In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

Room Mate Bruno
Wilhelminakade 52-58
Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, 3072 AR
Netherlands

Birgul Arslan

Dr Simon Porzak

Simon Porzak’s research explores the intersections between the history of science and the history of art, with particular interests in biotechnology, artificial intelligence, opera, and popular music. He has published essays on Charles Darwin’s barnacle research, boring operas, digital special effects, video game interfaces, and parrots. His work has appeared in Modernism/modernity, the LA Review of Books’s Philosophical Salon, 19th -Century French Studies, Popmatters, Diacritics, and Unwinnable. After studying at Cornell University and the Sorbonne, and obtaining his PhD from UC Berkeley, he designed and managed writing courses at Columbia University in collaboration with their Data Science Institute and humanities faculty. He is currently an MBA candidate at the Rotterdam School of Management

Eksteen De Waal

Eksteen De Waal (MBA) is an international speaker, writer, author, thinker and leadership consultant. From a young age, on a farm in sunny South Africa, he discovered his love for teaching and helping others. Passionate about showing others how to live and breathe their strengths in all that they do, Eksteen is driven to help people rediscover their own identity and activate their superpowers. With over 30 years’ professional experience, Eksteen has spent time in the consulting world; for the financial and tech industries, in skills development as a senior training developer and held various management and director positions – all contributing to his growing passion for people and business He started his studies in Computer Science in Stellenbosch and has never stopped learning since. Eksteen has been studying teams and performance for years. During his time in the IT industry he experienced first-hand that working well as a team under the pressure of tight deadlines was critical to getting the job done. This culminated in the completion of his Masters’ Degree in Business Administration at Rotterdam School of Management – University of Erasmus University in 2017. Through his work experience and studies he brings together the worlds of Applied Positive Psychology, organisational behaviour and team dynamics. Through a deep passion for team development and a belief that compassion is at the heart of all truly successful organisations, he founded Exponentially Me, an organisation that focuses on corporate wellness and empowering individuals to freely live their true selves in a team environment. The programs help people to connect and discover the heart of the organisation to better commit and fan the flames of true engagement. A firm believer that people must do what makes them come alive, his talks are delivered with gusto, inspiring people to bring their whole authentic selves to any situations they may face. Through his own interesting life experience, Eksteen has embraced his uniqueness for personal development: to live an exponentially joyful life!

Gerda Feunekes

Gerda Feunekes (1965) is leading the Netherlands Nutrition Centre, since 2014. This centre with 80 employees is in the Netherlands the authority that translates nutrition science to the consumer, to stimulate healthy and sustainable eating habits. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre is an independent foundation, jointly funded by the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Agriculture. Gerda studied at Wageningen University, where she received an MSc in Nutrition (1989), and a PhD degree in Food Choice (1996). She published over forty scientific papers, e.g. on assessing fat and alcohol intake; social aspects of eating behaviour; food labelling; and consumer perceptions related to salt reduction. She worked in the food industry between 1996 and 2014, starting as a consumer scientist and ending as a Global Nutrition and Health Director, focussing on salt reduction globally. Gerda is chair of the European Public Health Nutrition Alliance (EPHNA), where European centres that are responsible for nutrition communication on country level join forces to take nutrition communication to the next level. The EPNHA has currently 17 members and has annual meetings. EPHNA's first symposium (at FENS 2019 in Dublin) was entitled ‘Nutrition communication in Europe: best practices, challenges and synergies’.

Gijs van Schoot

My name is Gijs. Married and father of three lovely daughters. I’ve got a technical background with a Master in Science in Systems Engineering and Policy Analysis. I’ve worked the majority of my life in the branded food industry in all kinds of commercial roles. Understanding inside out what it takes to get a product at the shelve in the supermarket and making sure it is your product that’s being bought and not the one of the competition. I’ve had roles from the most operational up to boardroom level and have always found incredible energy in wining together with my teams, getting the most out of them and raising the bar together. Over the past few years I’ve come to realize more and more that we have created an amazing place with (in the western world) an incredible luxury, however also come to realise that we are not seeing anymore what it takes to get here. The price for the not haves, the environment and this planet. We have forgotten to include the hidden impact in all we have and as a consequence have become exploiters of eachother and this planet. So I’ve decided to dedicate my experience and talent to making this world a better place and joined Too Good To Go – a social impact company dedicated to solving food waste.

Hannes Leroy

Hannes Leroy, Associate Professor in Leadership Development. As Academic Director of the Erasmus Center of Leadership, Hannes helps to oversee the quality of leadership development at different levels in Erasmus University (undergraduate, graduate, postgraduate, and executive education). Furthermore, as steward of the League of Leadership initiative he helps to oversee an international consortium of top business schools across the world with the mission of collectively enhancing quality standards of leadership development. A special interest of Hannes is authentic leadership and its development. Aligned with these efforts, Hannes has published numerous studies on leadership and its development in top journals (e.g., Academy of Management Annals, Academy of Management Discoveries, Journal of Applied Psychology, and Journal of Management), has taught a wide variety of leadership classes (e.g., Becoming a Leader, Team Leadership, Leaders as Climate Engineers, Strategic Leadership, Power and Politics) and is principal coordinator of various leadership development curricula (i.e, MBA, EMBA, Executive Education). He has worked with various organizations to help improve leadership models and curricula (e.g., Colruyt, Securex).

Joke Aerts

Joke is the Open Chair Lead for Tony's Chocolonely

Juan Romero

I have been working for FrieslandCampina over the past 4 years. Joined as a Lead Data Scientist and currently manage FrieslandCampina’s Data Science Center of Excellence, as part of the Data & Analytics Platform within IT. Our team’s vision is to leverage all data to create business value for FrieslandCampina through business intelligence, artificial intelligence and digitalization. Next to my core responsibilities, I also co-chair FrieslandCampina’s High Potentials Board, whose mission is to be the spark that inspires, energizes and connect all of our High Potentials globally to be their best self and proactively drive positive change within the company. Before FrieslandCampina, I worked in Retail Banking for over 8 years in top financial institutions in South America. During this period I developed & deployed data analytics capabilities across multiple core functions such as Credit Risk, Customer Relationship Management and Revenue Management. I hold an MBA from Rotterdam School of Management and was TEDxErasmusUniversity Lead Organizer in 2017. Together with fellow RSM MBA colleagues, such as Jamie Frew & Hala Abu-Jaber, we explored back then the theme of ‘Building a Better World’ and how innovation and imagination are driving change and shaping the world of tomorrow. Have a passion for leveraging technology & data for the betterment of society and consider myself both a pragmatist and idealist (corporate) entrepreneur – My personal purpose lies on developing engaged, high performing teams and enable them to ‘win’ (for themselves and for the company). Currently live in Utrecht, The Netherlands, together with my wife.