Bio

Former Eosta CEO, now running Resilience Hub and Robin Food Coalition, a food transition network for one-health, social inclusion and regenerative agriculture. Future proofing boards, business, brands. Where Ecology meets Economy After graduating in business administration (MSc) at Groningen University I worked for Cargill Inc USA before founding Eosta. The company is presently Europe’s leading distributor of organic fruits. One of Eosta’s focus areas is the development of organic and regenerative agriculture projects in the Southern Hemisphere and the Tropics. All Eosta products carry a Nature & More (QR) code that provides full transparency with regards to the unique grower story and the ecological and social impact of the product. The underlying Nature & More 4M sustainability policy (Measuring, Managing, Marketing, Monetizing impact) has evolved into a guiding principle for the sector and resonates strongly with our stakeholders and beyond. Eosta was the first to obtain carbon credits on organic farming practices and to offer Climate Neutral products in the European food market. In 2022 we founded the business Alliance for Regenerative Agriculture, a global community of practice to accelerate financial incentives for eco-system services. During the 2015 United Nations Year of Soil we initiated the Save Our Soils campaign, together with FAO, 200 partners and many VIP’s amongst whom Desmond Tutu, Julia Roberts, the Dalai Lama, Sioux Chief Arvol Looking Horse. In 2016 we launched the True Cost of Food initiative. It promotes the principle that food prices should reflect the true cost of food, including hidden environmental and social costs and benefits. While international policymakers are still discovering the promise of full cost accounting, Eosta takes True Cost to the shop floor. Eosta’s latest initiative brings living wage guarantees on to the shelves of leading retailers in Europe. I co-founded various other CSR companies such as Soil & More Impact, Vitalis Organic Seeds, Ecos Del Agro Costa Rica, Florganic Europe, Biofresh Belgium, TOSC UK, Red Sea Organics Israel and procurement agencies in South Africa, Argentina, Peru. Eosta has been been awarded with various prizes such as the Public Eye Award for corporate social responsibility at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Dutch Innovation Award, the Nr 1 position at the 2017 Trouw Sustainability Top-100, the King William I Prize for Sustainable Entrepreneurship 2018 and the European Business Award for the Environment 2019.