Michel van de Coevering joins Schuberg Philis as CFO

Former McKinsey & Company consultant Michel van de Coevering has been appointed as Chief Financial Officer of Schuberg Philis, a Netherlands-based outsourcing service provider.

Michel van de Coevering (47) started his career in 1994 at McKinsey & Company as a management consultant in strategy and organisation, for a large part in financial services and logistics. After four years with the consulting firm, Van de Coevering moved to the banking industry, and joined Kempen & Co, a Dutch merchant bank with a focus on asset management, securities brokering, and corporate finance. At Kempen & Co, he worked at as a corporate finance advisor, among others in the ICT and Business Services sectors.

Over the past sixteen years van de Coevering fulfilled a large number of management roles at Kempen & Co, including Director of Corporate Finance and most recently he served as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the bank. In February this year he left the bank, together with CEO John Hak, following a dispute with the leadership of Van Lanschot, the parent company of Kempen & Co. The parent bank, which acquired Kempen & Co in 2006 for a reported €300 million, wanted to fully integrate the bank into its operations. Hak and Van de Coevering did not agree with the plans, building their view on the large degree of autonomy the bank has always had and the differentiated approach required to execute its own strategy and positioning.

Per the 1st of January 2016 Van de Coevering will embark on a new adventure, when he joins Schuberg Philis as CFO. The new CFO is a familiar face for the outsourcing firm – Van de Coevering knows Schuberg Philis since the start of the company in 2002, when he was involved as a sounding board for the three founders. He has since kept track of the company’s fast growth – Schuberg Philis now employs 180+ staff, based in an office at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, generating a turnover of €51 million.

Commenting on his move, Van de Coevering says “I am particularly impressed with the DNA of Schuberg Philis, which brings out the best in the talented people that are working here. The culture is characterised by empowerment, trust, collaboration, innovation and learning. From the beginning, this has led to long-term highly satisfied customers. And it will also be the basis for the future development of Schuberg Philis. I am very much looking forward to be part of that complex, innovative, disruptive future.”

Philip Dries, Managing Director at Schuberg Philis, adds: “Michel brings with him a wealth of experience in business strategy and finance. We consider him to be a strong strategist and a source of inspiration for professional service firms like us that seek the next level. He has the ability to help teams to make critical decisions, based on context, facts and intuition. With Michel on board of our team, we are taking a big step to grow our position as a leading independent and innovative business technology company.”