Effective 1 October, two new Executive Team members started working at Gom. Wendela van de Water is Director Business Control, and Björn Weertman assumes the role of Operational Director. The Gom Executive Team furthermore includes General Manager Olivier Laméris and HR Director Marjolein Reijs.
Wendela van de Water spent her prior career at DPG Media and McDonald. She will be responsible for managing the Business Control, Contract Management & Invoicing and Commercial Estimates department. At DPG Media, Van de Water was employed as Senior Business Controller for the online services branch, with well-known Internet platforms, such as Intermediair and Tweakers. “DPG Media is a very good company with well-known brands. At Gom I will have an opportunity to operate closer to the business than I did up until now. You have more contact with each other here. That’s what I like best: tackling things together with a team of people. You can help the business progress from that financial perspective.”
At Gom, she will be reunited with HR Director Marjolein Reijs, with whom she previously formed part of the executive board at McDonald. “Marjolein had already told me that working at Gom is very enjoyable. But the deciding factor is the phase Gom is currently going through: a traditional family business in a world that is rapidly changing. How do we get people to engage in this change? It is precisely in times and in a position like this that you can make a contribution to the company’s continuity.”
Internal change process
Björn Weertman is also leaving a well-known name behind: he was CFO/COO at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). A striking move, he admits. “But nevertheless there are a number of parallels. At the WWF a change process for the internal organisation was also underway: how do you leverage your processes and systems to respond to the changes currently taking place? The same issue is cropping up at Gom. I consider it my task to support the team to the best of my ability to stay relevant in terms of our clients’ needs and the demands of the outside world.”
As a new operational director, he is not unfamiliar with the services sector. “I completed my hotel management studies and therefore was certainly exposed to the services sector. And service is becoming increasingly more important. I believe I can make a contribution to this on the basis of my background.”
He starts at a time when cleaning is more topical than ever. “In these corona times you can clearly see how important hygiene really is. At the same time, cleaning is a sector with very small margins. I would very much like to make a contribution to help the sector as a whole better establish itself.”
Sector Specialism
Effective from the beginning of 2018, the Gom organisation was subdivided into independent business units, each of which covers its own sector : Offices, Education, Healthcare, Food & Industry, Hospitality and Specialised Cleaning.