Rob Thielen
Rob Thielen is chairman and founded Waterland in 1999. Before he started Waterland, Rob gained extensive experience in numerous (cross-border) mergers and acquisitions as manager and shareholder of Reitsma & Wertheim & Partners, acquired by the Investec group. He was also general manager of the fashion retail group that his family owned. Earlier he worked as a turn-around management consultant with the Investment Management & Consulting Group (IMCG) and as account manager with the International Corporate Finance Group of ABN AMRO Bank. Until December 2005, Rob was a non-executive member of the board of RPS plc, a LSE quoted company active in environmental consultancy. Furthermore, he was a non-executive board member of arxes NCC AG, an IT service provider quoted at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, which was divested by Waterland Private Equity Fund II in December 2007. He was also member of the visiting faculty of the Rotterdam School of Management (Erasmus University). In his career as entrepreneur and advisor he gained extensive experience in managing the growth of companies both autonomously and through acquisitions. As a board member of various companies, he gained experience in the integration and restructuring of companies. He is partner with Elbrus Capital - a Russia focused private equity firm.
Rob graduated in tax law at the University of San Diego in California, USA, and obtained a degree in tax law at the Rijksuniversiteit Leiden, the Netherlands.