Kef van Helbergen

Kef van Helbergen 
 

is an interim CEO with hands-on mentality and international experience in Food and Retail. After learning the tricks of the retail trade for SHV in Belgium, he was sent to Indonesia to build a store in Bandung. After two years he got his own store in Jakarta. After this, he was allowed to spend five years pioneering in China.

In Poland, he tackled hypermarkets and supermarkets for Ahold. He transferred to Metro to integrate the just-acquired Géant-Casino in that country. Later he became responsible for the development, succession planning and transformation of the management teams at Metro, Kaufhof and Media Markt.

He was then allowed to run Metro in seven countries in Eastern Europe. At CarNext, Kef built a digital platform and sales force in 23 countries. Here he gained extensive knowledge in digitalization and customer journeys. After this, he was Managing Director at Compass Group Benelux, a large corporate catering and soft services organization.

'The times when I get the most satisfaction from my work is when the pressure is very high and transformation is needed. Success starts with good relationships and therefore trust. When people want to start helping you, then things start moving. At some point you get a good rapport: how do we make each other a little better?' 

After work hours, Kef enjoys cooking for friends and family and traveling and exercising a lot.

Education: Dutch Law (UvA)