Marieke Rietbergen

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Professional Background

Marieke is the director and founder of Design Innovation Group (DIG). DIG is a strategic design consultancy dedicated to accelerating and improving transitions in organizations and society. The agency leverages creative intelligence, design thinking, and action, employing imaginative power, dialogue strength, and designing for behavior(change). This ensures a seamless integration of humans and technology.

Marieke studied occupational therapy (HvA) and political science (UvA) and previously worked at Nederland Kennisland, OMA – Office for Metropolitan Architecture, and as an independent professional for clients such as the creative industry top sector and Droog Design.

Marieke is a mother of two daughters and resides in Utrecht.

Personal Motto

Every day a wiser woman with beautiful stories.

Douwe van der Stroom

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Professional background

Douwe works in the energy transition team of the Port of Rotterdam. Here, he is involved in the decarbonization of the largest energy system in the Netherlands, currently accounting for 20% of the national CO2 emissions. He guides and supports various projects, including those related to hydrogen, wind energy, and smart energy systems.

Douwe completed his high school education at the United World College in Italy, followed by studies in economics and digital innovation at King’s and Imperial College London. “No values, no show” is a creed that Douwe firmly believes in because it is challenging to fight for a just world without a moral foundation. In addition to his studies in London, he strongly supported the Remain campaign (unsuccessfully), the start of Extinction Rebellion, and organized a congress on the ethics of artificial intelligence.

Personal motto

No values, no show

Fokko Wientjes

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Fokko Wientjes is Director Corporate Sustainability and Program Director of the Global Public Private Partnership DSM – United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). He has developed Sustainability in DSM and increased the awareness around the strategic importance of stakeholder engagement. In that capacity he is the Program Director of the largest PPP of DSM, with UN WFP. Moreover, he is DSM liaison with the World Economic Forum and the World Business Council on Sustainable Development. Wientjes is also on the Sustainability Advisory Board of SNS Reaal, (insurance company for Dutch banks)  and on the International Advisory Board of the Maastricht University School of Business & Economics.

Professional background
After joining DSM in 1988 he has held several positions, including Regional Director South America, General Manager DSM Anti-Infectives in Egypt, and HR director for DSM Resins in Switzerland. Fokko Wientjes has a degree in Psychology, accompanied by several courses in the field of Marketing and Management, e.g. at INSEAD.

Laure Heilbron

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Laure Heilbron is the commercial director of the Social Impact Factory. The core mission of the Social Impact Factory is to create social entrepreneurial solutions for social challenges. Solutions are co-created with social entrepreneurs, knowledge institutions and other local stakeholders. We strive to create entrepreneurial solutions for social challenges that create impact for communities and are financially sustainable.

Professional background

Laure is co-initiator of De Partnership Verkiezing, a competition to find the best business case for international development. He worked as a strategy consultant for A.T. Kearney en NewForesight. As the Executive Director of the Organic Cotton Accelerator he worked on fostering industry-wide collaboration to create a prosperous cotton sector that benefits everyone, from farmer to consumer.

Laure holds an MSc in Management and Strategy from the London School of Economics and an MSc in International Development Studies from Utrecht University. He is also Senior Fellow of Humanity in Action, a global network committed to promoting human rights, diversity and active citizenship.

 Personal motto
“If you keep thinking about what you want to do or what you hope will happen, you don’t do it, and it won’t happen” – Desiderius Erasmus

Lena Euwens

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Lena Euwens got inspired by Tom Crowther’s recent research and thesis that there is space to plant “1 trillion trees” on earth. By protecting forests and planting billions of trees, we can slow down global warming and inhibit the loss of biodiversity. Many countries around the world have already picked up the glove, but time is pressing. Together with the Worldconnectors and international experts, Lena examines how we can help accelerate this process and whether the business community is willing to play a leading role.

Professional background

In recent years, Lena Euwens was director of Trees for All, a foundation that plants trees in the Netherlands and the tropics and she was chair of ‘De gezonde Stad”, a foundation dedicated to a green and circular Amsterdam.

She studied Cultural Psychology at the Radboud University of Nijmegen, She worked for almost 10 years as program and change manager at KPN Telecom. She quit the corporate world when she heard that her beloved Hortus Botanicus in the center of Amsterdam was threatened to be closed. After the successful rescue, she worked for some years as interim manager, among others for IUCN NL.

Richard Kooloos

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In his current position as head of sustainable banking Richard develops sustainability strategies for ABN AMRO. He is involved in the sustainability of policies and the management of shareholders.

Professional background
As a banker Richard has worked for different banks. He has gained much experience in the field of export and project financing, energy and recycling, and sustainable banking.

Personal motto
“The energy and daring is to resist the noes, until the final yes has been achieved.”

Herman Mulder

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Herman Mulder is currently Chairman of the True Price Foundation (focusing on EP&L, SP&L and true pricing), member of the Board of the NCP-NL (OECD Guidelines for MNE’s), the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the International Institute of Governance & Leadership (IIGL), as well as being a member of the TEEB Advisory Board (The Economics of Ecosystems & Biodiversity). He is also a member of the jury of Dutch Sustainable Supply Chain Award (since 2007), an Ambassador of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) and advisor to the Natural Capital Coalition (NCC).

Professional background

A former Director-General, Head of Group Risk Management at ABN AMRO Bank (1998-2006) and Head of Global Structured Finance (1995-1998), Herman Mulder was the initiator of the Equator Principles (2002/2003: the first voluntary, global sector code on environmental and social issues for the financial sector). He is a frequent speaker, lecturer and author on sustainable finance issues. Herman Mulder is a Knight in the Order of Oranje-Nassau.

His personal motto
I am MaD (Making a Difference).

Teresa Fogelberg

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Teresa Fogelberg is Deputy Chief Executive of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). She is also board member at Cordaid, WWF Netherlands and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).

Professional background
Teresa Fogelberg is an expert on the subject of women and development. She is former Chief Reviewer of the Gender and Diversity Programme of the CGIAR at the World Bank, and Associate Professor in Anthropology at Leiden University. She also held the position of executive assistant to the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002. She has also held the role of Chair of the OECD Expert Group on Women and Development. At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs she was head of the Research department, head of the Women and Development department, and thematic specialist on women and development at the Dutch embassy in Dakar, Senegal.

Personal motto
Be touched by compassion: indifference is dangerous.

Erik Thijs Wedershoven

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Erik Thijs Wedershoven is president of the Worldconnectors and Senior Manager at EY’s Long-Term Value Team.EY supports him in his role as president of the Worldconnectors. In his work, he mainly focuses on strategy (operationalization) as well as managing and measuring social impact. One example is the project he did together with a team for Volvo Group on the societal costs and benefits of fully electric public transport.

Professional background
Before joining EY, he worked at KPMG and NCDO he also was also Youth Representative to the United Nations General Assembly. He was a member of the Dutch government’s delegation to the UN Millennium Summit in 2005, UN General Assembly in 2004 and 2005, and UN Commission on Sustainable Development in 2006.

He studied Economics and Political Science at the University of Maastricht and UC Berkeley. In 2011 he graduated from Sciences Po Paris and London School of Economics and Political Science LSE) with a dual degree Master in Public Administration (MPA).

Erik Thijs is half French and is an active judo player in his spare time.

Jan van de Venis

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Jan van de Venis is a solicitor and owner of the law firm JustLaw and Legal Desk Director of the Swiss Waterlex. He particularly concentrates on human rights and sustainable development issues. He is also chair of the board of Stand Up For Your Rights and The Crowd Versus. Jan was a member of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) in the Governance and Remuneration Working Group and a special guest lecturer on Human Rights for several universities, including the University of Utrecht.

Professional background
Jan van de Venis was previously legal counsel at Greenpeace International and senior associate at the law firm Marree en Dijxhoorn. He is author of several publications on human rights law and sustainable development. He is a popular speaker on these subjects, also given the relation to MVO. He is also currently involved as advisor to multiple campaigns and innitiatives on human rights and a healthy environment (incl. Child’s Right to Nature and a Healthy Environment, Institutionalising the Rights of Future Generations)

His personal motto
We may not always be able to control things that cross our paths, but we are in control of the way we respond.