About Me

Hi, I'm Ineke Kooistra. With more than 25 years in management and boardroom roles, I've built my career on transforming businesses and empowering people. From startups to billion-euro companies, I've led organisations through growth, transformation, and cultural evolution, always with a focus on creating environments where both people and businesses thrive.

For more than a decade, I had the privilege of leading YoungCapital as Group CEO, guiding it from a bold startup to a European market leader in youth employment. We grew turnover from €60 million to €603 million (2013–2023), expanded the internal team to 1,300 employees supported by over 25,000 flexible professionals, and built a presence across 50 locations in the Netherlands, Germany and the UK, with online operations in 12 European countries. This journey was driven by strategic innovation, digital transformation, organisational redesign and above all, by amazing people inside and outside the company.

I then took on the challenge of scaling Circle8 Group as Group CEO, an IT staffing organisation operating at over €1.3 billion in revenue, headquartered in Zurich. There I led the buy-and-build, the integration of multiple labels across Europe, and the building of strong leadership teams in a complex, multi-country, PE-backed environment.

I have also served as a Commissioner at AFAS Software for the past 2.5 years.

Today I bring this experience together under InterManage Ventures BV, the umbrella entity for my work as operating partner, (interim/fractional) CEO and strategic advisor. I am available for one to three days a week alongside founders, CEOs and PE portfolio companies;  bringing structure where there are growing pains, acceleration where value creation needs to step up, and direction where things have stalled.

Alongside this, I co-founded EliN Partners Executive Search with Elbrich Batstra, connecting organisations with leaders who create lasting impact.

 I write regularly as a contributor to MT/Sprout and BusinessWise on leadership, culture, and the future of work, and speak at events on the same themes.



Above all, I'm driven by a passion for helping businesses and individuals unlock their full potential. If you're looking for a partner to lead through complexity, shape a winning culture, or sharpen execution, let's connect.