Maarten van Neerven
Analytical by training. Intuitive by nature.
I studied finance at Erasmus University Rotterdam and spent 25 years in finance and general management, leading transformations at Philips, Bugaboo and CarNext. Along the way I learned that the numbers rarely decide whether change succeeds. People do — and the state they lead from.
Career
Where the experience comes from.
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Today
Board advisor and non-executive director
Advising boards, CEOs and CFOs of scale-ups, corporates and PE-backed companies in complex transitions.
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2019–2023
CFO, later also Managing Director — CarNext (LeasePlan)
Led the carve-out into a standalone pan-European business: 12 countries, €2.5 bn gross revenue, €500M+ raised. Took it online through the pandemic.
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2017–2019
CFO — Bugaboo
Joined amid founder disagreement, brought the founders back together and prepared the company for its 2018 sale to Bain Capital.
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2014–2017
Interim CFO — international companies
Prepared businesses for mergers and transitions; learned to run a company on transparent cash insight.
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2013–2014
Sabbatical
Time to step back — the start of integrating reflection and intuition into leadership.
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Philips
VP Finance, Global R&D · Finance Director, Scandinavia
Eight years in finance leadership, including the Scandinavian restructuring and CFO of Global R&D and Innovation.
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Earlier
PwC · FrieslandCampina
The analytical foundation in audit, control and corporate finance.
The turning point
I ran into a wall. It was the best thing that happened.
At 29, I was asked to restructure Philips in Scandinavia: grow 20%, reduce headcount by a third, merge two divisions. My plan was thorough. The organization didn't want it. Nobody objected openly; the questions simply never stopped.
Pushing harder would have broken something. So I set the plan aside, kept only the growth target, and asked the people what kind of organization that growth would require. Their plan was more ambitious than mine — 34% growth at substantially lower cost.
It taught me what every transformation since has confirmed: analysis tells you where to go. Connection decides whether you get there.
Transformation starts with stillness.
For years I looked for steadiness in results: the next deal, the next milestone. A sabbatical in 2013 changed the question. Peace isn't something you earn at the end of a project. It is already there, underneath the activity, waiting to be noticed.
Intuition tends to surface in the pause. Leaders who discover this stop leading from pressure. They still decide boldly — but from clarity instead of fear.
Education
MSc and post-master in Finance, Erasmus University Rotterdam
Accreditation
International Coach Federation (ICF)
Training
Transformational Presence for Leaders and Coaches
Expertise
Carve-outs, M&A, restructuring, funding, conflict resolution