Leadership

José Tijssen

Strategy Director
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José Tijssen is an all-round communication professional with well over twenty years of experience in the field of corporate and financial communication and Investor Relations. She has a broad experience in various markets and business models and has been working in a variety of roles as a consultant and as an in-house corporate professional.

As a board room consultant, she supports management teams on a range of strategic communication challenges, such as financial and corporate changes, reputation management and handling crises. She advises management teams in creating acceptance amongst stakeholders in case of M&A, IPO’s and financial & strategic communication challenges, such as strategic reviews, financial (issue) announcements and activist shareholders.

She is a trusted advisor, coach and sparring partner in a constructive and result-oriented manner.

She started her career at ABN AMRO corporate finance followed by positions in the field of Investor Relations and corporate communication at Wolters Kluwer, KPN and ING Group.

After ING, she was managing director at CFF Communications and in this role she was twice awarded the best PR advisor at the M&A awards in the Netherlands.

Before joining Hill+Knowlton Strategies, she was Group Director Corporate Communications and Public Affairs at Mediq.

José studied Business Administration at the Erasmus University.


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Ingo Heijnen

Strategy Director
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Ingo is a trusted advisor for the boards of both multinational companies as well as family businesses. Clients over the past years included Ahold-Delhaize, Royal Dutch Shell, Schiphol Group, TNT Express, RTL Group, as well as various private equity firms and investors. His work for clients focuses on crisis & issues management, reputation strategies, public affairs and M&A communications. In his capacity as Senior Vice President at Hill+Knowlton Strategies, he directs the Continental European operations of the agency.

Ingo has been a board member of the Netherlands operation of Hill+Knowlton for over a decade, acting as its CEO from 2011 to 2016. His career also includes communications positions at Royal Numico and Citroën.

Ingo started his career as a PR-officer with the Royal Netherlands Airforce. He studied journalism and communications. Ingo is bilingual (Dutch and German) and is fluent in English and French. He is regularly invited as guest lecturer in Reputation Management at colleges and universities. Ingo has been elected Best PR Consultant in M&A in The Netherlands twice and has won several SABRE-awards, an IPRA-award and nominations with his work for clients. He is involved in the development and roll out of talent development and training programs within Hill+Knowlton Strategies.


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Rick Versteegh

Board Member & Director Corporate Reputation and Change
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Rick feels completely at ease in complex corporate, corporate marketing and change management processes where the emphasis is on improving people, companies, services or products. With his expertise, he is a strong project manager for both national and international communication challenges. Some examples are projects at KPN, McDonald’s, Huawei, Shell and Brocacef. Rick frequently gives media training sessions, leads messaging sessions, facilitates strategy sessions and moreover he is a certified DISC trainer. He belongs to the Hill + Knowlton faculty for training courses such as Octave and First Chair. He has a strong network within Hill + Knowlton Europe and beyond.

Rick is a member of the management board of Hill + Knowlton Nederland and is responsible for the Corporate and Brand Reputation practice. He is also responsible for the training and education of his Hill + Knowlton colleagues.

Rick returned to Hill + Knowlton Strategies on 1 August 2012 after having worked at our firm for a few years before. He was the Young Professional Manager for four years before joining the board.

In between the periods at Hill + Knowlton Strategies, Rick has traveled, lived and worked abroad for a long period and has held various management and marketing positions within the tourism safari sector in Africa, in particular in Zambia.

Rick started his communication career at the International Flower Bulb Center, where he was responsible as area manager for the promotion policy of the Dutch flower bulb sector in Europe. After that he worked as a senior consultant at Weber Shandwick International for several years and was responsible for clients such as Siemens Mobile Phones, Interbrew, TPG, Nissan, Talkline and Goretex.

Rick studied marketing and communication. He has completed several world trips and has a wealth of cultural knowledge and experience.


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Wilgert Hart

Chief Financial Officer Netherlands & Controller Continental Europe
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Wilgert is responsible for all aspects of the Finance function of Hill+Knowlton Netherlands. As a Board Member he is strategically and commercially involved in the direction of the company. Wilgert is also Controller and member the Regional Leadership Team of Continental Europe.

Before his current position Wilgert has had several regional and global positions within H+K; he was based in London, UK from 2003 until 2010.

Wilgert started his career as finance professional in the music industry where he had the pleasure to meet many great artists.

Wilgert holds and Msc. Economics from the VU University Amsterdam.


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Jack De Vries

Strategy Director
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Jack de Vries knows how to quickly analyze complex problems and to provide adequate advice. Both the world of public affairs and the media have no secrets for him. Jack helps companies survive in the media crisis. This can be a current reputation problem or the desire to influence decision-making. His core competence is stakeholder management.

This concerns the media, decision makers and potential support channels within the industry.
As a former spokesperson, strategic adviser to the Prime Minister and State Secretary, he has been able to gain experience in many policy areas. With that experience, he has been contributing to the success of Hill+Knowlton strategies in the Netherlands since 2011.

Within the management of Hill+Knowlton, Jack began to build up the the public affairs practice. The core of effective lobbying is recognizing trends, coming up with alternatives, building coalitions and convincing relevant stakeholders. This not only focuses on national politics, but also on provincial and municipal governments. The field of public health, energy and – of course – security and defense are Jack’s specialties. Since two years Jack is responsible for the total Dutch operations, both in Amsterdam and The Hague.

Before joining Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Jack had his own consultancy firm Jack de Vries Communications Advice, which he founded in June 2010. From December 2007 to May 2010, he was Secretary of State for Defense in the 4th Balkenende cabinet, responsible for staff, equipment, real estate and IT. Before that, he worked as an associate partner at Boer and Croon Corporate Communications. From 1997 onwards he was successively Head of Information of the CDA Group in Dutch Parliament, political advisor to the Prime Minister and campaign leader for the elections in 2002, 2003 and 2006 elections.

Jack studied political science at the VU University Amsterdam and after his studies became an information officer / journalist at the Royal Netherlands Army. He is still active as a reserve officer with the 1 CMI command. He regularly acts as a commentator on politics and communication in the Dutch media.


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Anthony Hellegers

Strategy Director and Head of the Public Affairs Practice
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Anthony combines a sharp legal mind with a strategic approach and targeted actions. He advises businesses in regulated and transforming industries. These include telecoms, healthcare, energy and the financial sector. He covers a broad area of expertise, including public affairs, strategy development, M&A, restructuring, litigation support and multi-stakeholder management. Recent transactions he was involved in include the settlement of a criminal inquiry for a financial services provider, the defence and split up of AkzoNobel, the restructuring of the M&D activities of Astellas Pharma and the legal aid activities of SRK.

Before joining H+K Strategies Anthony was responsible for public policy with Vodafone. For six years he was a member of the general management team of Vodafone in the Netherlands with combined responsibility for strategy, public policy, legal and wholesale. In April 2012 Anthony took up responsibility for Vodafone Group’s lobby in Brussels on next generation fixed broadband networks.

Anthony studied Law at Leiden University. After starting his career as an attorney with SG Archibald in Paris and with Houthoff in Amsterdam, he worked for ten years as an international corporate lawyer with listed companies such as KLM, KPNQwest and Libertel on various M&A and other transformational transactions.


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Ariën Stuijt

Strategy Director
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Ariën Stuijt develops corporate stories and media strategies, is active in mergers and acquisitions and works as a consultant for various companies and private equity parties. In 2017, he advised Mediahuis and VP Exploitatie on the public offer for TMG and the American company Bunge on the acquisition of IOI Loders Croklaan. Ariën works as Communications Director at Hill + Knowlton Strategies. He also advises companies on (financial) issues that affect the reputation of companies and their directors

Ariën also provides media training to companies and municipalities, ranging from preparing for an important announcement or presentation to periodically sharpening the skills in dealing with journalists. In the past year Ariën was involved in training courses for Shell, the municipality of Deurne, Bosal, Triodos, Samsung, Flow Traders and the Ronald McDonald Children’s Fund.

Before joining Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Ariën worked as a senior reporter at the financial press agency Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. There he wrote for years about the Dutch economy and companies such as Royal Oil, ABN Amro, ING, AkzoNobel, DSM and Stork. Before that he worked as a freelance sports journalist for, among others, Rotterdams Dagblad, Algemeen Dagblad and Voetbal International.

Ariën studied business administration at the Erasmus University Rotterdam.


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Charlotte de Voogd

Director Communications & Sustainability
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Reputation and positioning of companies and brands is what Charlotte is passionate about. Companies and brands have an important role to play in society and the choices they make in that respect largely define their success and business results in the long run. Charlotte helps companies find that sweet spot and helps them build a credible story and strategy to create positive impact.

Charlotte has over 15 years’ experience in advising companies on reputation, strategic communications and sustainability strategies and works for/has worked for companies such as McDonald’s, Nespresso, LG Mobile, Arcadis, Stork, Bugaboo International, Crocs Europe and Johnny Loco.

Through her position as president of the board of the Laluz Foundation Charlotte also gained broad experience in NGO environments.

Charlotte worked with Hill+Knowlton Amsterdam between 2005 and 2011. Before rejoining Hill+Knowlton in April 2017, Charlotte lived and worked in London for 6 years, where she founded allmygoodness.com, a platform focused on sustainable lifestyle, consisting of an online magazine and consultancy for (sustainable) brands. She advised companies such as LEON Restaurants, TAIKKA, Carmin Luxury Bags, Art of Life (orchid growers) and Suave Soles. As an independent consultant, Charlotte advised McDonald’s UK on its sustainability strategy and activities, with a focus on community engagement, litter and stakeholder engagement. She also developed a Sustainability Update and an award-winning online sustainability training programme for all McDonald’s restaurant employees.

Charlotte studied law and is a founding participant of THNK, the international creative leadership programme with a mission to create a new generation of leaders that will have a significant societal impact. In her free time, Charlotte sits on the sustainability committee of Hockeyclub Bloemendaal and is part of the The Wave team, a collaboration with WWF to tackle the plastic soup together with hockeyclubs and primary schools in The Netherlands.


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