Paul has a 25-year experience in retail. From a business background with a specialization in marketing, he worked on the supplier side for the first 7 years of his career. First at a Dutch company with foreign subsidiaries in the production of incontinence materials. Later at the Dutch branch of the German Bayer.

The switch to retail took place at Etos (Ahold). As a commercial manager responsible for purchasing and marketing. After a short interim step at Euretco Wonen he became general manager of Halfords (the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany). In the 9 years that he held this position, good results were achieved through necessary product range renewal. Then the final responsibility for DGN Retail and Welkoop followed.

The main theme in this career is to renew from a strong formula framework and realize growth. Involvement of the organization is crucial.

"Every day 1000 decisions are made in an organization. It is the job of the CEO to give the framework and have good people in the right places; it is not the job to be involved in all those decisions!"