Ineke Kooistra & Elbrich Batstra Launch Headhunter EliN Partners

May 6, 2025 – Consultancy.nl

Experienced executives and headhunters Ineke Kooistra and Elbrich Batstra have jointly launched ELiN Partners. With their new firm, they aim to revolutionize the executive search market by looking beyond resumes and job titles in their candidate searches: “We don't build profiles. We build leaders.”

Both have been active for many years in the human resources and recruitment sectors. They felt the industry could use a fresh perspective. While headhunters often focus on extensive resumes in their search for top candidates, Kooistra and Batstra believe the current era demands a different approach.

“Future-proof leaders are more important than ever in this turbulent world,” says Kooistra. “And you don't find them by simply reviewing a list of job titles someone has held. At ELiN Partners, we assess leadership based on behavior, executive skills, character, courage, and impact during transformations.”

The firm aims to create sustainable matches by carefully evaluating how potential candidates can advance organizations within complex environments where much is at stake. Their focus is on organizations undergoing change, such as scale-ups, corporations, family businesses, and private equity firms.

“We don't build profiles. We build leaders,” says Batstra. “We see people. We listen attentively. We create meaningful change. We recognize true leadership because we've walked that path ourselves.”

Never Let Go

Kooistra and Batstra crossed paths in 2013 at YoungCapital. They worked closely together for ten years—Kooistra as CEO and Batstra as CHRO. Eventually, they each pursued their own paths: Kooistra served as Group CEO at Circle8 and as a supervisory board member at AFAS, while Batstra founded the People & Business Boutique.

“But we never let go of each other,” says Kooistra. “In our subsequent activities and assignments, we frequently reconnected. During these conversations, we saw an opportunity, especially after discussing our frustrations about areas that could be improved.”

With ELiN Partners, they are now seizing that opportunity

With ELiN Partners, Batstra and Kooistra pursue international ambitions while continuing their own ventures—Batstra with People & Business Boutique and Kooistra with IntermanageTheAgency. ELiN positions itself as an international partnership, combining a boutique approach with a European network. Offices are planned in cities like London, Stockholm, Zurich, and Berlin, with strategic partnerships in New York. The duo is recruiting managing partners and sees strong potential for international collaboration with executives and clients.

For more information, you can read the original article here. https://www.consultancy.nl/nieuws/60169/ineke-kooistra-en-elbrich-batstra-lanceren-headhunter-elin-partners