“We should move along with the world around us”
Rimco de Groot joined Mourik in early 2016 as CFO and as a member of the Board of Management. He is responsible for financial affairs at Joh. Mourik & Co. Holding and its subsidiaries and assists Kees Jan Mourik in determining the company’s strategy. Taking a helicopter view, Rimco likes to create connections, both within and outside the company. “I stand for cooperation based on trust, respect and an open dialogue.”
Meet Rimco de Groot
Over the past eight years, Rimco has been CFO at two companies. A chartered accountant, he worked as a public accountant for ten years before he started working as CFO. Rimco is 42 years old, lives together with Jerney in Gouda and has two beautiful daughters: Zoë, age 11, and Julie, age 1. As a real music lover, Rimco likes to go to all kinds of music events. In his rare free moments, he can also be found at the gym. By his own account, Rimco enjoys the good things in life and being together with family and friends.
“Many people work here who have strong characters, innovative ideas and a heart for Mourik”
In the years to come, we are facing some big challenges. Challenges that we regard as opportunities we want to seize. If we want to secure our future as Mourik, we must keep moving along with the world around us. There’s simply no other choice. Consider for example the accelerated process of transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy and the increasing attention for water management. Technologies are developing at an incredible pace and the population is ageing fast. Add to this the socio-economic and political trends: the world is not standing still and the corporate Netherlands is moving along with it.
How do I intend to keep promoting the readiness for change within Mourik that is so necessary?
Kees Jan Mourik and I are the ‘builders’ who set out the guidelines for a sustainable perspective for the company. In 2014, an evaluated Mourik strategy was introduced. Since then, the Board of Management and the boards of directors have worked on making this strategy more concrete.
As you know, Collaboration and Innovation are our pillars, also for the coming years. You can see that a lot is going on: not only within the Mourik organization, but also at our customers. Take the ‘DOEN’ (‘ACT’) initiative taken by Rijkswaterstaat (Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management), which is intended to take a different approach to projects. Before, the client only had a directive role and the contractor had all the responsibility, while parties now try to find the middle way and share responsibility for a project. Client value and equality are key words in any collaboration. We will also keep stressing the absolute necessity of collaboration between the Mourik companies, in which the following rules are most important:
- Mutual respect
- Open communication
- Mourik’s interest comes first
The Board of Management creates the conditions for a safe collaborative climate. We serve as an example in this respect. Kees Jan and I may have different opinions about something and we may have substantive discussions, each from our own discipline. But we always work it out, because we have one basic principle: we want what’s best for Mourik as a whole. The same goes for innovation. There is enough creativity within the Mourik organization. We would like you to think with us and we want to draw from your knowledge and skills. Also, we are all for short communication lines between the shop floor and board room. This promotes innovation and makes our company versatile. With your initiatives, we want to build on Mourik’s success.
