Gerrit Schipper (66) on Advisory Board Anderson MacGyver

From May 1^st, Gerrit Schipper (66) joined Anderson MacGyver’s Advisory Board. With the establishment of the Advisory Board, the consultancy firm aims to strengthen the outside-in perspective to continue operating in line with the spirit of times and client’s needs. “Moreover, the advisory board helps reflect on its own leadership and the organisation as a whole,” said Benelux managing director David Jongste.

As an executive and entrepreneur, Gerrit Schipper has gained treasures of experience in the international technology domain. His career started at Philips in 1981 and included top positions at ABZ, ADP, RDC and Geodan NEXT International, among others, until 2017. “At 60, I thought it was time for a new phase of life. From learn and earn to return. I wanted to give something back to the profession and society with my knowledge and experience.”

Pragmatic approach

Until this year, Gerrit Schipper was Executive Director of the Erasmus Centre for Data Analytics (ECDA) before moving to the Advisory Board. Since 2020, he has also been involved on behalf of Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) as part-time programme director in the Data, AI & Digitalization Convergence Alliance, in which EUR collaborates with ErasmusMC and TU Delft. Since 2017, Schipper has been a supervisor at NEMO Science Museum, among others, an advisor to Recharge Earth and chairman of the BDR Project Foundation, which works to educate especially girls and women in technical professions.

“In my new roles, there is a strong focus on the public and civil society domain,” says the experienced former executive. “Anderson MacGyver is an interesting exception in several areas. The firm combines a strongly personal, substantive and pragmatic approach in consultancy projects. Just like the television hero MacGyver, who had an intelligent solution for everything.”

His added value is in the area of governance and business. “I still have a large network and know that there is a growing need for hands-on support and more learning than lecturing consultancy – also abroad. From the Advisory Board, I am mainly focused on the direction and development in the Benelux organisation, but I like to help translate that to the other regions.”

International experience

“We are very impressed by Gerrit Schipper’s international experience and perspective,” says Benelux managing director David Jongste of Anderson MacGyver. “He knows how to set up and develop an organisation in a global context. That fits well with our current position of international scale-up. Gerrit also has great substantive knowledge of data, artificial intelligence and digitalisation. He can also provide input and feedback from those competences and experience.”

The latter the Advisory Board member prefers to do by asking questions. To then let the other person make the right decisions themselves. “The advantage is that I also learn something from this myself, because I am still very eager to learn. Humour, fun and putting things into perspective are also very important to me.”

As advisor and ambassador, Gerrit Schipper, like Mario der Weduwen, who also joined the Advisory Board, will help think about the productisation of the range of services, which will include a standardised online consultancy process in addition to tailor-made advice. Jongste: “That, in combination with Generative AI, will become an increasingly important part of the strategy.”

Get to know our other Advisory Board member, Mario der Weduwen! Read it here.