Experience

Roel Willems Advisory B.V.

Independent advisor · August 2026 – present · Netherlands

Advisory and interim mandates for organizations that need data and AI to produce results they can point to: data and AI strategy, governance and data management, and AI adoption from pilot to production, in multi-market, multi-entity settings with differing regulatory regimes.

• Typical deliverables: current-state assessment, target operating model with assigned ownership, data domain and critical data element prioritization, AI governance framework, and readiness for the EU AI Act, GDPR and adjacent regulation.
• Keynotes and executive sessions on AI governance. See speaking →
• Essays: Data & AI: What Matters & Why

Ahold Delhaize

Director Data & AI Governance (Global) · 2021 – 2026 · Netherlands
€92.4bn net sales (2025), 17 brands in 9 countries across the US and Europe.

A group-level role created to establish data management and AI governance where neither existed, in a group where brands operate with substantial autonomy.

Strategy and operating model

• Set the enterprise data strategy (vision, principles, capability priorities, governance), built from brand, regional and group business strategy and endorsed by ExCo, the US and EU regional leadership teams and brand leadership.
• Designed the group-wide data management operating model for the US and Europe, accommodating two very different regional models within one approach.
• Redesigned the EU data management operating model for the move from decentralized to federated: operating model, RAPID decision rights, governance and stewardship model, and role definitions. Endorsed by the EU CTO, Group CTO, EU Leadership Team and brand presidents; from mandate to decision-ready design in five months.

Data foundations, ownership and tooling

• Enabled cross-brand joint sourcing for the first time by aligning regional data to a common standard; the sourcing program carries €130–150M in run-rate value potential.
• Defined what qualifies as a critical data element and the tiered model to prioritize them by domain, with quality expectations and stewardship accountabilities attached to each tier.
• Scaled data management to a 32 FTE matrixed network guiding 185 data stewardship roles across regions, markets and brands, run through a lean central team and funded by regional and brand cross-charge.
• Owned the data management and AI governance tooling strategy across a hybrid Azure/GCP estate. Consolidated EU catalogs from four instances to one and set the tool combination (Ataccama, Collibra, SODA), with the recommendation put to the Group CTO for decision.

AI governance and adoption

• Reduced the AI decision and compliance path from months to weeks, with a pre-assessment that sets the risk level early and names the deciding role per risk tier. One multi-model LLM evaluation completed in days, releasing a rollout to knowledge workers in the US and Europe.
• Architected the AI risk and control framework: accountability standard, tiered risk model with sign-off levels, and a single assessment gate covering the EU AI Act, DPIA, vendor and solution risk, people impact, ethics and architecture. Anchored in the NIST AI RMF, with controls placed where they were already effective rather than duplicated.
• Took 7 EU brands to EU AI Act readiness: AI inventory process, AI registry, and a conformity checklist developed with Legal and external counsel.

Executive reach

• Chaired the enterprise Data & AI Advisory and Data & AI Council; member of the Group and EU&I Privacy Committee; delivered board-level AI updates.
• Directed Bain, McKinsey, Deloitte, EPAM and Riverflex engagements from the client side, including supervisory board sessions, ExCo advice, maturity assessments and organization design.

Albert Heijn

Senior Manager Analytics, Data Science & Experimentation · 2015 – 2021 · Netherlands
Promoted from Lead Analyst (2015–2016) to Manager (2016–2020) to Senior Manager (2020–2021).

• Reduced out-of-stocks by more than 20% by rebuilding forecasting logic to include suppressed demand for just over 25,000 SKUs.
• Met a shared 25% annual bottom-line improvement objective with sourcing and merchandising for eCommerce.
• Built and led data science, analytics, data collection and experimentation teams of 30+ FTE.
• Established the experimentation practice and scaled it to an average of 40 tests per month.
• Led the privacy-by-design data collection architecture behind the analytics practice, working through GDPR compliance with legal and technology.

OrangeValley

Senior Managing Consultant · 2009 – 2015 · Netherlands

• Joined as the fifth employee; the company had 55 people when I left. Led a team of 8–10 consultants and ran client mandates end to end.
• Clients in energy, finance, insurance, telecom, e-commerce, the public sector and NGOs, on data strategy, measurement and optimization.
• Advised a B2B business with a regional dealer network on its move to direct-to-consumer sales.

Earlier: consulting and ventures

2004 – 2009 · Netherlands

Web analytics, conversion optimization and data-driven marketing consulting; founded and led several digital ventures.

Advisory, speaking and writing

• Amsterdam Economic Board, Data Commons Advisory (2023–2025): governance and trust models for public-interest data sharing.
• Speaking on AI governance: KickstartAI, The Next Tech Frontier Executive Day and Veneficus (2026). Earlier: speaker and author for Emerce (2012–2020).
• DDMA, Social Marketing Committee member (2011–2013).

Education and development

• Saïd Business School, University of Oxford: Retail Academy talent program (2024)
• Influential Business Partnering Programme, The Influence Company (2022)
• Ahold talent program "The Natural Leap" (2016–2017)
• Business Economics (HAN); Communication (Hogeschool Rotterdam); Multimedia & Design (Willem de Kooning Academie)

Languages

Dutch (native) · English (professional) · German (working)

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