Daan van Beek is the CEO of the Passionned Group and is a well known speaker on Business Analytics & Data Science, an experienced trainer, and an independent consultant. He was born in the Netherlands (Rotterdam), studied artificial intelligence in London, is the author of four management books, and from the start of his career he has been very interested in management information.
Worked for a variety of companies
Daan worked as a consultant for a variety of companies, among them Interpolis Insurance, Air France KLM, Phoenix Group, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), and the Department of Higher Education (DHET) in South Africa. He is also the organizing force behind the Dutch BI & Data Science Award, the election of the smartest organization.
Letting organizations work smarter
After three years of working as a Business Intelligence manager at a pharmaceutical wholesaler he started the Passionned Group in 2004 with Norman Manley, former vice-president of one of the largest Business Analytics vendors. The company’s mission statement is ‘Letting organizations work smarter*’.
His favorite quote
When Daan tries to explain that his whole career was about management information and data analytics he regularly uses the following quote:
No matter how beautiful your BI architecture, data warehouses, algorithms, and dashboards, they’re worthless if they don’t create a strong spark of improvement for the business user.
His magnum opus: Data Science for Decision-Makers
Daan wrote the first edition of his magnum opus in Dutch in 2004. The book has since been completely revised many times and a brand-new English translation was published in 2021, titled Data Science for Decision-Makers and Data Professionals.
Data Science book for Decision Makers & Data Professionals
This book covers the entire process of making your organization data-driven, from the question "what do we want to achieve" to the processes of collecting data, processing it into actionable information, and responding to that information. A must-read for any data-driven professional. Order this book now.
All over the world
Today, Passionned Group is contacted by companies from all over the world to give (online) advice and training, among them ABN AMRO, Dominos Pizza, Deutsche Bank, Menzis, Schiphol Group, Copenhagen Airports, APM Terminals, Lifescale Analytics, China Bank, NASA, Texas Instruments, and many more.
What can Daan do for you?
If you want to know what Daan can do for you, please click on one of the following links:
Personal stuff
In his spare time, Daan tries to learn the game of golf, he writes, and he loves to travel. He lives in the neighborhood of Amersfoort, a relatively small town close to the cities Utrecht and Amsterdam.
