Thomas Swaak

Thomas Swaak is a global Change & Transformation manager with a focus on business partnership, process improvement, complex change programs and outsourcing, as well as a project/program management. He has extensive experience in large-scale, complex transformation/reorganizations, ERP and Shared Service Center projects in both the public and the private sector and is familiar with Lean/Six Sigma methodology, PMI and Prince 2. Thomas Swaak is strong in achieving results, mobilizing various company levels, coaching, building alliances and developing business. He has worked in the Academic domain (University of Leiden & Maastricht, Fontys Universities), as an entrepreneur in a communications training company covering all communication skills in numerous languages, as a program manager for country wide improvements in the educational systems of Uzbekistan and Kirgizstan, as a Change Management/HR consultant/director for PriceWaterhouse Coopers Consulting and IBM, and as an HR/Change Management executive at NXP and Philips.  His current drive towards specialization is focused on strengthening virtual teams (e.g. through virtual learning), working in a virtual world and staying engaged in a virtual environment. He has developed 5 webcast modules which can be used by virtual teams anywhere in the world, focusing on team start ups, communication (communication platforms as well as behavior that is required to use them effectively), performance management, engagement and cultural diversity. Currently, within the scope of his work as Senior Director Change Management for the IT function in Philips, he continues to work with (post) graduate students on research into what makes a virtual team effective.