Willem Hoekstra

Willem A. Hoekstra MBA MBCI BCCS started his career with ABN AMRO bank in 1998 where he was responsible for several smaller and larger Management Accounting projects, before moving on into a COO role. In that second period, starting 2001, he was given responsibility of Business Continuity management for the first time. The scope was the Wholesale banking activities of the bank in the Netherlands, an operation with around 3500 staff. He managed to shift the BCM attitude from what was primarily an IT concern, into a holistic program involving everyone in the organisation. Numerous presentations to staff and management, crisis management trainings, plan reviews, awareness campaigns and large-scale business integration tests were all part of the deliverables.

Recognising his success, he was then asked to manage the global BCM team, looking after BCM for the entire group. His personal involvement evolved around awareness creation, managing board level crisis management training, and the structuring of the BCM organisation itself, which had grown to over 100 staff worldwide.

In 2007 Willem chose for a change-of-scene by leaving the 'ivory tower' of the head office environment, moving to Singapore as Chief Continuity Officer for Asia. Looking after 16 countries and working with 24 staff he once again could focus on his passion: building a pragmatic business continuity capability which was understood and supported by the organisation's management.

At the start of 2010, he joined Societe Generale in Hong Kong, where he was heading Asia BCM. Inspired by the sad experience of substantial operational losses in January 2008, the SG organisation is very aware of the risks involved, and recognises the need for investment in its ORM and BCM capabilities.

Two and a half years later he moved on to Nomura Asia Ex japan. There is assumed responsibility for BCM as well as Corporate Security.

Willem holds an MBA, a Dutch degree of Doctorandus in Communication Science, and a Propeadeuse degree in Economics, and in his limited spare time he is working on his PhD thesis with the Nyenrode Business University in the Netherlands, on the subject of organisational culture.

He has presented and/or participated at numerous conferences and seminars on BCM around the globe.

Past Employment

• Societe Generale - Head of BCM Asia
• RBS Royal Bank of Scotland - Head of BCM Asia
• ABN AMRO Bank - Finance, COO, Global BCM Manager

Qualification

• PhD, Nyenrode Business University (In progress)
• Master of Business Administration (MBA)
• Doctorandus in Communication Science (Drs)
• Propeadeuse degree in Economics

Professional Certification and Achievement

• 2011 Awarded Business Continuity Certified Expert (BCCE), BCM Institute, Singapore
• Member, BCI