Els van der Helm

Dr. Els van der Helm is the founder of Shleep – the sleep company which coaches businesses and leaders on how to improve effectiveness, health and engagement through better sleep management. Shleep offers sleep programs including a sleep coaching app, workshops, coaching and consulting.

Prior to founding Shleep, Els worked for 3 years as a management consultant at McKinsey where she combined her passion for leadership development and sleep management. She developed and facilitated training programs for both McKinsey consultants and clients. Based on research on leaders across the world she published an article that was featured in Harvard Business Review and the McKinsey Quarterly. Prior to joining McKinsey Els extensively researched sleep: during her Master’s in Neurosciences (Netherlands Institute for Neurosciences and Harvard Medical School). As a Fulbright scholar she studied the effects of sleep on the brain during her PhD in Psychology (University of California Berkeley) resulting in peer-reviewed articles in Current Biology, PLoS One, Psychological Bulletin, SLEEP, PNAS and several book chapters.

Companies

• Adjunct Professor IE Business School (2019)
• Co-founder and CEO Shleep (2016)
• Partner Learning & Development - Firm Learning McKinsey & Company (2015 — 2016)
• Associate Consultant McKinsey & Company (2014 — 2015)
• Junior Associate Consultant McKinsey & Company (2013 — 2014)
• PhD Psychology UC Berkeley (2008 — 2013)
• Instructor, Psychology Honors Seminar UC Berkeley (2011 — 2013)
• Honors thesis student mentor UC Berkeley (2009 — 2011)
• Instructor Psychology of Sleep & Biological Psychology UC Berkeley (2008 — 2010)

Education

• Master of Science (MSc) Cum Laude Universiteit van Amsterdam / University of Amsterdam (2005 — 2008)
• Bachelor of Science (BSc) Honors Distinction Universiteit van Amsterdam / University of Amsterdam (2005 — 2008)