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About this episode
Is succeeding in treasury just down to your qualifications and experience?
Those things are certainly important, but according to this week’s Treasury Career Corner podcast guest, they’re not the only skills you need to have.
In this week’s show, I am joined by Klaas Springer, the Corporate Director of Treasury at Royal FrieslandCampina N.V.
Klaas Springer believes that developing your soft skills, communication, and team building are all just as important if you want a long and fulfilling treasury career. Treasury is a very social industry, more so than people expect. His advice to new and aspiring treasurers is to not overlook the importance of soft skills.
As Global Director of Treasury, Klaas is responsible for financing, cash management, financial risk management (including insurance), and bank relationships. He has a Ph.D. in Economics and has previously held various treasury positions at Royal Friesland Foods, Royal Ahold, ING Investment Management, the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), and Robeco Group.
Royal FrieslandCampina N.V. is a Dutch multinational dairy cooperative that is based in Amersfoort, Netherlands.
It supplies consumer products, such as milk, yogurt, cheese, infant nutrition, and desserts, products for the professional market, such as cream and butter products, ingredients, and semi-finished products for producers of infant nutrition, the food industry, and the pharmaceutical sector.
They have branches in 38 countries and export to more than 100 countries worldwide. At year-end 2020, FrieslandCampina employed more than 23,000 workers (FTEs).
On the podcast, we discussed…
- How Klaas first got involved in economics and why he eventually moved into treasury
- Why you need soft skills to succeed in a treasury role
- How Klaas dealt with challenges such as the credit crisis in 2008
- What the future of treasury will look like with AI
- Why learning and development should always be an ongoing process
- Klaas’ top tips for aspiring treasurers
Connect with Klaas on LinkedIn.
Are you interested in pursuing a career within Treasury?
Whether you’ve recently graduated, or you want to search for new job opportunities to help develop your treasury career, The Treasury Recruitment Company can help you in your search for the perfect job. Find out more here. Or, send us your CV and let us help you in your next career move!
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Earn CTP & FPAC Credits by Listening to the Podcast
Whether you’re at the gym, on your commute, or walking the dog – you can now make your podcast time count toward your professional development.
We’re thrilled to share that Treasury Career Corner podcast episodes now qualify for CTP and FPAC recertification credits through the AFP’s Independent Study category.
How It Works:
- Each episode comes with a short multiple-choice quiz
- Score 80% or higher and you’ll receive your credit confirmation
- You track and submit your credits to AFP directly – nice and simple
The longer the episode, the more credits you can earn:
- 30-minute episode = 0.6 credits
- 45-minute episode = 0.9 credits
- 60-minute episode = 1.2 credits
No filler. No fluff. Just real conversations with top treasury leaders on strategy, leadership, risk, tech, and team building - everything AFP expects at an intermediate to advanced level.
Quick Facts:
Quizzes are 8–10 multiple choice questions
You need to get at least 80% to pass
We’ll send confirmation - you log the credit with AFP
You can include this as part of your recertification record