David de Graaf leads Royal HaskoningDHV’s digital division

Royal HaskoningDHV has appointed the Dutchman David de Graaf as the new Global Director of its Digital division.

In his new role, De Graaf leads the digital consultancy and software solutions business of the global engineering firm. He leads a team of around 300 colleagues, the majority of which are based in the company’s home market of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

De Graaf takes over the role from Niels Schallenberg, who combined the position with his role of Global Director of the Water & Maritime division.

“Over recent years we have already seen robust growth in digital consultancy and software solutions, organically and through acquisitions. To realise our strategic growth ambitions for the coming years, increased management dedication and focus is required. Therefore, I am very pleased to announce that Niels will handover to David,” said Erik Oostwegel, the CEO of Royal HaskoningDHV.

De Graaf joined Royal HaskoningDHV at the end of 2020 as part of the firm’s acquisition of business transformation consultancy Novius, where he was a partner. Since the integration, he has been responsible for the unit Digital Consultancy & Data Solutions within the business line Digital.

Further reading: David de Graaf: How Novius will benefit from joining Royal HaskoningDHV Digital.

“Enhancing society together by using the great potential of digital technology, that is my passion and challenge,” said De Graaf. “At Royal HaskoningDHV, we can combine 140 years of domain knowledge with the potential of digital, software and data to make a significant contribution to this world and our clients.”

Schallenberg said, “I am very proud of the strong growth of our Digital division over the past years. We have a strong foundation to further accelerate our growth providing a seamless offering of software, technology, consultancy, design and engineering. I am pleased to handover to David to continue our exciting journey.”

Globally, Royal HaskoningDHV has around 6,000 professionals in more than 25 countries.