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Unpredictable , world-changing events have had a huge impact on countries , economies and companies . Risk – including cyber , ESG and third-party risk – now comes from many angles . Because of that complexity , technologies that support risk management are of great importance .
How do you deal with stress and unwind outside the office ?
What are the region-specific challenges when implementing new technologies in APAC ?
Because APAC is a broad region , technological maturity levels vary greatly from place to place . In the GRC space , for example , Australia leads the way , but Singapore , Hong Kong and Malaysia have their own unique approaches to GRC .
I ’ m a firm believer in the old Latin phrase mens sana in corpore sano : healthy mind , healthy body . Physical fitness enables you to deal with workload and stress , especially as you age .
Being Dutch , it ’ s probably not surprising that I like to cycle . On weekdays , I wake up at 6am and spend two hours on the racing bike – sometimes riding solo and sometimes in a small group . On weekends , the routine is similar , but the Peloton rides tend to be more of a social event . But I make it a point to indulge in physical activities almost every day .
Those differences make it nearly impossible to roll out packaged solutions on a general level ; everything needs to be customized and tailored for the specific country . The good news is we offer a GRC solution that entails a robust platform with a federated data model . This allows flexibility across the enterprise and access to third-party intelligence .
What changes to your job role have you seen in the last year and how do you see these developing in the next 12 months ?
If you could go back and change one career decision , what would it be ?
While I was at my first job following national service , my role suddenly ended , and I was called back to the company headquarters . Because there were not many open positions in Australia at the time I was there , I decided to take a sales director position in Asia .
Moving to a new environment was already challenging , and on top of that my feel for the company wasn ’ t strong . After six months , I felt it was in my best interest to look for other opportunities within the company .
While it wasn ’ t the best six months , the experience taught me a valuable lesson : if something doesn ’ t seem right , it ’ s better to be proactive and seek change rather than just waiting , hoping for things to get better naturally .
What do you currently identify as the major areas of investment in your industry ?
Historically , GRC has been a very manual discipline . However , automation technology is now on the rise , and as the name implies , it leads to automatic completion of processes that once took a much longer time .
Integrated Risk Management and a single view of risks across the enterprise are the priorities for risk professionals today . Risk quantification , continuous control monitoring , powered by AI is leading the innovation in today ’ s GRC space .
When I started looking after MetricStream ’ s Southeast Asia division in April 2021 , it was in its early stages . The company was already well known in Europe and the US , but in this part of the world , the MetricStream brand was new . Us being a new entrant , we had only a few local customers , so the first few months were all about getting new customers on board .
We soon got some big names added to our customer list that established brand credibility in the region . In February 2022 , I took over the role as Managing Director of the APAC region .
Thanks to all the customer wins and support , we are now rapidly expanding our footprints and accelerating our growth in the region . This is what is going to keep me and my team busy over the next 12 months .
What advice would you offer to someone aspiring to obtain a C – level position in your industry ?
GRC executives need to acquire business risk experiences from various parts of the company , especially in current times where risk is increasing in velocity and complexity , and even beyond the boundaries of the company .
Therefore , attaining diverse experiences across roles , departments and even industries play an instrumental role in acquiring the GRC leadership skills . Additionally , the experience one gains by driving risk-based decision making at the executive level is a crucial learning curve in one ’ s career . p
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