Sjoerd van den Heuvel Ph.D. is associate professor Data-Driven Business & People Analytics at the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht in the Netherlands. He is an international authority and a frequently asked speaker at business conferences and in-company training courses across the globe. Recent international engagements included keynotes en masterclasses in Singapore, Dubai, Budapest, Sydney, Barcelona, Mannheim, London, Brussels, Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur, Geneva, Anaheim, Warsaw, and Paramaribo. Sjoerd co-founded the very first Master of Science program ‘Data-Driven Business’ in the Netherlands; a formally accredited, and by the Dutch Government funded, multi-disciplinary 1-year university program in which students master the role of Analytics Translator: the must have role for data-driven organizations (source: McKinsey, 2018). Sjoerd teaches Data-Driven Decision Making and People Analytics to professionals, undergraduate- and graduate students. He furthermore helps leadership teams to develop data-driven business strategies, and trains professionals into their role of Analytics Translator. His research focuses primarily on individual competencies and organizational capabilities required for successfully transforming towards a Data-Driven Business and for effectively applying People Analytics.

Sjoerd holds a Ph.D. degree in Human Resource Management from Tilburg University in the Netherlands, and prior to his current position, he worked as a senior management consultant (Capgemini Consulting), senior Engagement & Retention advisor (Dutch Postal Service) and assistant professor in HRM (University of Amsterdam and Twente University). In both his teaching and research activities, his core focus is on how to bridge the gap between science and practice, because that’s where the analytics magic happens!