The Conference Platform is is characterized by it’s intimate and interactive setting and will take place on Monday the 7th of April. During this day students can get into contact with notable people from different fieldsuch as business, the army, politics, media, journalism and so forth on their way to excellence or already reached it and lead by example. There will be the opportunity to ask them the questions that you have always wondered about directly. Topics discussed will relate to personal excellence and development and other current societal issues.
The Conference Platform will take place on the 44st floor of the ‘Deloitte Maastoren’, the highest building of the Benelux. This room has a unique view over the beautiful city of Rotterdam with its skyline of booming business hearts, who knows your future office? Where better to discuss your intrinsic motivation, personal excellence and goals than on top of the Benelux?
Deloitte Maastoren
Wilhelminakade 1
3072AP Rotterdam
Stefan Wijers is an experienced host and moderator. He won the prize ‘Beste dagvoorzitterschap van het jaar 2013’ and is very comfortable in leading exciting discussions such as during the Conference Platform.
“A 24 hour-talk asks for only 1 minute of preparation, however a 1 minute-talk asks for 24 hours of preparation.”
http://stefanwijers.nl/
Bas Haring is a philosopher, informatician and writer of popular science and children’s literature. He is also professor at the University of Leiden. He is excellent at explaining difficult philosophies or theories in an easy way and views topics from a very different point of view. Come to the Conference Platform to totally renew your views in life!
Born: De Bilt 1968
Favourite place: New York City
Favourite Food: Rotti
Excellence: Using metaphors or analogues to explain something that is very complex in an easy way.
Quote: ‘Denk wat vaker na’ – “Think a bit more often”
Bas Welling is co-founder and executive producer at Wefilm. An award-winning production company, aimed at developing film campaigns which are not forced upon its audience, but are so engaging that it makes people share it themselves. Bas manages this creative company and will speak about what excellence is for him, how he found out what it is for him and how you can find out what your excellence is.
Born: In Stokkum, de Achterhoek.
Favorite place: Amsterdam
Favorite food: Argentinian steak.
Excellence: Managing a young group of creative filmmakers towards the most-awarded film production house of The Netherlands
Quote: You shouldn’t wait for creativity to come by. You should create it yourself. That’s why it’s called creativity.
Bernd Damme is an early bird when it comes to pretty much everything. As a young teenager he surprised the then Dutch prime-minister Balkenende, by bringing his high school essay, titled The New Deal, to the minister’s attention that could potentially lead to a second Dutch Golden Age. As of 2006, he was at the head of Eye-wear.nl, the Dutch online market leader specialized in sunglasses. In the first half of 2013, Eye-wear.nl was sold to a Dutch consortium. Damme has a strong social commitment to actively supporting (young) entrepreneurship and is now working at Fazhan Ventures.
Born: Wageningen;
Favorite plek: Florence & Stockholm;
Favorite food: Italian, French
Excellence: Entrepreneurship
Quote: Why join the Navy if you can be a pirate!
As a trendanalyst she detects any cultural, social and societal developments and their effect on the consumer at an early stage. She manages to distill from a multitude of information the currents that are relevant to customers and defines trends.
Born: Utrecht in 1961
Quote: ‘Faith’ the Future navigating the new consumer needs.
Deen Sonneveldt is an Erasmus University graduate and has been working for Deloitte for twenty-two years. In his current function he is audit partner, Energy Resources & Transportation.
Following his operational time as an F-16 fighter pilot and Commander of the Air Force, Dick Berlijn became the first Commander of the Dutch Armed Forces. In that position, he was the highest ranking officer ommanding the Dutch Armed Forces.
Born: Amsterdam in 1950
Favorite place: Twente
Favorite food: Sushi
Field of expertise: Issues on safety, strategy, conflict management, cybersecurity and so forth.
Dick Molman has over 38 years of experience in the media. He was CEO of Sanoma Media Netherlands BV and member of the Executive Management Board of Sanoma Corporation. As of January 1, 2013 he resigned and nowadays he is available as an independent consultant and commissioner.
Dolores Leeuwin is a TV presenter for among others ‘Klokhuis’ and ‘Hoe?Zo!’. She loves dancing, music, theatre and people. In the Dutch IQ test of 2012 she had a score of 159.
Elizabeth van Geerestein guides leaders, professionals, entrepreneurs and teams through successful leadership, career, and organizational transformation. Papillon & Partners specializes in Leadership Coaching, Leadership Development, Career Transition, and Leadership Team Development. Elizabeth has a Phd from Sheffield University, UK and an MBA from RSM, Erasmus University.
Born: London, England
Favorite Place: Little Cayman, Cayman Islands (British West Indies)
Favorite food: anything my mother cooks
Excellence: Coaching individuals and teams to discover purpose and vision, to achieve breakthrough results and create amazing futures.
Quotes –
Carpe Diem
Do not wait. The time will never be just right. Start where you stand and work with whatever tools you may have at your command and better tools will be found as you go along.
—Napoleon Hill
Esther Jacobs (1970) is also called the No Excuses Lady. When the Euro was introduced, she collected €16 million in left-over coins for charity, without any experience or resources. Both as a key-note speaker and writer, she helps organizations and professionals to achieve their goals with less resources.
Born: 1970 – Utrecht
Favorite place is difficult: I love swimming in the warm, clear blue sea of Curaçao, I also enjoy springtime in Mallorca.
- Quote: If you really want something, you’ll find a way. If not: you’ll find an excuse www.estherjacobs.info
After graduation from the Erasmus University, Frank started his career at Shell. After Shell, Frank joined Booz & Co, an international strategy consulting firm, where the focus of his work was the global media & entertainment industry. Subsequently Frank held senior global positions at Reed-Elsevier, Infinitas Learning and in 2007, Frank joined Wolters Kluwer as CEO Wolters-Kluwer Netherlands and Regional Managing Director Northern-Europe. Frank is married and has two daughters.
Born: April 4th 1966 in Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Favorite place: Australia
Favorite food: Lebanese
Excellence: Online business & strategy
- Quote: “It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.”, Charles Darwin
Frans Weisglas is a former Dutch diplomat and politician of the VVD. He served as the first elected president of the House of Representatives, the best job there is according to him. He was spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, Europe and Development and Cooperation. Nowadays he gives something back to society as an ambassador for Terre des Hommes.
Foto: Carolien Achterbosch
Born 08/08/1946
Favourite place: Rotterdam/Scheepvaatkwartier
Favourite food: zuurkool/sauerkraut
Excellence: politically leading meetings
Quote: beschaafd taalgebruik- ook in het parlement- is goed voor harmonieuze omgang tussen mensen.
‘Polite use of language – even in the Parliament – is good for harmonious relationships.’
Gerlinde has been working for the Rabobank since 1984. She started as a management trainee at the Rabobank during her study German language and literature. Over the years, she has worked in many different areas and departments within the organisation. She is currently director Human Resources of the Rabobank Group.
Born (year and place)? 1959 in Amsterdam
Favourite place? home
Favourite activities: music, reading
Excellence (what are you excellent in/your field of expertise)? Culture change
Quote: Een bepaalde rol, positie of functie in een organisatie is ondergeschikt; het gaat erom dat je altijd blijft acteren als mens. A certain role, position or function in an organisation is of minor importance; it is more important to keep acting as a human being.
Mr Divon is Israelian but is living and working in the Netherlands. In his current role, he helps to represent Israel in the Netherlands as the Ambassador’s Deputy and Counsellor at the Israelian Embassy in The Hague. If you want to hear more about diplomacy at work and how Israel and the Netherlands work together, please come along to the Conference Platform.
Hans Ouwendijk is an ESE alumnus and now the CEO of the Vlisco Group, the fashion design house famous for the Dutch wax prints which lead the market in Africa. Come to the Conference Platform if you want to know what it is like to lead a company that does so well in a developing continent like Africa.
Born: 31 december 1953 in Delft
Favorite place: Boston
Favorite food: bruine boterham met kaas
Execellence: Change Management
Quote: Ubuntu philosophy: ‘I am what I am, because of who we all are.’
Jan Heemskerk has operated in the men’s magazines industry for most of his professional life, most recently as editor in chief of Playboy magazine and Creative Director at FHM magazine. Now he has switched to radio, writing columns and books, theater, online publishing, tv and anything else involving speaking to crowds.
Born : 1962 Leidschendam
Favorite place Charlotteville, Tobago
Favorite food Big Roasts, cooked slow
Excellence Spotting talented women
Quote: ‚Why in hell would you want to be like everybody else?’
Jeannine Peek is Managing Director at Dell Netherlands. As Managing Director she leads the Dutch organization which transformed into an end to end IT Solutions company. She has a lot of experience in leadership positions and is member of several supervisory boards.
This man is a doctor in Psychology who found a passion in marketing and communication. He searches for a connection between strategy and implementation. In his eyes creativity is very important but it is mostly a result of disciplined thinking. He is an enthusiastic advisor, generalist, processmanager, writer and team leader with a lot of experience as consultant.
Born in Haarlem in 1963.
Favourite place? City: New York. Location: any theatre.
Favourite food? Anything prepared with love and dedication.
Excellence? Developing communication strategy.
Quote: “Life is far too important to be taken seriously.” – Oscar Wilde
Korrie Louwes is vice mayor for the Labourmarket, Higher Education, Innovation and Participation at the municipality of Rotterdam. Before this she was spokesperson at several ministries and chair of the programme committee D66 in Rotterdam.
Favourite food: Sushi
Excellence: Innovation in the public domain and realisation of plans
Korrie Louwes – Vice mayor for the Labourmarket, Higher Education, Innovation and Participation
Quote:
There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other. (Desiderius Erasmus)
Liesbeth Hop is a frequently asked speaker, presenter, teacher, columnist and has written several books among which ‘The WIFI-generation’. She gives advice to businesses, the government and parents. She gives lectures and workshops on the new WIFI-generation, which consists of youth who are online daily via their mobile devices.
Liesbeth Noordegraaf-Eelens is economist and philosopher. She is affiliated to the Erasmus University College, as head of deparment of humanities, and to the Erasmus School of Economics. In 2010 she defended her Phd ‘Contested Communication’ on the communication of central bank presidents in times of crisis. Topics of interest are: trust, uncertainty, communication and crisis.
Born: Beerse (Belgium) 1973
Favourite food: Italian food or food prepared by an excellent cook/chef.
Excellence: making non-obvious combinations
Quote: Not that you lied to me, but that I no longer believe you, has shaken me out (attributed to Nietzsche)
http://nl.linkedin.com/pub/liesbeth-noordegraaf-eelens/5/10a/448
Most people know her from the newspapers as Lucia de B. Lucia de Berk is a former nurse who was subject of a miscarriage of justice. She has been in jail for several years while being innocent but now she is free again. In March the movie about her story is released. Come to the Conference Platform if you want to hear her special story and hear what she has learned in life.
Borng: The Hague in 1961.
The Hague is my favorite place where there is also a lovely restaurant that serves my favorite food, an argentinian steak.
I excell in survival by keeping true to myself and freedom is my motivation!
Quote: Never lose hope no matter how small the chances are.
Patrick Munsters is the founder of MARIE-STELLA-MARIS and former creative director and co-owner of Scotch & Soda. Patrick started MARIE-STELLA MARIS with the idea to make a substantial contribution to one of the most basic necessities in life; access to clean drinking water.
Quote: By giving each other space and opening up to different perspectives, you can jointly develop and grow.
Pia Dijkstra is a tv producer, journalist, former television (news) presenter and politician. She has been a Member of Parliament for Democrats 66 since 2010. She focuses on matters of public health, welfare, sports and emancipation. Ms. Dijkstra is excellent at persuading people and has a strong commitment to society.
Pim Schmitz is CEO of Talpa Holding and thereby working closely together with Dutch media tycoon John de Mol. He is charged with strategy & national and international business development in particular. Come to the Conference Platform if you want to know what it is like to be the CEO of a large Media Holding.
Born: 1968, Rotterdam
Favourite place: Rotterdam/Madrid
Favourite food: meat
Excellence: understanding changing business models in media
Quote: change is always an opportunity
You probably know Ruud Feltkamp from his role as ‘Noud’ in ‘Goede tijden, slechte tijden’. He became famous when he was only 10 years old by playing leading roles in the movies ‘Kruimeltje’ and ‘Kees de Jongen’. Next to acting, he works as a video-editor and DJ.
Born : Amsterdam 1989
Favourite place: Vondelpark
Favourite food: Beef carpaccio salad.
Excellence : I am excellent in acting, video-editing and dj-ing combined with having vision on my fields of expertise.
Quote: Keep your life goals clear and live up to them every day, but don’t forget to enjoy the ride.
Sandra has more than 20 years’ worth of experience with guiding individuals, teams and organizations in profound change processes and leadership development in her capacity as consultant, coach, facilitator, trainer and author. She combines her background in business economics (EUR), psychology and therapy with her years of experience in the field of change management, personal leadership and systemic work.
Born: 1965, Geleen
Favourite place: Italy, Italian life, the language, the food
Excellence: combination of business and psychology/therapy; working at the intersection where business becomes personal; bridging gaps of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’
Quote: Life wants to work with us in surprising ways. We could make our lives so much more interesting, and develop so many new capacities, if we sought to work with the unknowns of emergence, rather than try and plan surprise out of our lives. (Margaret Wheatley, A simpler way)
Website: http://www.purechange.nl/
Sheila Struyck is a hands-on marketing strategist. She is pragmatic and always has her eye on the end-user through NPS and innovation. As an inspiring leader, self-starter and tenacious change-agent she earned merits in large multinationals and as entrepreneur. In 2011 – as CMO Philips fourth most influential Dutch female marketer according to TvM. Nowadays she is active in electric mobility, food and health.
Born: 1965
Favourite place: anywhere I lay my hat,
Favorite food: Ottolenghi (Israelian food)
Quote: Do one thing every day that scares you
Thomas Hendriks has worked for 30 years in all media. He started at 20 as a newspaper reporter and worked for several leading Dutch magazines quickly becoming editor-in-chief at 28. He has also worked for several television production companies, such as Endemol en Eyeworks, mostly as creative director or program director.
Born 6-1-1962
Favourite place: New York
Favourite food: sushi
Excellence: magazines!
Quote: ‘Wat kan ik voor je doen?’ / ‘How can I help you?’