Zanders appoints new partners in UK and the Netherlands

International treasury, risk and finance consulting firm Zanders has appointed two new partners in Europe.

The Netherlands-headquartered consultancy has admitted Laura Koekkoek and Mark van Ommen into its partnership, taking the total number of partners at the firm to nine. They lead a team of around 200 consultants across the Netherlands, the UK, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden, the US and Japan. 

Mark van Ommen is Head of the firm’s UK office, and has now seen his leadership role rewarded with promotion to partner. Under his direction, the team in London has grown to over 25 consultants, working for the finance and treasury departments of large corporates, as well as financial services institutions. 

The Dutchman joined Zanders in 2005 fresh from university, and has groomed himself into an expert in treasury strategy, organisation, treasury technology and cash management. Over the past few years, he led several treasury transformation projects in the UK and Europe.

Zanders first launched its London office in 2008. Van Ommen relocated to the UK three years later, together with two colleagues from South Africa (Greg Ellis and David Power) in a move that laid the fundament for the office’s further growth. 

Reflecting on his transfer nearly a decade ago, Van Ommen said, “It was a great opportunity to progress my career”, adding that he is delighted that Zanders in the underlying period has grown into “a household name” in the treasury consulting landscape. 

Meanwhile, in home base the Netherlands, Laura Koekkoek has also been promoted to partner. The 23-year veteran of the firm – she joined just three years after the company was founded – was a Principal since 2017. She specialises in treasury technology selection and implementation projects, supporting clients with the full cycle, from project preparation, blueprint, building and acceptance testing to roll-out preparations, go live and aftercare.

Koekkoek has successfully led large ERP (mostly SAP) treasury implementation projects at corporations including AkzoNobel, DSM, Heineken and Nuon, and at financial institutions including the likes of ING. More recently, Koekkoek has delivered treasury consulting services to clients in Japan – as one of the founding team members of the Zanders office in Tokyo which launched in the second half of last year.

According to Rob Naber, managing partner of the consultancy, the appointments of Koekkoek and Van Ommen signals the firm’s intent to grow its business. In a recent interview with Consultancy.nl, he outlined that firm’s ambition was to double in the “coming four to five years”, and added that “Laura and Mark will play an important role in realising this goal.”