Colliers International has appointed industry specialist Elias van Herwaarden as the head of its new EMEA location strategy unit, providing advisory services to global corporations.
Van Herwaarden, who has more than three decades of experience, joins Colliers' EMEA division from Deloitte to strengthen its occupier services business.
Andrew Hallissey, executive managing director, occupier services EMEA, said: 'We’re thrilled that Elias is joining the Colliers team. His deep expertise advising global corporations on strategic location decisions will bring an added dimension to our service proposition for Colliers clients whether they’re already established in EMEA, or looking to expand and grow in the region and beyond.
'Elias delivers highly sophisticated holistic analysis of business needs and ensures strategic location decisions are aligned to the most appropriate markets and countries across EMEA and throughout the world.'
Van Herwaarden's experience includes advising on corporate expansion and footprint optimisation, as well as business process outsourcing and global business service operating models.
In this new role, his primary focus will be on leading Colliers’ strategic location consulting capability for corporate clients. Advice will be based on corporate location drivers such as labour arbitrage, talent availability, business expansion, and real estate portfolio optimisation.
The location strategy service proposition aims to optimise global business operations through a range of nearshoring and offshoring portfolio and labour strategies. It examines such aspects as labour market opportunities, infrastructure maturity, real estate availability, government incentives, and tax optimisation for corporations looking to operate and optimise business operations and supply chains on a global basis.
Van Herwaarden said: '2020 was a challenging year for business throughout the global economy which means that many are now evaluating opportunities to de-risk their operating models and are seeking increased security and resilience going forward as part of their global location strategy.
'We are expecting to see significant changes in location strategy from major corporates over the years ahead as they move to restructure and de-risk their global operating models.'
Van Herwaarden also teaches International Business Strategy at KU Leuven, sits on the boards of various international business associations and is a member of the Site Selectors Guild.
