A NEW LINK - Key Persons
When the Chamber decides to increase its focus on business education and training, Anita is an excellent candidate. Her decisiveness and instinct for what is going on in the market - even before commercial companies have realized it - allow her to organize extremely successful meetings. Pretty soon, the participant numbers turnover of the Arnhem Chamber of Commerce are number one in the country. In addition, Anita sets up a number of very successful training courses that are later taken over by the business community.
Harold Gerritsen is an avid supporter of the LLL concept: Lifelong Learning, not only when it comes to his professional life, but also in terms of his personal development and social life. It is hardly surprising that all his career initiatives are in some way or other related to the acquisition and application of knowledge.
Gerritsen is born in 1966 in Dieren, The Netherlands, as the younger of two sons. As his education progresses, his main hobby is electronics: building electronic switches from 'Elektuur' magazine. In addition, he has a paper route that allows him to buy an expensive personal computer - in the early days of the PC era.
It was hardly a surprise when, in 1984, Gerritsen decided to study Computer Technology at the Institute of Technology and Health in Enschede. He has such an easy time of it that he has time to develop all kinds of applications for software houses. His graduation project is the development of a speech recognition module for PCs. He designs and builds the hardware and writes the speech analysis software that makes it possible to fully operate Personal Computers on the basis of speech, an application that is not yet commercially available in the late 90s.
After his technological studies, Gerritsen decides to further develop his business and commercial talents. Because he is thinking about setting up his own business, he applies for a place an the Dutch Business School with the best reputation in that area: Nijenrode University for Management. He is successful. From a group of almost 500 taking the entrance exam, 36 are selected to study Commercial Technology, and Gerritsen is one of them. During his studies, Gerritsen occupies various management positions, including chairman of the acquisition committee, which gives him experience that will stand him in good stead throughout his career.
After completing Nijenrode, Oracle awaits the recent graduates with open arms. With the ambition of setting up his own company at a later date, Gerritsen decides to start by acquiring the necessary practical skills. He is the 26th employee to be hired by Oracle Netherlands. He quickly develops into a highly intelligent employee who is not only inquisitive, but who also is able to apply the things he has learned to improve things. In addition, his ability to think outside the box often results in entirely new ways to solve problems even more effectively and efficiently.
In his third year at Oracle - by which time Oracle has a staff of about 300 - he joins the Advanced Development unit, where he is involved in developing Consulting products like Headstart for Designer and writing parts of the Oracle Quality Management System (QMS), which is later rechristened the Custom Development Method (CDM). To keep his work at Oracle challenging, he carries out consulting assignments, works as a teacher at in-company training courses at customers and serves as a senior principal consultant in important Oracle projects. As the jewel in the crown of his work, he also co-develops an extensive application for the execution of the primary process of insurance companies. Nowadays, this application - known as Open Care and Oracle Health Insurance - is part of Oracle's Applications Portfolio that is used by various insurance companies around the world.
In 1995 Gerritsen decides to start his own company focusing on the area where Business and IT come together and specializing in Oracle technology. The major Oracle service providers in the Netherlands soon experience the benefits of the services that A New Link has to offer. In addition to his managerial activities, Gerritsen is continuously active in the field. He is keeping in touch with the latest developments and trends and often acts in the role of Enterprise Architect.
Nowadays Gerritsen mainly helps boards of directors, managers, program and project managers of companies that have the ambition to be game changer in their industry. Gerritsen presents and facilitates inspiring sessions, helps redefine business and ICT strategy, the development of distinctive (disruptive) business models and drafting the Enterprise Architecture as blueprint for the desired business transformation.
Gerritsen is an authority in his field: he has dozens of publications in professional journals to his name and is an inspiring and frequent speaker at international seminars.