Meet Rogier van der Linde
“I love my job. I love getting the best out of this company and our people to give the best impact to our customers.”
Meet Rogier van der Linde, Hiab’s Senior Vice President of Truck Mounted Forklifts. Rogier’s task is to lead Hiab’s business line being responsible for the growth and development of the Moffett and Princenton products with R&D and manufacturing based in Ireland and sales all over the globe. However, this is not Rogiers first position at Cargotec or even at Hiab. How did he end up here then? “Well, this will be a long story because Cargotec is still the first company I have ever worked for.”
Rogier’s career at Cargotec started in 2007 when he got a trainee position at Kalmar after finishing his Bachelor’s degree in Economics. Ever since Rogier has been in the company either at Kalmar, MacGregor or Hiab: “Six years ago I got the chance to join Hiab, I have had the great opportunity to see all the three business areas in Cargotec.” Work at Hiab has taken Rogier to different positions and countries, first to Sweden, then to the UK with a short stop back in The Netherlands, where he is originally from, and then Rogier and his family moved to Ireland at the end of 2019.
It can be said that Rogier’s work at Cargotec and Hiab has affected and shaped his life in many ways and there are lots of memories along the way: “There are so many memorable moments of my time at Hiab. For example; negotiating M&A deals in US, China, Brazil, Italy, getting a call from Mika Vehviläinen (CEO of Cargotec) to get the profit acceleration job, rescheduling my flight to get home just in time to see my mom passing away, winning awards at the round table, getting my master degree, doubling the business in the UK, moving to Copenhagen with my family and then to the UK and many more.”
International positions, tasks and contacts have taught a lot along the way and Rogier thinks that his time abroad has been one of the best things about his job: “I learned a lot in the UK and have had the opportunity to share those experiences in other countries as well in my previous role being responsible for South & West Europe.” Rogier also thinks that the company’s culture and atmosphere suits him well and is one of the reasons he is still in the company: “I am result oriented and I really like to win. And winning in “this game” is a team sport. So, I love to work with these motivated and passionate people who want to get the job done and win. There are many opportunities in this business and we have so many great people in the company that we can all learn from.” This especially comes to play in his latest challenge to lead the TMFL business line.
Overall, Rogier thinks that we should never stop learning: “I don’t only like to support others to get better every day, but I also continuously try to work on myself to get better every day.” Rogier feels that Hiab as a company offers you different ways to develop yourself: “At Hiab there are tons of opportunities and there are smart and passionate people who can guide you to your dream job and you can also have fun while doing it.”