.

Complexity Calls for Targeted Solutions, Not Symptom Management

Cor applies his knowledge and experience to add real value in every interim assignment. An important starting point is determining whether an assignment is a genuine fit: is he the right person for the job? That depends above all on the nature of the challenge and the personality of the client. Does the assignment offer sufficient depth? Is there a personal connection — a sense of trust? Equally important is whether the client has a clear-eyed view of the real underlying problem. Cor wants to get to the root cause as quickly as possible and address it directly — not treat the symptoms. And as a practical condition for effective deployment, there must be sufficient room — in terms of people, resources and tools — to get the job done properly. He thrives on complexity: the harder the challenge, the better.

Character

Cor is a business-oriented finance professional with a broad background spanning economics, business administration and logistics. He has held senior leadership roles at a range of dynamic and ambitious organisations, deploying his expertise in support of growth and development. He is accustomed to carrying responsibility for a wide portfolio — extending beyond finance to include Legal, ICT, HR and asset management. He moves easily between strategy and hands-on operations.

He is an inspiring Secure Base leader, a driven change manager and a skilled negotiator. He is goal-oriented and results-driven — someone who walks the talk. He believes people are the heart of every organisation, and by nature he leads with empathy: approachable, motivating and connecting. He brings a natural calm to even the most pressured situations, and has a healthy sense of humour and perspective.