About Erik-Jan Vlieger
From science and management to executive coaching
In my work as an executive coach I combine a scientific background with executive experience, to guide leaders through complexity and decision-making.
Science and medicine
I am a physician and physicist. I completed both degrees at the University of Amsterdam because I couldn't choose — and later it turned out I didn't need to. That dual foundation still shapes the way I look at the world: as a physician I look at people and the brain, as a physicist at systems and forces. After my clinical rotations I obtained my PhD at Amsterdam UMC (AMC location). I then completed a postdoctoral programme in psychodynamics and psychoanalysis at the Department of Governance and Organizational Science (USBO) at Utrecht University.
Business and executive experience
After my PhD I chose the consulting world. At Plexus I grew from consultant to managing partner. In that role I led the sale to KPMG and the integration that followed. As a partner at KPMG I led the healthcare advisory practice and guided restructurings and strategic board-level advice. I know what it feels like to make decisions that others bear the consequences of.
Deepening
During that period I completed the NRP programme at Stichting Bedrijfskunde. It had an enormous impact on me. I left KPMG and became an entrepreneur — for eleven years. Somewhere in those years, things came together. What I had learned as a physician about the brain, what I learned as a physicist about systems, turned out to connect with what I observed in multiple places: emotions are not mysterious. They follow an internal logic — and that logic can be learned to read.
Personal
In October 2024, my beautiful son Eelke suddenly passed away due to his difficult-to-treat epilepsy. Sadly, I know life from this darker side as well. It means I don't flinch at your darkness. When you falter, I provide counterweight so you stay upright. I stay.
My work today
I work as a lecturer at Stichting Bedrijfskunde and as an executive coach for executives and directors. I guide leaders who understand that rationality is not everything — and who have the courage to look that way. Not because they are failing, but because they know that good decisions also come from the ability to recognise undercurrents and take them seriously.