In Conversation with Hockey Club Klein Switzerland Chairman Jeroen in ’t Veld

"In the End, It’s All About Investing in People"

Jeroen in ’t Veld’s involvement with KZ did not begin with ambitions of serving on the board. In fact, he first came to the club as a parent on the sidelines.

“My eldest daughter started playing hockey here, and I quickly discovered that simply standing on the sidelines wasn’t really my style,” he says with a laugh. “So, I became a coach first, then a referee, and before long I found myself becoming more and more involved with the club.”

What started as the commitment of an engaged father gradually evolved into years of dedication to KZ. Since recently, In ’t Veld has taken the helm of a club with more than 2,000 members. He sees his role primarily as both a connector and a driving force.

“A chairman’s job is to make sure people feel seen and heard. It’s not about yourself; it’s about connecting people and ideas. At the same time, we must remain forward-looking. A chairman has a responsibility in that too. That ranges from developing plans to renovate our much-loved clubhouse to finding smart ways to engage more students with the club.”

Building Connections

This connecting role aligns closely with his professional background. RebelGroup, the international consultancy firm that he co-founded and to which he still devotes much of his passion and energy, is an organization where almost everyone is a co-owner, hierarchy is kept to a minimum, and mutual trust is at the heart of the culture.

“In successful organizations, people feel a sense of ownership. That’s true for businesses, but just as much for sports clubs. My dream is that everyone who comes here, for whatever reason, feels: this is my club, this is where I belong, and I feel a little responsible for shaping its future.”

In ‘t Veld believes this mindset is also key to KZ’s future. Five years from now, he envisions a club that is not only successful on the field but also even more deeply rooted in its community. “My biggest wish is for KZ to become even more of a meeting place. A place where people don’t just come to play hockey, but also stay for events, activities, and each other.”

At the same time, he wants to maintain the balance between elite hockey, recreational hockey, and the family atmosphere for which KZ is well known.

“They’re not opposites, they actually reinforce one another. Elite sport inspires, grassroots sport brings people together, and the family atmosphere makes everyone feel at home.”

Shared Values Between Main and KZ

Main has been KZ’s head sponsor for the past year. For In ’t Veld, the partnership represents much more than financial support.

“We were looking for a partner that wanted to do more than simply sponsor the club. We wanted a partner that would be actively involved. From day one, it felt as though Main and KZ were a very natural fit.”

According to In ’t Veld, that fit comes from a shared mindset: both organizations are committed to building sustainable development. Main does this by partnering with entrepreneurs to help software companies achieve long-term growth. KZ builds every day towards a strong club, talent development, and an environment where people can thrive.

“Whether it’s a business or a sports club, it ultimately comes down to the same thing: investing in people and working step by step towards something that creates lasting value. I see that builder’s mentality in both Main and KZ. Agility is also essential. One of the wonderful things about sport is that it’s the ultimate exercise in adaptability: when something isn’t working, the challenge is to turn it around before the match is over.”

According to him, this shared vision extends beyond the organizations themselves.

“We both have a strong position within our communities, and that comes with responsibility. Main is already involved in a number of social initiatives, and together we can make an even greater contribution to the society around us.”

That is precisely why the partnership feels so natural.

“We both understand that sustainable growth takes time. It requires a long-term vision and the willingness to invest in it.”

A partnership built on software expertise

Ferranti’s partnership with Main Capital marks the company’s first institutional investment and the beginning of a new growth chapter.

“Main speaks the software language,” Van Haute says. “You don’t have to explain how a software business works, because they have lived it many times over. And we were genuinely surprised by how sharp their view of the utility sector was at the initial engagement.”

In practical terms, the partnership unlocks buy-and-build capability that Ferranti was never able to explore previously – complementary products, adjacent utility domains, and new geographies – supported by Main’s in-house expertise in sourcing and integrating acquisitions. It also opens access to the broader Main portfolio of nearly 60 B2B software companies, and the accumulated knowledge on go-to-market strategy, pricing and packaging, and accelerating top-line growth that comes with it.

Investing in AI

Ferranti is investing in artificial intelligence across three areas. Internally, it is rolling out developer tooling including GitHub Copilot and evaluating how to bring additional models into its development workflows securely. For its own teams, it has built a MECOMS AI Assistant that allows staff to query product documentation conversationally, a particularly valuable tool for onboarding new colleagues.

Most significantly, Ferranti is developing AI capabilities for customers, working closely with Microsoft to build assisted-AI tools and MCP servers that enable natural-language interaction with utility data. It is also building its first AI agents in collaboration with key customers, with plans to accelerate that work in the coming months.

“We have seen a real acceleration here over the last half year,” Van Haute says. “Working hand in hand with Microsoft, we are creating a lot of interest and genuine enthusiasm among our customers.”

Looking ahead

A decade from now, Van Haute wants Ferranti to be a leading European software provider across the broader utilities landscape: larger, more international, and with AI woven into the core of the product.

“What drives me personally is happy people and happy customers. And I want to do that in a way that we keep the special Ferranti DNA across all our wider communities – a culture of engineering, innovation and agility.”

“If we can make the energy transition genuinely operable for our customers and build a resilient business where talented people do their best work, I’ll consider the job done well.”