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.

Veronique Swinkels

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“It doesn’t interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.”
(oriah mountain dreamer)

Professional Background

Veronique Swinkels aims to change the world through creativity and activism. Until recently, she served as the director of BBK/Door Vriendschap Sterker, a communication agency for a better world. Currently, through Go for Good, she is actively working to systematically bring the SDGs and sustainability onto the agenda of businesses and policymakers. Veronique is a facilitator and next-generation coach, awakening the activist spirit in the new generation of leaders to drive faster changes in companies and systems. She is the founder of Duurzaamheids Dialoog and Global Goals Accelerator, an Earth Charter friend, and a board member of Worldconnectors and Lab Toekomstige Generaties (Future Generations Lab). She also serves on the board of LEAP, an international think tank that releases the Global Europe Anticipation Bulletin every month. Veronique studied Communication and Communications Policy, completed the mediation training at the Center for Conflict Resolution, Deep Democracy at the Dialogue Hunters, Creative Leadership at THNK, and the online Sustainability Management program at Cambridge University.

Personal Motto

Learn from nature about the power of collective intelligence.

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

Rosalie de Bruijn

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Rosalie de Bruijn is a member of the Worldconnectors board and program and community manager with a passion for sustainable development. She is owner at Sustainable Connections, community manager at MVO Nederland and member of the Young Club of Rome.

Professional background
Rosalie has obtained an Advanced Master in International Development (AMID) from the Radbound University Nijmegen, a Master in Social Geography fron the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and a bachelor in the Cultural Anthropology of Development Sociology from the University of Leiden. She has worked with Cordaid, the University of Leiden and the UvA. From 2012 she has worked at NCDO and in this capacity coordinated the Dutch preparation to Rio+20, the UN summit on Sustainable Development, the international sustainability network Earth Charter and several lectures and events. Rosalie was program maker at Oneworld – the largest journalistic platform in the Netherlands in the field of global connectedness and sustainability. Through programs (online platform, events and campaigns), she made complex societal issues accessible for a wider public.

Personal motto
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams” – Eleanor Roosevelt

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.

Ignaz Anderson

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Ignaz Anderson is director of Iona Foundation. This foundation calls for change and stimulates initiatives of general interest. The antroposophy of this foundation is an integral approach of people and living environment. Ignaz is also a member of the supervisory board of GSL-Treuhand. GSL-Treuhand is part of the German GLS-Bank, the oldest sustainable bank in the world. Finally, Ignaz is also a friend of the Earth Charter.

Personal background
This worldconnector is educated as pedagogue en has worked in the field of education for 25 years. He is constantly searching for the right balance between personal and organisational development. One of his major interests is the topic of water. For 11 years now, he has been working in the field op philantropy and he contributes actively to the innovation in this field by stimulating transparancy, sustainability and systematic change.

Personal motto
“Zonder Wij geen Ik; samenhang in een uiteenvallende maatschappij.”

Tjerk Wagenaar

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In his current position as director of the foundation Natuur & Milieu, Tjerk Wagenaar aims to accelerate sustainability in policy making as well as in consumer choices.

Professional background
As consultant, project manager, financial manager and director Tjerk Wagenaar has supported and lead many organisations, such as McKinsey & Co, NS Reiziger, SNV and Eneco.

Personal motto
Omnia clarescunt in luce

 

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.

Awraham Soetendorp

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Awraham Soetendorp is former rabbi of the Reform Jewish Community of The Hague, and rabbi of the Union of Dutch Reform Jewish Communities. He is also active as peace-builder and public voice towards positive change through the Jacob Soetendorp Institute for Human Values. He is currently secretary of the Stichting Prinsjesdagviering: the Foundation for the Budget Day Celebration in the Netherlands.

Professional background:
Awraham Soetendorp has worked as Rabbi in the Liberal Jewish Community in The Hague, the Netherlands, and as Rabbi of the Union of Dutch Reform Jewish Communities. As religious leader he was a participant in the World Economic Forum and various other international conferences around the world. In 2001, he was elected president of European Region of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. He was also appointed as member of the Earth Charter commission in 2000. He is the founder of the Hope Foundation for Children for Universal Education and was a member in the UNESCO committee working towards new chart of global ethics. Awraham Soetendorp has also been a board member and (co)-chair at various organizations and committees.

Jannet Vaessen

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Jannet Vaessen is the managing director of women’s platform WOMEN Inc. She is involved in a wide range of women’s networks and feels connected to women of different generations, ethnical backgrounds and disciplines, as well as with their aspirations for change.

Professional background
Jannet Vaessen previously worked as project manager at the Cultuurfabriek (Culture Factory), as well as an independent entrepreneur, programmer, director and floormanager. Before this she was director of the Dutch TV broadcasting companies VPRO, Humanitische Omroep, RTL 5, IDTV and Teleac NOT. She holds a degree in Contemporary History of Mentalities and Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam.

Personal motto
Everyone can initiate a movement. Small moves, big changes. Let’s connect all strategies to create change!!