Coaching with perspective
René Sonneveld enables organizations, family systems, and individuals to grow through major change and significant shifts by harnessing the power of perspective and emotion.
René's transition to coaching over a decade ago was fueled by the challenges he faced as a corporate executive. With a rich history as Managing Director, CEO, and Chairman at Fortune 500 companies and family-run businesses across four continents, he now leverages this vast experience to coach leaders and corporate teams. His coaching aims to boost leadership skills and directly impact organizational performance.
He brings a deeply experienced touch to coaching family stakeholders through critical generational transitions and expertly mediates within family systems, resolving discord and emotional hurdles. His adeptness in steering through these pivotal moments and addressing governance challenges ensures the sustainability and harmony of family legacies.
Beyond the corporate world, he is passionate about developing the mental skills of athletes and national sports selections, focusing on unlocking the potential of high-performing young talents.
René began his career in 1985 as an international tax lawyer in the Netherlands, Hong Kong, and Curacao. He gained extensive international business development experience by successfully opening the Latin American market for Germany's largest brewery, Warsteiner, and expanding the Argentine Moreno family's commodities trading activities globally from his position as CEO of their Geneva office. He held global leadership roles, including managing director for UBS Bank and head of global wealth management at Deutsche Bank in Switzerland. He concluded his corporate journey as Citibank New York’s “family and corporate governance champion” in 2010.
In 2012, the Queen of the Netherlands appointed René as Honorary Consul General in Uruguay, a title renewed by the current King in 2017 and 2022. These consular activities have provided him invaluable insights into the inner workings of international government agencies and foreign affairs.
Besides leadership and family enterprise coaching, René is deeply committed to sustainability. He aims to create a green hydrogen supply chain from South America to Europe, benefiting local South American communities and aiding the decarbonization goals of the Netherlands and the EU.
He serves as an Executive-In-Residence at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business. And teaches "Leadership Coaching for Organizational Performance" at Rutgers, American and North Carolina State University.
His academic credentials include a law degree from the University of Amsterdam, an MBA from the University of Chicago, and certifications in Leadership Coaching for Organizational Performance from American University and Psychology for High-Performance Sports from Barça Universitas. He is also a Professional Certified Coach and Advanced Certified Team Coach with the International Coaching Federation and a Certified Team Coach with Team Coaching International.
René calls Uruguay his home base, where he lives with his soulmate and their five children.
a His affiliations:
René Sonneveld
2022
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