Primed for a career in marine biology, Kristel ended up choosing IT instead, a domain where she was able to ‘dive’ into her other passion: Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
A self-made woman and mother of three, Kristel has created her own career path, taking on a wide variety of ICT roles in quick succession, mainly at Avanade (2003 til 2016), then at Cegeka (2016 up until today).
She knows what it means to be a developer, consultant, project manager, service delivery manager, presales and sales, unit manager, unit director and finally: Global VP.
Kristel combines the best of many worlds: she knows her tech, has a hands-on pragmatic approach and primes herself on a true servant leadership management style: people always come first.
“Be and live your true authentic self” is one of her key principles, and in this she leads by example, exhibiting an energetic passion for data that is inspiring and infectious, not just within her unit, but across the entire organization.
Kristel has always been firmly committed to changing the gender imbalance in STEM fields and jobs. This amazing award will help her do so in a whole number of new ways that raise awareness and create impact.