BrazilEden McCallum promotes three consultants in Amsterdam
Eden McCallum has promoted three of its professionals in its Amsterdam office to the next level. Bas Gerdsen and Max Verbogt have been promoted to Analyst to Associate Consultant, while Micha van Veldhuizen has grown the ranks to Consultant.
Founded in 2000, the consulting partnership of Eden McCallum is complemented by a network of more than 1,500 independent consultants. The network runs an Analyst programme for entry-level recruits, which aims to equip new staff with the tools and skills required to be a successful strategy consultant, or to enhance the career prospects of whatever career path they are aiming for in the long-term.
The programme includes building problem definition and problem solving approaches; qualitative and quantitative research techniques; analysis and business modelling skills; communication and presentation skills; and managing client and stakeholder relationships. Following two years as an Analyst, strong performers are promoted to Associate Consultant.
Bas Gerdsen holds a Masters in Finance and Investments from the Rotterdam School of Management, but before joining Eden McCallum he has mainly worked on compliance focused, process driven projects. A desire to explore business issues more extensively and progress into the problem-solving stage drew him to the firm’s Analyst programme.
While Gerdsen ultimately hopes to move beyond consulting to launch his own company, the diverse set of clients with Eden McCallum has allowed him to become an “all-rounder” alongside the firm’s other Analysts. By working on different types of projects in varying industries, he is convinced Eden McCallum will provide him with the right tools, skills and culture to be able to pursue his future dream of starting his own company.
Gerdsen commented, “The past few months have illustrated why Eden McCallum is the ideal place for me, for three reasons: Eden McCallum has a diverse set of clients and allows their analysts to be all-rounders; the productive collaboration with the independent consultants helps you to grasp certain topics and gain certain skills more easily; and as an Analyst at Eden McCallum you are given responsibility from day one and your input is always considered and appreciated.”
Max Verbogt similarly joined Eden McCallum in 2018, hoping for an environment which could help him learn a lot quickly. Arriving as a Masters graduate, having studied International Management at the Vienna University of Economics & Business, he was looking for a role to set him up for success and provide a solid foundation for the rest of his professional career, whatever steps he would take next.
“Coming out of university, it’s not easy to find the right place to start your career, especially given the ocean of opportunities that is out there for recent graduates nowadays,” Verbogt explained. “Having been with Eden McCallum for some time now, I can safely say that the programme doesn’t disappoint in terms of learning and development. Through a combination of extensive training and on-the-job learning in project teams, I’m developing a toolkit that is useful for any career.”
Verbogt added that Eden McCallum’s regular training sessions had been instrumental in building up relevant skills, such as modelling and developing frameworks and hypotheses, while the diverse project work of the network had helped teach him about communication and presenting analysis and synthesis, whether verbally or on slides. Ranging from growth strategies in industrials and electric vehicle charging, to due diligence in telecom and technology, the experience he has gained means he is “confident that I’m building exactly the sort of foundation I was looking for.”
Micha van Veldhuizen was an Engineering and Policy Analysis graduate from the Delft University of Technology when he joined Eden McCallum over three years ago. Unlike Verbogt and Gerdsen, he started with a firmer idea of what he wanted to do – following his studies with a string of modelling projects, helping him to strengthen his quantitative analysis skills. At the same time, the work also helped him build skills for leading on an interpersonal level, with or without analysis to fall back on, and to trust himself to play a leading role in shaping a project from day one.
What particularly helped Van Veldhuizen to make progress on such issues was the close personal coaching Eden McCallum made available in his third and fourth year. He noted that support from his mentor and the one-to-one coaching sessions from the professional coach the Analyst programmes works with in Amsterdam in particular had been of great help.
Van Veldhuizen said, “Having been involved in my development since my first year, my mentor often made time for advice or just as a sounding board on challenging projects, even at inconvenient times if needed. From the professional coaching sessions, I have come away with insights that would have taken me years to get to by myself… I really appreciate the investment Eden McCallum made in providing me with this type of support at such an early stage in my career and believe that with what I’ve learnt, I am in a really good position moving forward to take on whatever challenge comes next.”
