Meet your future colleagues

“I am helping to explain the specific Ortec Finance knowledge to both potential clients and my Swiss colleagues simultaneously”

The combination of consultancy and technical implementations is what I like most about my work at Ortec Finance. The consultancy aspect of my work allows me to visit clients in their own environment and try to understand their specific problems. The technical side allows me to build the models that can solve these problems. I think this combination of working with clients and applying highly-technical knowledge is quite unique in our industry.

Ortec Finance is a fast growing company with a lot of new areas to explore, which automatically leads to many fascinating opportunities for personal development. One of the latest explorations is our foreign expansion. I am currently working for Ortec Finance Switzerland in Zürich. Our office here has only recently been established.I am helping to explain the specific Ortec Finance knowledge to both potential clients and my Swiss colleagues simultaneously. It is an extremely interesting learning experience to be part of a start-up project such as this one. The situation here is entirely different from what we are used to in the Netherlands, where Ortec Finance is well-known and respected in the pension fund industry. As most of the potential clients in Switzerland are not yet familiar with us, we constantly have to explain what we actually do and why we are so successful in other countries. To me, this is a very exciting and inspiring experience!

“What I like about this job is the combination of quantitative analysis and client contact”

For me, a career is defined by a continued development of jobs and employers. I joined Ortec Finance as a senior consultant in 2006, after working as a quantitative analyst for a pension fund for two years and holding several positions in the asset management department of a large insurance company for the seven previous years.

My focus at Ortec Finance is on investments. What I like about this job is the combination of quantitative analysis and client contact. In most similar positions you are either a quantitative analyst or an account manager, but seldom both at the same time. But at Ortec Finance I find myself sharpening my skills in each of these fields on a daily basis. Although my background is in a quantitative discipline (Econometrics), I am still learning a great deal about quantitative issues, due to Ortec Finance's leading position in academic research. And while I had already have a substantial amount of experience in giving presentations before I joined Ortec Finance, I am, currently, much better equipped to identify the underlying client needs and explain complex subjects.

One thing I especially like about Ortec Finance are its people. The atmosphere is very good and colleagues are always ready and willing to help each other. We have a lot of experienced people and working together on a project is very inspiring. My professional goal for the future is to help Ortec Finance evolve into a global consultancy, both in the field of Asset Liability Management and Investment Consulting.

“My passion is developing intelligent and user-friendly web solutions providing the client with optimal support.”

I am a software developer for Ortec Finance, and focus on designing and developing decision supporting simulation systems for the financial market. We implement these innovative and complex systems, either working independently or with a partner, at asset management companies, pension funds, insurance companies, housing corporations and municipal authorities. Furthermore, the systems are used as tools to advise our many different clients. Our central objective is to support our clients in determining and implementing their strategic policies.

What I like about this job is customizing our basic solutions in such a way in which they match the client’s specific needs even more. Our work often involves creating new solutions, such as ready-to-use products that we can offer via the web. This happens to be one of my passions; developing intelligent and user-friendly web solutions providing the client with optimal support. Since Ortec Finance aims to deliver high quality systems, it is the perfect company to create and implement these types of state-of-the-art tools. And the fact that I work in a team consisting of fun and dedicated people makes working at Ortec Finance all the more enjoyable.”

“Ortec Finance offers me the flexibility and support to pursue my personal ideas and objectives”

When I first got in touch with Ortec Finance, I was working on my thesis at the Dutch Municipality Bank (BNG) for which Ortec Finance was developing an Asset and Liability Model. My task was to develop time series models that successfully simulated interest rate scenarios. I immediately became fascinated by how academic skills could be applied to important real life decision making problems through these Ortec Finance models.

After graduation (by now twelve years ago) I joined Ortec Finance and I simply never left. I have worked on many pension plans, for insurance companies and even launched our current Insurance Advisory business unit. Yet my heart has always been drawn towards the outer edges of the practice, to academic science. Consequently, I spent ten years working on a fundamental research project to develop the next generation of scenario models. My dissertation not only earned me the Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) in 2005, but its findings are currently being implemented in the latest Ortec Finance models.

Two years ago I was appointed head of the Ortec Centre for Financial Research (OCFR). To me, the best thing about working at Ortec Finance is that it offers me the flexibility and support to pursue my personal ideas and objectives. Furthermore, Ortec Finance has a great informal atmosphere and, as a result, many of my colleagues have become good friends. Finally, the ever-growing range of opportunities and fresh international ambitions mean that I will be at Ortec Finance for a long time to come.

“No single issue or project is entirely the same, which is why this work will never become routine”

At Ortec Finance, I work as a junior business specialist in the Insurers department. I am the first contact for a number of clients, and perhaps the biggest challenge is providing them with the most effective service possible. In addition to thinking along with our clients and working towards an ideal solution for their problem, it also means keeping on top of the latest market developments. The financial industry is – as has become blatantly obvious in recent months – always in flux, whether in the field of legislation and regulations, or because of mergers, acquisitions and credit crises. When meeting with clients, it is essential to be well informed on these developments, in order to proactively think of ways to deal with them.

The most appealing aspect of my job is the focus on substance. No issue or project is the same, which is why this work never becomes routine. It also means that your success is primarily based on the quality of your work, not on the people you know or the network you have built within the company. Another big plus is that, from an early stage onwards, you get to visit clients and have your own direct responsibilities. Moreover, Ortec Finance has given me the opportunity to attend a course to become a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). All these aspects enable me to further develop my skills, both commercially and with respect to the content of my position.

“I visited a different country nearly every month, either to give a practical workshop or to carry out a new implementation”

While a student at the VU University of Amsterdam, I took a seminar in business econometrics in which the practical cases were provided by ORTEC Logistics CEO Gerrit Timmer. This really got me interested in logistic optimization issues. Subsequently, I started working for ORTEC immediately after my graduation. It turned out to be an excellent choice!

In the beginning, I worked on stock and route planning for gas stations, primarily those of BP and Q8. Our small but solid project team convinced these companies to use the ORTEC planning software on a worldwide scale and we gradually expanded its functionality to meet the various requirements that are required by practice. I visited a different country nearly every month, either to give a practical workshop or to carry out a new implementation.

Later on, my interest was drawn towards passenger transportation and together with a partner I decided to start a brand new company that focussed on taxis and taxi driver rosters. Though now operating on my own, I still maintained a close relationship with ORTEC. In the end, I really missed the diversity of projects and my former colleagues. So, I eventually returned to Ortec Finance in 2005, ready to take on new challenges in an entirely different field, the world of finance. I instantly felt at home again. Strengthened by a postgraduate degree from the Dutch Association of Financial Professionals, I now contribute to the risk management of pension funds and asset managers.

“What I particularly like about working at Ortec Finance is that the organization looks at what kind of work you enjoy doing and suits you best.”

At Ortec Finance, I work as a Business Specialist in the Real Estate Management department. The financial planning procedures of housing corporations are subject to almost constant change. That is why it is of vital importance to always remain up-to-date on the latest developments and be fully aware of the client’s needs. As the Dutch market leader in risk analysis, we are able to provide housing corporations with optimal support based on our advanced models and many years of solid experience. The challenge of my job is to optimize the client’s processes. This involves providing answers to their questions as well as creating new questions, so we can apply this combined information toward optimizing the entire process.

What I really like about working at Ortec Finance is that the organization looks at what kind of work you enjoy doing and suits you best. In all honesty, you can point out that you enjoy working with particular clients, or that you would like to specialize in a particular field or area, or a combination of both. Ortec Finance also supports the process of job rotation, which offers you the opportunity to discover a completely different market or specialization. That way you can continue to work on projects that you find both interesting and challenging.

“In the Company of Experts

“Ortec Finance is a truly unique company. Time and again our employees demonstrate that they are exceptionally skilled in what they do. This confidence breeds a pleasant and open work environment where people are not afraid to speak their minds, even to the point of appearing stubborn at times,” CEO Ton van Welie admits with a smile. “With an annual growth of 20 to 30%, and heavy recruitment among the best and the brightest, our company shows a young and innovative spirit.”

Ortec Finance is also unique in the service it provides. “Our mission is to improve the client’s decisions. Because the problems we focus on – at pension funds and housing corporations, for example – are extremely complex, we use models that we developed ourselves. These models contain a tremendous amount of knowledge and information, thus enabling us, or clients that operate our models independently, to analyse and optimize various policy alternatives in a short time,” according to Guus Boender, one of the original founders of ORTEC.

“But giving good advice is simply not enough; one must also understand the relevant social, economic and political contexts and be aware of the positions of the stakeholders involved. Just imagine the decisions that a pension fund board has to make when stock markets suddenly drop 30% as a result of the global credit crisis, or when pensioners are confronted with steep inflation caused by rising oil prices,” Ton explains. And Guus adds; “The breadth of expertise we have gathered at ORTEC since 1981 is exceptionally wide and results are therefore more or less expected. But I can’t help feeling proud when a junior employee gives a presentation to the board of one of the world’s largest pension funds. Surely it means we are doing something right.”

“It is always a challenge to solve a very complex puzzle, but perhaps even more to convey the outcome in clear and comprehensible language to the client”

As a consultant with Ortec Finance, I solve complicated problems for our clients in the financial markets. Clients vary from banks and insurance companies to asset managers and notaries. It is always a challenge to solve a very complex puzzle, but perhaps even more to convey the outcome in clear and comprehensible language to the client. As a consultant you furthermore play a key role in communicating with the account manager, the product manager and the development group.

What I like about working at Ortec Finance is that the organization has many young and interesting employees who are ambitious without being cocky. Moreover, it is a very dynamic company with a lot of growth potential, both nationally and internationally. I started only three years ago as a student assistant and have already made it to medior consultant. My professional ambition is to develop into a business specialist, possibly broadening my experience by serving Ortec Finance abroad. Who knows what the future brings?