It is with deep sadness that the International Project Management Association has learned of the passing of Gerrit Koch, IPMA Honorary Fellow, former President of IPMA Netherlands, and one of the most dedicated people our global community has known.

For more than two decades, Gerrit gave his energy, knowledge and warmth to the project management profession in the Netherlands and around the world. When IPMA-NL nominated him as an Honorary Fellow, they wrote of his “unrelenting and cooperative enthusiasm” for the international cause. Everyone who worked with him will recognize that description.

Gerrit’s path into project management was not a conventional one. He trained as a mathematics teacher, studied psychology, and then qualified in information technology and business administration. That mix of analytical rigor and understanding of people shaped everything he did afterwards.

He started his career in education and moved into business in 1990. From 1997 he led the development of project management as a professional competence at PinkRoccade, where he built and directed a team of 40 senior project, program and interim managers. He later became a principal consultant at Berenschot, and from 2010 he worked at Van Aetsveld. There he advised organizations on projects, programs and portfolio management, helped develop the competences of their project managers, and personally took on turnarounds and complex programs.

Gerrit’s influence on IPMA reaches far beyond the Netherlands. He served on the board of IPMA Netherlands from 1997 to 2007, including as President, and represented his country in IPMA’s international governance. Two of his contributions are still used across our Member Associations today:

– ICB 3.0: Gerrit was project leader and co-author of the third version of the IPMA International Competence Baseline, published in 2006, which set the standard for project management competence worldwide.

– IPMA Delta: From 2012 he led the development of IPMA Delta, IPMA’s method for assessing how well an organization works in projects.

He was also a pioneer in certification. An assessor since 1995 and a long-serving certification board member, in 2003 he became the first IPMA Level A certified project manager in the Netherlands, opening the way for that level of certification in his country. He helped convince major companies such as Shell and Heineken to adopt IPMA certification as recognition for their project managers. He was lead trainer for the Advanced Workshop on Program Management, contributed to several books, sat on the editorial board of the International Journal of Project Management, and spoke regularly at conferences in the Netherlands and abroad.

In recognition of all this, the IPMA Council of Delegates approved the Honorary Fellowship nomination of Gerritt Koch in Riga, Latvia, in March 2016. The reviewers found that his contributions did not just meet the criteria for the honor but exceeded them in every area. They called him “an example for our profession and essential in major developments within IPMA.”

Gerrit liked to end his presentations with the Aikido creed: balance among mind, heart and gut. It summed him up well. He brought a clear mind to the hardest problems, real care to the people he mentored and worked alongside, and the instinct and courage to lead when it mattered.

In the words of Prof. Dr. Mladen Vukomanović, President of IPMA: “Gerrit was one of those rare people whose legacy cannot be measured only by what he achieved, but by the lives he touched along the way. He helped build the foundations of IPMA through his remarkable work on the ICB and IPMA Delta, but what I will remember most is his unwavering belief in people, especially young project professionals.

I was one of those young people. As a member of the IPMA Young Crew, I experienced his kindness, encouragement, and mentorship firsthand. Gerrit gave me something far more valuable than professional advice: he gave me his trust, his time, and the confidence to believe in myself. He made me feel that I belonged and that I could make a difference.

Over the years, I have learned that we remember people not so much for what they accomplished, but for how they made us feel. Gerrit made us feel valued, inspired, and hopeful. He was a true believer in project management, but even more, he believed in the people behind it.

His legacy will live on not only in the profession he helped shape, but in the generations of people he encouraged and inspired. I will always carry a part of his spirit with me.

On behalf of IPMA, I extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends, and our colleagues at IPMA Netherlands. We have lost a remarkable colleague, a generous mentor, and, above all, a wonderful human being.”

— Prof. Dr. Mladen Vukomanović, President, IPMA

Our thoughts are with Gerrit’s family and loved ones at this difficult time. His legacy lives on in the standards he helped write, the professionals he certified and mentored, and the community he served so faithfully.