Meet Senior Manager Rico
Rico Plomp was looking for an employer with a refreshing and new perspective on the Cyber workfield. “I was also looking for a place where I could make more of an impact with the time I spend working.” When Rico heard that Eraneos was setting up and expanding a Cyber Security & Privacy team, he knew it was the right match, and he has been a Senior Manager since November 2023.
At his previous employer, Rico was mainly involved in the consumer retail sector. “I helped customers with a professionalizing their cyber strategy. I was often involved in the entire customer journey: from the moment a help request was made, to defining capabilities and implementation.” Currently, Rico is on a project at a construction company and is helping out at a port company, which is completely different from consumer retail. “It’s very different from what I did before, which is what makes it fun. I’m not just ‘Rico from retail’ here, but I also get the chance to develop myself in other sectors.”
“Everyone here, regardless of their role, does their work with great passion and is a real professional!”
Growing together
One of the main reasons Rico decided to switch jobs was to help build the Cyber Security & Privacy team. “Everyone on our team has a slightly different background,” Rico explains. “This makes us a unique, diverse group of experts, and Eraneos also gives us the space to be that. You’re not thrown into a mold, but you’re given the freedom to shape your own role.”
The team is also going to focus on Third Party Risk Management, also known as Supply Chain Risk Management. “We’re going to be dealing with Supply Chain Risk Management, which Eraneos has also organized events about. This is a growing topic, partly due to new legislation,” Rico explains. “You have DORA and NIS2, for example.” Critical companies need to get a better handle on their third parties. “It’s really cool to help customers with this.” At Eraneos, Rico gets the chance to further develop this, which is a good fit with our Sourcing & IT Advisory team. “Because we have different specializations within Eraneos, we can put together a multidisciplinary team and collaborate on topics like these.”
Passionate professionals
If Rico had to describe the people at Eraneos in three words, they would be pragmatic, enthusiastic, and helpful. “The people here were a huge factor in my decision to come work at Eraneos. Everyone here, regardless of their role, does their work with a lot of passion and is a real professional!”
Rico found his onboarding to be very pleasant. “I found it very refreshing how the introductory days were planned: you get to know all the team leads and staff departments, so you get a clear picture of how things work within the organization.” You don’t follow standard e-learning, but experience a personal and hands-on start of your time at Eraneos. “When you’re new, 250 people are quite a lot,” says Rico. “But it still feels like a small company: almost everyone knows each other and is very approachable. A special group of people work here who want to do things right, work very hard to help customers, and will always support each other when needed.”
When Rico started his first customer assignment, the back-office team had already arranged all sorts of things so that he could get off to a flying start. “The support and involvement of all departments is amazingly good,” Rico tells us, “HR is super approachable, and marketing and events are also involved to help where needed. For Eraneos, this may seem obvious, but it’s not.”
And outside of work?
In his free time, Rico can often be found at the coast, if the weather permits. “I love being on the water. I really enjoy kite surfing and sailing,” and if it’s not too icy in the winter, he goes for a run. He likes to get some exercise outside after a day of work.
In addition to sports, he enjoys playing the guitar and learning German. “My girlfriend is German, and being able to speak German is still useful for talking to the in-laws. I’m on Duolingo every day now,” Rico laughs.