Carlijn Röell

Strategy consultant for companies, organizations and consortia

Accelerator of a circular economy

Purpose driven, system thinker, action-oriented, no-nonsense

About me

Today’s world and the challenges we face requires companies and organizations to reinvent themselves. Traditional company boundaries fade and many start to realize they are part of a bigger system. I love working for companies, organizations or entire systems that are ready to prepare themselves for this new future. I thrive in situations where I am allowed to fundamentally challenge the status quo and where there are many moving parts to oversee and to connect.

I firmly believe that strategy should start with a common purpose, something that people want to come into action for. Next, people need to understand why to come in action. In my experience it is worthwhile to spend some time to question and truly understand the starting point. Sometimes this takes a few deep dives to develop the right insights that get things moving. As a content driven person I love to develop such insights. Finally, people need to understand how to come into action. In my view this requires a systematic approach and close collaboration with the people responsible for implementation. Before I finalize a client engagement, I put effort in making sure I leave solid fundamentals that my clients can continue to build upon.

The people I have worked with see me as a curious, open-minded person that follows her intuition. They recognize me as a person that doesn’t hesitate to be honest whilst at the same time is easy to work with: what you see is what you get.

My experience

9 years strategy consultant at Kearney
1 year externship Unilever (plastic packaging strategy)
2 years as independent strategy consultant

I graduated in Technology Management at the State University of Groningen (2003 – 2009). I started my career with a year as researcher for the State University of Groningen (2010 -2011). During this year I worked on a circular economy for agricultural nutrients. I had the opportunity to build the case for change and to support the initiation of a consortium that now operates on a European basis (European Sustainable Phosphorus Platform).

After the consortium was launched I started my career as a strategy consultant with Kearney (2011-2020). Initially as an all-round strategy consultant working across industries, but after two years I have started to specialize in Consumer Industries and Retail. During these years, I have worked with many large and/or multinational companies along the food value chain, from agriculture to retail. I have mainly focused on strategy, topline improvement and organizational development.

In 2019 I have spent one year at Unilever on their plastic packaging strategy, during which I promoted a more brand driven approach internally and helped build the required consortium of system partners externally. This has resulted in the Fieldlab Circular Packaging, established in 2021 as a foundation to help companies transition to circular packaging. After that year I decided to continue as an independent consultant. Since I am an independent consultant, I continued to work on a circular economy. This work included building circular consortia and developing circular strategies. Besides Packaging, I have experience in Textiles and Building & Construction.

Projects & References

Het Schone Noorden
(2020-2021)

Set up the European ecosystem for circular plastics in the North of the Netherlands. This involved working with many frontrunning companies, knowledge institutions and governments to set joint ambitions, define the strategy and bringing the strategy into action.

Externship Unilever
(2019)

Worked on the plastic packaging strategy of Unilever. This involved promoting a more brand driven approach internally and helping to build the required consortium of system partners externally.

Strategy Consultant Kearney
(2011 – 2020)

Worked on 25+ strategy consulting projects mainly for large and/or multinational Consumer Goods and Retail companies. Majority of these projects focused on strategy development, topline improvement and organizational development.

Services

With BOOST Strategy in Action I work across industries with a strong foothold in Consumer Industries & Retail. I work for individual companies and organizations as well as consortia consisting out of multiple companies, governments and/or knowledge institutions.

Strategy development

Driving the development of your business unit, corporate or consortium strategy, from purpose to implementation plan.

Topline improvement

Finding value for your business through category management, revenue management and proposition development.

Organizational/Operating Model development

Defining/aligning the governance, organizational structure, processes and capabilities to your strategy.

Circular Economy

Developing circular strategies and building circular consortia to accelerate your transition to a circular economy.