Valcon welcomes former minister Raymond Knops as partner

Former Dutch cabinet minister Raymond Knops has joined Valcon as a partner. Knops, who will also work as a strategic advisor to the data and technology consultancy, joins in its Utrecht office.

Knops commented, “After a 30-year career in executive positions in politics and the military, consulting is a new direction for me. I thrive on learning new concepts and skills and this position at Valcon fits the bill. Valcon has a fantastic ethos and culture as well as values that I personally strongly adhere and is led by a superb team. I can’t wait to start working with people across the business on exciting client projects, training and development for colleagues and providing advice and guidance for different teams.”

Since Knops had served as a member of parliament in the Netherlands, representing the Christian Democratic Appeal party. In 2017, he was selected to fulfil the role of State Secretary for the Interior and Kingdom Relations under the third cabinet of outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte – holding the position until 2022. Prior to his career in politics, Knops was also an officer in the Dutch air force.

As a partner with Valcon, Knops will put this expertise to use by acting as strategic adviser to the consultancy’s government team focusing on the further development of the government business. In addition he will provide counsel and insight to other teams across the Valcon organisation. Alongside this new role with Valcon, he will also continue in his position as chair of military organisation The Netherlands Industries for Defence & Security.

Valcon is a European consultancy that works to enable sustainable change through combining technology, data and consulting. Its 1,750 professionals have expertise in connecting the critical links between strategy and operations with innovative technologies and data. The consultancy has enjoyed significant growth over the last five years, and has offices that span the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, the UK, Serbia and Croatia. Looking ahead, Valcon hopes Knops will bring a fresh perspective to help continue this growth.

Geert van den Goor, the group CEO of Valcon, added, “We are delighted that Raymond will be joining us as a Partner, in a strategic advisory capacity. He has a wealth of knowledge and industry experience garnered from his stellar career in politics and we think he will provide us with the insight we need to view our government business through a different lens. We always aspire to attract people of the best calibre to Valcon and Raymond’s appointment is testament to this approach. We are looking forward to working with him.”