Heleen Crielaard

About Heleen Crielaard

Top Sports as a Marketing Tool

While studying psychology at the University of Amsterdam, she also trained daily as a top athlete with the Dutch women’s volleyball team. She studied an additional year in economics, specializing in marketing. She played in the Dutch women’s volleyball team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, where her team finished sixth.

After these games, she began building her second career. She started in various communication roles and founded her own communication consultancy in 1995. Over 11 years, Heleen advised several large companies such as Randstad, Zilveren Kruis, Eneco, and Rabobank. She operated at the intersection of marketing, communication, and sponsorship.

Since March 1, 2006, Heleen worked at Rabobank Nederland, initially as head of sponsorship, responsible for all sponsorship activities within Rabobank Nederland. From 2009 to 2016, she was a member of the management team of the communication & corporate affairs department, responsible for all external communication, such as sponsorship, brand & market communication, social media, Rabobank.com, marketing, PR, and content strategy. A notable project she was responsible for during this period was the Rabo cycling team and all associated activities, from magnificent hospitality events to the crisis surrounding Rasmussen and the termination of the sponsorship.

In 2016, Heleen established an entirely new marketing department within Rabobank Nederland. The marketing function was previously fragmented across multiple departments. The new marketing department works with cross-functional, agile teams, organized around target audiences. Online marketing was the starting point, supplemented with mass media communication if necessary.

Part of this change process was setting up an extensive Agile training program and the marketing academy. This new department started on October 1, 2016. Heleen led all marketing teams for the retail department until November 2019.

Additionally, Heleen has always held numerous board positions, including the main board of the Dutch Volleyball Association (2001-2006), board member of the sponsorship awards (2009-2014), and treasurer of the BVA (Association of Advertisers) (2014-present) and the CTO Metropole (2017-present).

She is a highly skilled moderator/discussion leader and enjoys speaking on topics such as marketing, communication, sponsorship, and brand building.