Pieter Lossie

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Professional Background

Pieter is a political science student and works as a policy advisor at the VO-raad, where he is involved in shaping the future of education. Additionally, Pieter was one of the initiators of the large student strikes in 2019 advocating for more decisive climate policies. He served as the chairman of LAKS on behalf of secondary school students in the Netherlands for a year. He is part of Commission 2100, an initiative promoting the transition to broad prosperity. Lastly, Pieter is a social filmmaker.

Personal Motto

We zijn wel afgezonderd maar niet uitgezonderd.

Nicolette Loonen

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Professional background

Nicolette is one of the Founding partners of TOSCA, a consulting partnership that helps companies be a ‘force for good’. TOSCA believes in change agents who shape the transformation towards an inclusive and sustainable society. Nicolette specialises in sustainability reporting issues, taking the whole value chain into account, from strategy to embedding in culture and steering for real value. Nicolette is also a member of the Supervisory Board of ABP, the Rutgers Foundation and IPPF. In addition, she is a college member of the CvTA. Nicolette is the founder of WIFS, Women in Financial Services, and was the president of the association of more than 500 women in the financial sector from 2010 to 2016.

Personal Motto

Ieder steentje in de vijver kan een rimpeling veroorzaken.

Any pebble in the pond can cause a ripple.

Koen Eising

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Koen is the CSR Director at Alliander, one of the three major regional grid operators in the Netherlands, operating at the heart of the energy transition. Before joining Alliander, he worked for various consultancy firms at the intersection of organizational development and sustainability. Koen studied public administration and political science in Leiden and completed the post-academic program in Organization and Change Management at VU University. He recently finished the Comenius Philosophy Course. With this background, he is fascinated by how today’s large corporations dare to make significant decisions that are urgently needed. He is interested in understanding the leadership we should trust or distrust. Koen believes that public companies must play a leading role in the sustainable transition. He shapes this belief as the initiator of the Green Networks coalition, where 8 infrastructure companies collaborate intensively on climate, circular, biodiversity, and impact measurement. He is the chairman of the Infrastructure Value Theme Center of Next Generation Infra. Koen is also affiliated with the Impact Economy Foundation.

Personal motto

A sustainable world requires not money or technology but a different set of values.

Ralien Bekkers

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Professional Background

After two years serving as the Dutch Youth Representative for Sustainable Development to the UN, from Rio+20 to COP20, Ralien Bekkers moved to the United States for a master’s program at Yale University. There, she worked on the agreement and implementation phase of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including at the office of the UN Secretary-General. Currently residing in Washington, Ralien works with an international coalition for the implementation of the Paris Agreement: NDC Partnership (ndcpartnership.org). From 2019-2021, the Netherlands co-chairs this coalition. Ralien collaborates with developing countries to accelerate the implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), mobilize necessary financing, and enhance international ambition to implement climate actions in alignment with the SDGs.

Personal Motto 

“The greatest gift that life has to offer is the opportunity to work hard at work worth doing”
– Theodore Roosevelt

Imad el Fadili

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Professional background

Imad has worked as an adviser in different private and public agencies (a.o. Deloitte) in the financial field. For the past three years, Imad has focused on the world of Islamic Finance and more specifically, Islamic social finance. This is a discipline that implements innovative and sustainable solutions for present-day challenges (e.g. debt issues and poverty reduction).

Personal motto 

”Don’t aspire to make a living, aspire to make a difference.”
This quote includes two core values that are central in Imad’s life, humility and determination.

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.

Rachida Talal-Azimi

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Rachida Talal-Azimi is secretary to the Board of the Worldconnectors. Currently, she is working on her PhD at the Radboud University Nijmegen. Rachida is conducting research on the diversity of rules and systems within the international market of Islamic banking.

Professional background

Rachida used to work at the department of Economic Research at the Rabobank. Here, she was involved with research at a macro-economic level and a broad range of topics concerning the financial sector. Before that, she worked at the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets. During her study, Rachida completed an internship at the ‘Immovable Property Knowledge Group’ at the Ministry of Finance (Dutch Tax & Customs Administration). Rachida holds a Master degree in Islam and Arabic, and obtained a Bachelor degree in Arabic language and culture and Middle Eastern studies. She is the founder of the Muslim Student Association Nijmegen. Furthermore, Rachida started the foundation Nour el Hayat, a small foundation that is, among other things, concerned with unprivileged children in Morocco.

Personal motto
“No work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.” – Martin Luther King

Martien Lankester

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Martien Lankester is Executive Director at Avalon Foundation, an organisation that since 1991 has developed and implemented projects in the field of sustainable/organic farming and agri-environmental programs in over 30 countries. These programs are always set up in cooperation with local partners, with the aim to combine food security with sustainable land use. Martien is also a member of the Advisory Council of care farm Gerbrandastate.

Professional Background
Martien Lankester was trained as a medical doctor and public health specialist, and has been involved in sustainable food for more than 45 years. Next to his medical practice he set up in 1977 a (still existing) organic farm to underline the need for sustainable food production. The broad multiple benefits of organic farming, the relation between agriculture and nature/biodiversity/ecosystems and the true cost of food production are important themes in his work. In the early nineties he established besides Avalon in Fryslan also the foundation Soune Groun (Healthy Soil). Later he also chaired the Supervisory Board of IUCN Netherlands Committee for six years.

Personal Motto
“The sustainable farmer is the doctor of the future who can heal the earth.”

Floor van Uhm

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Floor van Uhm is Advisor to the CEO of KIT Royal Tropical Institute, where she focuses on strategy, policy and the Sustainable Development Goals. Together with Worldconnector Mark Schneiders, Floor has been closely involved in setting up the first SDG House in the Netherlands at KIT. The SDG House will offer a unique environment for SDG related initiatives to identify synergies, create solution partnerships, and stimulate knowledge development, which supports the implementation of the SDGs in the Netherlands. 

Professional background

After obtaining her Master International Relations, Floor worked at the GroenLinks Tweede Kamerfractie in the Dutch House of Representatives. She continued her career as Advocacy Manager at Fairfood International, where she founded the Morocco Hotspot Project. This project was focused on strengthening women’s rights in the Moroccan tomato sector. As Sustainability Consultant, Floor was Coordinator of the Worldconnectors network. In the same period, she co-founded the “Living Wage Lab” , focused on achieving fair wages in the agri-food sector. She also worked at the NGO Hivos where she advocated for increased women’s participation in peace processes in the Middle East. 



Jan Bouke Wijbrandi
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Professional background


Jan Bouke studied international economics and anthropology at the Vrije Universiteit. His work focused on international cooperation, with a detour into science (research among refugees in Sudan) and media. He worked within the sector for organizations such as Stichting Oecumenische Hulp (Head of Food and Nutrition), Médecins Sans Frontières (Head of Communication and Fundraising), Oxfam Novib (Director of Campaigns), and UNICEF Netherlands (General Director). He has experience at the international level and has been involved in various projects related to international cooperation and the SDGs. Jan Bouke has a keen interest in the intersection between international cooperation, the SDGs, and societal support.


Personal motto


The urgent problems of our time require personal commitment and credibility, collaboration across borders, and open and inclusive dialogue.