Bio

Growing up, on my way to school, I cycled 7 km through the lush forest surrounding my hometown, filling my lungs with fresh crisp air. I can still remember it vividly. Looking back, I find that these bike rides are among my happiest memories. This privilege I had as a kid, enjoying nature, has evolved into the core of my mindset as an entrepreneur and an executive. My business ventures and corporate positions reflect both a sense of purpose in wanting to do good, as well as creating an environment for others to thrive. I like to think critically, challenge the status quo, and rock the boat a bit whenever I see potential opportunities by doing so. I strive to empower and support talented people to do the same, and want to create an environment in which they can. In my view, all employees truly are stakeholders too, and I find that often the most valuable insights about a company are found when an executive has their boots firmly on the ground. At the crossroads of these views on business I found myself coaching over 200 start-ups, most of them involved in clean energy, at the campus of my alma mater TU Delft. Later I founded Black Bear Carbon, which pioneered in bringing the circular economy to the tire industry. In my role as CEO I was invited to join the supervisory board of Circle Economy. My decision to make room for a new executive team at Black Bear coincided quite strikingly with the position of CEO at Circle Economy becoming vacant. When I was asked by the board to step in, I felt it was my duty to do so. At Circle Economy I feel lucky to work closely with bright, talented and deeply motivated people towards a shared goal of making the world more circular. Creating an environment for them to thrive and develop themselves and also learn new things myself everyday, my current role feels like the culmination of every step previously mentioned. Specialities: circular economy, regenerative economy, donut economy, nature-based, digital strategy, corporate development and M&A, analytics and big data; lead generation, sales, product management,(local) digital advertising, radio, television and mobile markets, investing, organisational transformation