bloom: Lien Keulemans
Her passion for technology led bioengineer Lien Keulemans, after a career of more than 15 years in consulting and biotech, to join the data consulting company Sparkle. As Managing Partner, she values human leadership.
Lien does not see this as typically feminine, but as a leadership style she has developed throughout her career. By listening to people and connecting them, she helps them bring out the best in themselves. The result: happy employees and satisfied customers. "The culture of Sparkle is completely in line with my own vision and values. Here I can become the best version of myself; I really fit in here," says the driven tech entrepreneur.
"Technology has always fascinated me. Using tech usefully to make a positive contribution to the business world and society: that's my purpose," Lien says when we ask her at the start of our conversation how she got into the tech sector as a bioengineer.
The passion to change and improve things, she has from no strangers, she explains. "My parents were both very involved in this. My dad was a prof and did research on how we can permanently provide food for the world's population, and my mom was involved in refugee reception."
Helping companies grow
After studying bioengineering, Lien first worked in consulting and biotech for 8 years. "I found it fascinating to gain experience in different fields, because I consider myself a generalist rather than a specialist. Because of my interest in technology and my sense of entrepreneurship, it was a logical step to start a tech company with my husband in 2013."
Krinos Academy offered cyber awareness solutions to companies to sensitize their employees and customers about the danger of cyber attacks, hacking and phishing. "Using a positive story, we wanted to teach people to stop being trapped," she explains.
In 2017, Krinos Academy was acquired by Cranium. Lien worked at the privacy, security and data management specialist for 3 years to help grow the company. "I started up a team with a focus on biotech and pharma, the sectors where I had already worked for most of my career."
"In a year and a half, it grew to 22 people. I discovered that I get a lot of energy from helping smaller companies, both start-ups and scale-ups, build their own culture and market position," she says of her drive to grow organizations.
Human aspect
That drive led her to join Sparkle, the company where she is Managing Partner today, in December 2020. Sparkle is a strategic and holistic data partner with expertise in five disciplines: data platform modernization, data governance, data visualization, artificial intelligence and enterprise architecture.
Kristof Van de Loock, the founder of Sparkle who had known Lien for several years, had asked her to become a partner before 2020 and help grow his company, which was founded in 2016. "I hesitated for a long time because I wanted to make sure it was a sustainable match. In the end, I decided to go for it."
In two years, I saw Sparkle grow from 15 to 50 employees, 34 percent of whom were women
"I was completely comfortable with Sparkle's mission: to maximize the value of data to businesses and use technology to improve business. I immediately felt that Kristof Van de Loockwas different from the leaders I had worked with in the past: from the beginning he treated me as an equal partner," says Lien, who saw the 'Sparkleers' team grow from 15 to 50 employees in two years, 34 percent of whom are women.
We'd like to know if, as a female executive, she's in between for something. "During my past work experiences, I have realized that professional happiness is largely determined by company culture. That's why I place so much importance on the human aspect within Sparkle. Providing a listening ear, making sure people feel safe in the organization, creating connections: I get so much satisfaction from that."
"The fact that our employees and customers are satisfied and that our company is able to grow as a result is probably partly due to this human leadership. But it is not only to my credit because Kristof Van de Loock and I complement each other perfectly as co-founders."
Different perspective
Throughout Liens' leadership at Sparkle, three core values run as a common thread: humility, teamwork and enthusiasm. "Humility means that you look at things from different perspectives, not just your own. That you realize there is more than one truth, depending on the context. Because I have experience with ego-driven leaders, I attach great importance to this - because humility is the opposite of ego."
"This is closely related to my second value: teamwork. Good decisions are always based on multiple points of view and cooperation between different people. Even though the Sparkle team consists of experienced people, everyone needs help and advice from colleagues from time to time. I am proud of our company culture where every employee shares his or her expertise with colleagues and customers," it sounds.
"A day without laughter is a sign that we need to change things."
Last but not least is enthusiasm, a value reflected in Sparkle's company name. "We strive for fun and happiness at work: we want to spark professional happiness. I am convinced that fun and humor are part of the foundation of a successful company. Kristof and I often say to each other: a day without laughter is a sign that we need to change things."
Filling all the spots
That she does not have a strict tech background is something Lien sees as an advantage to her career in a technology company. "I can't do client projects myself that's true, but that's not where my added value lies either," she says. "Unlike in many other companies, as Managing Partner I don't have a clearly defined role. From my strengths, I take on the role needed at that time to move the company forward."
"I love being part of our team of experts. I love listening to people so I can guide them to be the best they can be. Is that typically female? Maybe so, but I think it's more about your leadership style than whether you're a man or a woman. Because I have to confess that I wasn't always like that. At the beginning of my career I was among the 'sharks' and in time I began to behave that way."
"You can be tough AND empathetic"
"It took time for me to realize that things can be different: you can be tough AND empathetic. At Sparkle, I have found this balance. I find it a rewarding job to fill all the spots and connect people. I am in my place here: I am the best version of myself AND I help people bring out the best in themselves."
With the recent addition of two experienced employees dealing with HR and the human aspect, Lien has more time to take on a sales role. "I enjoy doing that too, I am very commercially minded. Selling also comes down to listening and working with people: the things that give me the most satisfaction," she says.
Spark professional happiness
Lien considers building a strong leadership team one of the big milestones during her career at Sparkle so far. "First it was Kristof alone, then the 2 of us, and in recent years we've done a serious growth spurt. In addition to our Leuven office, we now have offices in the Netherlands and Estonia."
"We have found the right people to lead our teams there. We give them a lot of freedom and responsibility. They handle this in an outstanding way, with great results on a business and human level," she says proudly. In the future, Sparkle wants to put additional emphasis on training and a mentorship program based on self-selected career goals.
"We don't have to be the biggest. We are ambitious, but above all we want to grow sustainably and also keep the employees we have in our company."
Lien wants Sparkle to grow even more than it has in the past two years, although growth is not a primary objective in itself. "The basic philosophy of Sparkle - and the reason Kristof founded the company at the time - is that we want to have fun. We don't have to be the biggest. We are ambitious, but above all we want to grow sustainably and keep the employees we have in our company."
"Today we mainly attract many mature people with an average of twenty years of experience - that is atypical in the consulting world. We obviously need that expertise to provide high-level services. But we also want to create an 'in-between layer' of less experienced people. They can learn from the seniors, who enjoy sharing their knowledge and in turn learn from the younger generation. That way everyone can develop to their full potential and we will continue to spark professional happiness for many years to come."
Do you also want a "spark happiness"? Then meet Lien and her team!
This bloom story is a collaboration between Bloovi & Clusity. Together we want to inspire, connect and support even more women. The story of Lien is read it here on Bloovi. 🥰
