Kea Company is a people driven business. The quality of our people defines the service level we provide to our customers. For over ten years, we have recruited and developed some of the best people within the industry. They are intelligent professionals with an average of over twenty years hands-on experience in influencer marketing and business advisory.
Derk is a co-founder of Kea Company and supports startups and scale-ups creating mutually beneficial relationships with key industry analysts. As a former industry analyst himself, he thoroughly understands what makes analysts tick. Derk is a startup mentor in two leading startup accelerators: Techstars and Rockstart, and is an executive advisor to senior executives at enterprises, startups and service providers focusing on strategic challenges around emerging digital services and products, digital business transformation, supplier relationships, contract negotiations, governance, commercial models, and technology. Derk is fascinated by the creation of ecosystems, building bridges between organisations and people to form true partnerships, the role new technologies play in the way we organise our businesses and societies. His aim is to be a positive factor in these transformations, as an entrepreneur, an advisor to startups and corporates, a collaborator and sharer of knowledge.
Sven is Managing Partner at Kea Company and, as CEO, heads the global Kea Company Group. His day-to-day activities include, but are not limited to, managing the business operations and overseeing Kea Company service delivery and guiding the SageCircle subsidiary. Prior to taking full-time control at Kea Company Sven managed a value-added reseller chain, was responsible for Gartner's vendor clients at the European headquarters and was a senior manager at azeti Networks AG. Having worked with many start-ups and vendors, both in his time at Gartner and as an executive, he has accumulated a broad knowledge of the IT-industry. His experience covers the various areas of the IT-market (software, hardware, services and consulting) and provides a "multi-angle view" of the IT business from a channel, vendor, analyst and consulting perspective. Sven has more than 20 years of experience in sales, marketing and general management. Sven received a Master of Science degree in Business Management and Marketing from the Westfälische Wilhelms-University Münster.
Bram is a co-founder of Kea Company and supports startups and scale-ups, creating mutually beneficial relationships with key industry analysts. As a former industry executive himself, he thoroughly understands what makes analysts tick. In addition, Bram is a startup mentor in a leading Dutch startup accelerator: Rockstart, and is an executive advisor to senior executives at enterprises, startups and service providers focusing on strategic challenges around emerging digital services and products, digital business transformation, sales enablement, contract negotiations, commercial models, and operations. Bram has more than 20 years of experience in sales, marketing and general management. Bram is a Harvard Kennedy School Alumni.
Oliver van Ophoven has been working for Kea Company as Analyst & Client Relations Executive since 2016, making sure that the clients are serviced to the best of our abilities. His responsibilities include optimising client relations and customer service for Kea Company. Prior to his activities at Kea Company, Oliver was Branch Office Manager and Purchasing Director at a Value Added Reseller Chain in Germany. He is a IHK certified business administrator.
Annelieke Nagel has been working with Kea Company since 2015. Her area of expertise is Analyst Relations for 'scaleups' that feel the need for professional AR but do not have the expertise to do this in-house. Annelieke has over 15 years experience in the IT industry in marketing, communications and PR for companies such as IDC and Gartner and an additional 15 years of successfully developing global AR plans and executing them for companies such as Teradata and SDL. She is highly experienced, works within full budget responsibility and gathers good results. Engaging with Annelieke Nagel is a great way to help with your analyst relations in all key components from strategic development to execution.
Ai Inouchi has been an Advisory & Business Partner of Kea Company since 2016, providing analyst relations service in Japan. Her expertise includes strategic, cross-cultural communications, influencer relations, market entry strategy development, issues management, and project management. Prior to becoming a consultant, Ai has worked for global financial institutions including BlackRock and State Street for over 15 years, in communications, business management, and product development roles. She is fluent in both Japanese and English and is passionate about bridging cultural gaps for clients.
Toralf Lahs has over 20 years of experience in the IT industry ranging from working with technology providers and users during his 5 years at Gartner to setting up a distributor of IoT solutions and from introducing and managing a leading European eCommerce platform to the UK&I to being a board advisor for a best-of-breed provider for wireless smart building tech, as well numerous business development and sales roles. Toralf is an entrepreneur at heart and is always looking at new technologies and at connecting businesses for mutually successful outcomes. Having lived and worked in a number of European countries he enjoys cultural diversity and different ways of communicating and conducting business.
Robin Schaffer guides analyst and influencer relations teams in strategy, execution and value creation. She has led transformative analyst relations and marketing leadership for three decades. Her varied background enables Robin to design Analyst Relations programs that help reach her clients business objectives focusing on measurable outcomes and real-world results. Her prior experience in the technology industry includes Unit4, NICE Systems, and AT&T. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from William Paterson University of New Jersey with a bachelor's degree in English. She is the author of Analysts On Analyst Relations: The SageCircle Guide.
Dr. Efrem Mallach, one of the founders of Industry Analyst Relations, is one of the top experts in the world on Influencer Relations. Efrem's role combines consulting to clients with developing research methodologies, measurement tools and best practices. Efrem is one of the top experts in the world on Analyst Relations. Efrem's role combines consulting to Kea Company clients with developing research methodologies, measurement tools and best practices. Efrem has been involved in Analyst Relations since the late 1970s, when he represented Honeywell Information Systems' minicomputer division to the then-nascent industry analyst community. As a consultant and an industry analyst in the mid-1980s, he saw that vendors with whom he worked, often did not know how to work with people like himself - to their detriment, since consultants and analysts influenced a large fraction of their sales.
Stacey Alexander has been a Business Partner of Kea Company since 2016. Her specialties include, but are not limited to, Influencer Relations and Relationship Marketing. Prior to her consulting career, much of her experience came from working with The CIO Executive Council, Gartner and SageCircle where she provided direction to invaluable information on industry analysts and resources that are key to the success of IT enterprise architecture and business strategy efforts.
Oscar Uvalle's trans-Atlantic work experience and deep industry knowledge power's Kea Company's databases. Oscar Uvalle is research operations manager, leading the work behind Kea Company's databases tracking analyst firms and their users, Panalyst. Uvalle has a decade of experience on the supply side of the ICT industry, working as a project manager in the implementation of complex services contracts. He speaks English and Spanish.
Ines Litke has been working for Kea Company as Manager Client Relations and Services since 2012, making sure that the clients are serviced to the best of our abilities. Her responsibilities include optimising client relations and customer service for Kea Company. Ines supports a number of strategic accounts in the EMEA region by working directly with clients and analysts to facilitate the information flow. As manager for client relations and services she supervises the client service team at Kea Company. Prior to her activities at Kea Company, Ines held several administrative positions, and is a certified foreign language correspodent and speaks four languages.
Susann Bladwell has been a Business Partner of Kea Company since 2012. Her specialties include, but are not limited to, public relations. Prior to her role as Business Partner at Kea Company, Ms. Bladwell has worked at Siemon and Sphairon Technologies, amongst others. She has over twelve years of experience in corporate communications, public relations and marketing, especially in the DACH region.