
dr. Tony de Bree. Strategy, change, finance & compliance consultant, online entrepreneur, speaker, coach & author. He helps customers to survive Covid-19 by starting, growing & scaling online with ICT.
Tony de Bree EEP MBA left ABN Amro at the end of 2011 after 26 years and has since been a successful on-demand advisor, online entrepreneur, startup Dragon and guest lecturer. Tony regularly appears on radio and TV to share practical knowledge and experience around his 26 years in the global financial sector.
Tony is a frequent speaker on corporate strategies, digital transformation, change management, and implementing ICT for corporates to become Lean & Mean and for startups and scaleups to stay Lean & Mean using smart IT.
Since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022, Tony also shares his hands-on experiences in and around the 'De Zuidas' including his experiences after 9/11 in tax havens and global compliance and the rapid successful definition and implementation of sanctions legislation on organisational, national and international level with Russia as an example.
Tony graduated in 1983 as a historian and economist from the University of Leiden. In 1993 he obtained his European Executive MBA with the thesis 'Opportunities in Marketspace in 2005'. In 2001 he obtained his PhD in Business Administration and Knowledge Management at the University of Groningen with a dissertation 'Transformation of Financial Services Companies'.
In 2012, he successfully completed the training 'Customer Experience Management', followed by a diploma 'FinTech: Future Commerce' at MIT in the United States with a Cap Stone project in RegTech (KYC) with blockchain (2016) and a certificate ' ICT member of the Supervisory Boards' in 2017. Since then, he spends 2-3 hours a day learning new skills and knowledge 'just-in-time'. new skills.
Positioning: a no-nonsense speaker who shares hands-on experiences and knowledge on hot topics around the digital economy, and successful entrepreneurship, online growth and scaling & compliance since the start of the Corona crisis and the invasion of Ukraine.
Tony now has six books in Dutch to his name. In 2013, he wrote A Banker's Diary. Dinosaurier or crocodile followed in 2014: the future of managing, organising and collaborating. After that, 'the entrepreneurs trilogy' appeared. 'Making money with yourself' and the two bestsellers 'Can it fly? From idea to successful startup' in 2017 and 'The scale-up blueprint, this way you can grow and scale smartly' in 2018. Both books were on the Longlist of 'Management book of the year'.
At the start of the Corona crisis, the attention of corporates, startups & self-employed people shifted from 'growth' to 'survival'. Tony de Bree became THE expert in the 'corporate and startup survival strategy' niches with, among other things, 'the emergency package for startups' 'Survival strategy for startups. This is how you survive the crisis in five steps': a complete do-it-yourself package. And with 'Survival Strategies For Corporates. How to Survive Covid-19 In 5 Steps', his second on-demand eBook and survival kit for corporates after ‘Digital Strategy Mapping. Digital Leaders In The Online Platform Economy’
In 2020 his 'de growth' book 'Growth without growing. Successful entrepreneurship in the relevance economy ' was published. That book was also on the Longlist of 'Management book of the year'.
In addition, due to his 26 years of experience in the financial world and leaving the corporate world in 2011, he also has relevant hands-on experience with part-time online entrepreneurship, 'pivoting your life', 'resilience', 'finding your why' and 'living a purpose-driven life'.
Tony is a true 'no-nonsense speaker', ideally suited for high-energy hands-on sessions and webinars on current topics, problems and practical solutions.
“Adjiedj Bakas gave some very inspiring lectures and workshops for groups of Hungarian politicians. I loved his optimism and his visions for the future of eastern and western Europe are very inspiring. Warmly recommended.”
"It was a pleasure to work with Tony during our 'OpEx in Financial Services Conference' last week in Amsterdam. He moderated the workshop that he was in charge of with charm and wit plus made sure that both the speaker and the participants good good value out of the conversation. Well done Tony and thanks."
"Dr Tony de Bree has acted as a speaker for me on many occasions at events such as product launches, FS Industry Seminars and Customer Events. Tony is a very professional speaker whose wealth of knowledge and experience, coupled with is visionary insight, enables him to put together engaging presentations/speeches that address both the business and technical challenges being faced by the Financial Services Industry. Tony is extremely comfortable with, and can naturally engage with audiences at all levels including top level business and IT executives. As well as delivering very credible presentations Tony is able to combine the credibility with a wonderful humour. I have no hesitation in recommending Tony as speaker at any FS related event."
As event organizer it can be a risk to hand over the project to the chairman of your conference. With Tony as chairman you know it is in good hands. Punctual and flexible at the same time, good sense of the audience and able to recognise the people with the right questions. By doing so, he creates good interaction between the parties involved. Furthermore Tony is a pleasant guy to have at your event, always willing to chat with the delegates and sponsors.
"As Head of Production and Delegate Acquisition at Endeavour Events I have hired Tony a number of times to act as facilitator, moderator, chairman and speaker covering a wide range of different topics, often in a multi-cultural setting. He is highly energetic, professional, flexible, very customer-focused and always over-delivering. And on top of that, he is very pleasant to be around."