This month’s Member Spotlight

Mick Broekhof

February 2016

Tell us a bit about yourself and what you like to do in your spare time?
I am Mick Broekhof, Dutch, 66 years old, happily married, have two adult sons (no daughters), live on a canal in the beautiful center of Amsterdam, and my hobbies are horseback riding, reading, wine making and tasting, cooking & eating.

What kind of job do you have?
In my professional life I am the Managing Partner of Kalypso Europe, part of a global firm of 250 associates who all focus on innovation. Most of my clients are in the CPG and Lifesciences industries.

How did you get involved in LEAD?
My inspiration for LEAD Network came from Helayne Angelus (my colleague and Chair of the LEAD Advisory Board) who told me about the Network of Executive Women (NEW) in the US. It was May 2011.
I counted the number of executive women I had in my network and came to 13. I contacted them and sent a book I recommend to everyone, THE NEW WOMAN RULES, which I asked them to read over the Summer.
Some of those first women are still very active in LEAD: Marja Dracmanis and Sandra van den Berg from Mars, Camille Greene from Campofrio, Inge Terpstra formerly from Unilever, and Itziar Albisu formerly from Heinz.
After the Summer we had a conference call and decided to start something like NEW in Europe. Our first meeting was at Unilever, followed by a charter meeting at Coca-Cola. Our first networking event was in London (40 attendees), then Amsterdam, Brussels, and now we are planning for Dűsseldorf.

Tell us what motivates you about LEAD?
Diversity delivers the best results – and the studies are proving it. What LEAD delivers to its members is foremost a network of likeminded women and men in the CPG industry. That CPG focus is important because we have the same issues and speak the same business language. There is instant recognition and familiarity. We are working on a large number of “products we can put in our window” and to provide more benefits for our members.

I would like to express my thanks to all the members who help make LEAD grow, the chairs of the Committees and their members, the members on the Steering Committee and the Advisory Board, and a special thanks to Sharon Jeske, our Executive Director, who is working 7 days a week to develop LEAD into a world-class organization.