Your expert partner in building high-performing businesses

Apollo Executive Search helps investors and entrepreneurs attract the right people to lead their companies

Our clients range from mid-market private equity portfolio companies to VC-backed or independent technology scale-ups. We partner with them for CEO, CFO, COO, CCO, CTO, strategic and Non-executive board positions.

How we provide distinctive value to our clients

Leverage our deep experience with private equity portfolio companies and tech scale-ups

Start with the challenge

At Apollo, we always work form a solid understanding of the business and specific business challenge and/or opportunity

Work with a business-experienced team

Our consultants have backgrounds at organizations such as McKinsey, Rocket Internet, Roland Berger and LEK, including first-hand experience as MD, CFO and founder and educational backgrounds at INSEAD, TU Delft and Harvard

Gain access to the top-level candidates for your position

Know the market

We continuously work with successful investors and fast-growing technology scale-ups. Building and maintaining solid relationships with our candidates during executive search processes gives us access to a unique talent pool

Do not miss out on top candidates

We always combine our existing personal and professional networks with thorough market research and personal outreach to ensure no one is missed

Make the right hire by focusing on what matters most - we’ll block out the noise

Apply a high-end professional services mindset

We know our clients have a lot on their minds as CEOs, founders and or investors. We provide efficiency, reliability and speed and are continuously fine-tuning our processes

Stick to the process

We put in place a structured process with the most effective predictive tooling, and stick to it

Our Consultants

Peter Zeeuw van der Laan

Peter works with entrepreneurs and investors across industries and functions, specialising in private equity (portfolio companies), technology scale-ups and strategy positions.

Peter is Managing Partner and co-founder of Apollo and has worked in executive search since 2016. Prior to Apollo, Peter worked as a consultant at McKinsey (between ’10 and ’15) and as Managing Director / co-founder of Carmudi Indonesia with Rocket Internet. 

Peter graduated cum laude from TU Delft with an MSc in Applied Physics after exchanges to Zurich, China, Singapore and Barcelona. 

Peter enjoys sailing, playing football and spending time with his girlfiend and son. 

Contact: peter@apolloexecutivesearch.com +31683620129

Maarten van der Kwaak

Maarten works with entrepreneurs and investors across industries on C-level executive searches and succession plans. Maarten works closely with especially Private Equity on their portfolio operations.

Before co-founding Apollo, Maarten built a number of successful recruitment businesses including Legal Top Talent that he founded as a student, The Legal Bench, ConsultancyExit and MatcHR, which serves leading tech companies worldwide. He began his career as a strategy consultant at Roland Berger in Amsterdam.

Maarten has MSc degrees in both Law and Economics (with distinction) from the University of Groningen and an MBA from INSEAD (Dean’s list).
Maarten as a former skiing instructor is a skiing enthusiast and has been holding a season ticket at Ajax with his father for years now.
Contact: maarten@apolloexecutivesearch.com +31630569794

Nadine Collet

Nadine works with CEOs, founders/ entrepreneurs and investors across a broad variety of industries. Her specialism (and passion) is building successful management teams in complex settings such as the next phase of growth in start-ups/ scale-ups, or family-owned companies in need of transformation (often triggered by a change of ownership).

Prior to joining Apollo, Nadine was CFO at SecurityMatters, a VC-backed cyber security software scale-up, where she helped, next to her finance function, significantly to form the management team, build the advisory board and lead the strategy development. She started her career as a strategy consultant at L.E.K. Consulting in London and Shanghai.

Nadine holds a BSc in Economics from the University of Heidelberg, in Germany and has an MSc in International Management from ESCP-EAP Business School in Paris, France.

Together with her husband and children, Nadine loves the outdoors and can be found all-year round running (with and after her children), playing Tennis, skiing and biking.

Contact: nadine@apolloexecutivesearch.com +31621487503

Jan Visser

Jan works with entrepreneurs and investors across industries on C-level executive searches as well as searches for senior strategy, commercial and operational roles.
Before joining Apollo, Jan built and managed a team of marketing & sales professionals at ANWB, growing some of the ANWB’s largest products and partnerships. Prior to that Jan worked as a strategy consultant and manager at Nolan, Norton & Co. and EY, focussing on growth strategies, strategic sourcing, commercial due diligence and organizational design. During his careers Jan has had the pleasure and opportunity to build successful teams in several capacities.
Jan graduated from TU Delft (MSc) as a transport and logistics engineer. During his career he further developed his management skills at TIAS and ESADE.

Jan enjoys family live with his wife and two children and likes to spend time on cooking, reading and running through Amsterdam’s parks.

Contact:

jan@apolloexecutivesearch.com +31653746563

Thirza Wolfs

Thirza supports entrepreneurs and investors across industries on their C-level search and assessment needs.

Prior to joining Apollo, Thirza worked at FMCG multinational Diageo, focusing on Executive Hiring for the top 200 positions globally. Previously Thirza worked for 15+ years with international executive search firms Spencer Stuart and Russell Reynolds Associates. advising clients on leadership across the Consumer Goods, Retail and Technology sectors.
Thirza graduated from VU University Amsterdam (MSc) in Political Sciences.
She enjoys spending time with her husband and three children and is passionate about Italy, cooking, culture & art. She is a keen practitioner of outdoor activities including hiking, skiing, cycling and yoga.

Contact:
thirza@apolloexecutivesearch.com
+31655502942

Pleun van Engen

Pleun works closely with CEOs, founders/ entrepreneurs and investors across a broad variety of industries to advise on leadership challenges and recruit top talent for a range of executive roles. With more than 10 years of experience as a leadership advisory and executive search consultant, Pleun advises on (amongst others) succession planning, talent development and diversity in light of long-term company objectives.

Prior to joining Apollo, Pleun was a senior consultant at leadership advisory firm Russell Reynolds Associates, where she led the European Supply Chain Practice and worked in particular for the Energy and Industrial sectors. Pleun started her career as a lawyer at Allen & Overy, where she worked as a corporate/commercial lawyer in the Energy Sector.

Pleun holds a Masters in Law from the University of Maastricht.

Pleun loves to spend her free time camping and skiing with her daughter. She is also a board game enthusiast and tries to convince people to join her for a game, every chance she gets.

Contact:

pleun@apolloexecutivesearch.com +31613387330

Mayke van Gelder

Mayke works with entrepreneurs and investors across industries on executive search and executive assessments including for a range of senior strategy roles.
Mayke joined Apollo from Eden McCallum, a leading freelance strategy consulting firm where she was a Manager shaping and delivering successful consultant teams in strategy, operations and organisation for clients including 40% of the AEX. Earlier, Mayke had been Programme Manager at the Dutch Research Council focused on investments in groundbreaking innovative research.
Mayke obtained an MSc in Developmental Psychology from the University of Amsterdam.
Outside of work, Mayke loves to spend time with family and friends combined with good food and wine.
Contact: mayke@apolloexecutivesearch.com +31647408823

Karen Steeman–van Rosse

Karen works with entrepreneurs and investors across industries on C-level executive searches as well as searches for senior strategy, commercial, and operational roles.

Before joining Apollo, Karen worked in the financial services industry in London for 10 years (KBC Bank and Fortis Bank), after which she started a career in executive search in Singapore. From 2016, Karen was a senior consultant in a boutique recruitment consultancy in The Hague (Vroom & Van den Heuvel), with a main focus on Senior HR positions, and with Acre; an international executive search firm focused on Senior Sustainability professionals.

Karen holds an MA in Employment Law from the University of Rotterdam. 

In her free time, Karen enjoys cooking for family and friends, playing the piano, and sports (skiing, tennis, running).

Contact:

karen@apolloexecutivesearch.com +31639592230

Louise van Baar

Louise works closely with entrepreneurs, family businesses and investors across various sectors on different functions such as CEOs, CCOs, COOs as well as roles in supply chain, procurement, strategy and investment.

Before joining Apollo Louise spent more than six years at Egon Zehnder, where she was aligned to its global health practice group. She was involved on a range of (international) assignments and worked with a variety of clients, from PE portfolio companies to large corporates. 

Louise holds an MA Philosophy and an MA Dutch Language & Literature from the University of Amsterdam. During her studies she worked as a part time lecturer and taught Dutch language, ethics and communication courses. 

Louise lives in Amsterdam and loves family, friends, reading, (ro)cycling, skiing and field hockey. 

Contact:

louise@apolloexecutivesearch.com +31630671950

Jessica Kraintz

Jessica works with entrepreneurs and investors across industries on executive search and executive assessments including for a range of senior strategy, commercial and operational roles in tech-driven companies.
Jessica joins from Avonwick Group and has over a decade experience in executive search within asset management and banking. Prior to recruitment she worked in structured finance at Newedge (Soc Gen), BGC and Crosspoint Capital. Jessica has also worked in fund raising for asset managers including the CLO manager Princeton Advisory, various hedge funds, private equity and most recently with Riverrock European Capital (a Roland Berger founded investment firm) in London.
Jessica received an MSc from the London School of Economics in Political Economics focusing on risk and regulation in developing countries. She received a First (Hons) on her dissertation which featured an in-depth socioeconomic field-study in Serbia where she worked with KMPG.
Jessica is originally from Seattle but hates the rain. She is very passionate about foreign languages and speaks French and Spanish fluently as well Italian, Serbo-Croatian and a bit of Slovenian with her family. Most of her spare time is spent in the gym, dancing salsa or trying out new vegan recipes.
Contact:
jessica@apolloexecutivesearch.com +33768340655

Our partners

We have established trusted relationships with the most respected Private Equity firms and their portfolio companies, the leading VCs and entrepreneurs and the grittiest startups. We recognize opportunity when we see it and we know the type of leadership to capitalize on it. But don’t take our word for it.

Waterland Private Equity

“We value Apollo’s pragmatic and resourceful support on portfolio and team matters, coupled with their business understanding and deep network of interesting candidates”

Carel van Boetzelaer

CEO World Wide Lighting (Nordian Capital), Ex-CEO Emesa / Talpa eCommerce

“Apollo has been my go-to partner in attracting senior leadership as CEO at World Wide Lighting and Emesa / Talpa eCommerce: they know the best people across sectors, whether it is Travel or Lighting”

As CEO of Emesa / Talpa eCommerce I was looking for a C-level entrepreneur to develop, launch and run a new business line. This challenge required the ability not only to design a strategy but to build an e-commerce business from scratch with limited resources. Apollo was able to quickly activate an existing pool of successful e-commerce entrepreneurs who also had a background in strategy consulting – and had the right combination of hands-on and strategic skills to make our new venture a success. More recently, Apollo has helped me find the right commercial leadership within a completely different industry at World Wide Lighting, where we were again looking for that combination of strategic vision to upgrade our sales organisation across geographies as well as the ability to roll up the sleeves and get stuff done in the here and now. With surgical precision, Apollo brought in a candidate from their existing network, who not only was a commercial leader within our niche, but had the broad background to grow with the company and scale the business to new heights internationally.

Patrick van de Graaf

Co-founder In3

“You cannot take any chances when hiring a CEO, which is why we partnered with Apollo to ensure the most professional, fast and non-biased process.”

As Co-founder I led in3 in the role of CEO through the startup face, but in order to scale up the company through the next phase of hyper growth, we were looking for an experienced industry leader to take over as the new CEO combining strong operational and technical acumen with a deep network.
As we needed to make absolutely sure we had the right person for the job, our investors recommended partnering with Apollo for their professional, fast and non-biased process. Starting with an exhaustive mapping and screening of the best candidates in the market, Apollo took complete charge of all aspects of the process, which allowed us to focus on what is most important: getting to know the best candidates for the job.

What really helped us make the right decision in the end was Apollo’s job sampling method, which sets up the whole process as a two-way due diligence, and which allowed us to directly compare candidates on key criteria every step of the way. In the final stage, the best candidates each presented a strategic plan, meaning there was a concrete course of action we knew we could expect from the new CEO from day one.
Because the process was run in a highly professional and disciplined manner, it took us no more than three months from scoping the profile to signing the new CEO, in spite of the logistical circumstances of Covid-19.

Ivo Vincente

Managing Partner Smile Invest

“We have been very successful in adding a highly entrepreneurial candidate to our team by working with Apollo Executive Search. Their in-depth understanding of the sector combined with a professional, structured approach made a big difference in finding and attracting the right person. High recommendation”

Max Gudden

Co-founder & CEO Startselect

“We chose Apollo for the next growth stage of StartSelect as we needed a COO. Their in-depth knowledge of the role and e-commerce industry network played out great.”

Joost Brugmans

Co-founder & CEO Orderchamp

“With Apollo, I fulfilled two C-level roles in my team, both within an extremely fast timeframe. I value Apollo the most for their strategic and professional way of working – they truly understand the depth of the roles and are therefore a true partner in bringing onboard the best talent, because that talent appreciates them too.”

Roland Vos

Co-founder Dot

We definitely recommend Apollo for CTO searches. Even though we were looking for a difficult profile, Apollo very quickly provided us with a large selection of very strong candidates and helped us bring them in. In fact, the whole process was really good

Homam Karimi

Founder & CEO Studytube

With Apollo, we hired a strong and experienced CFO within little more than 2 months after the kick-off. All within a very competitive candidate environment while adding diversity to our leadership team. Apollo helped us further calibrate the CFO position  and define what we needed specifically for our organization. Effective and easy to work with

Kristjan Kangro

Founder & CEO Change

Apollo has been a very valuable and successful partner in multiple C-level searches for our fast growing technology company Change. Apollo very well understands tech scaleups, and has been a very fast, professional and effective partner in helping us hire a very high calibre of talent. Highest recommendation

The Company we keep

We have successfully partnered for CEO, COO, CFO, CCO, CMO, CTO and strategy positions at