Minds of Tomorrow

Minds of Tomorrow (MoT) is het mentorprogramma dat is gestart door DBRT Zürich, waarbij young professionals gekoppeld worden aan executives die actief zijn in het Zwitserse bedrijfsleven met als doel de carrière en persoonlijke ontwikkeling te stimuleren.

Over een periode van 1 jaar wordt er op individuele basis gewerkt aan persoonlijke, professionele en leiderschapsdoelstellingen. De DBRT hanteert strikte selectiecriteria en ondersteunt mentoren als ook mentees gedurende het traject om het succes van het programma te waarborgen. 

Het programma sluit naadloos aan op de ambitie van de DBRT om meer te betekenen voor young professionals en de uitwisseling tussen junioren en senioren te stimuleren.

In 2018 zijn we gestart met 10 mentoren en 18 mentees. Elke maand stellen de mentoren tijd beschikbaar voor persoonlijk overleg en begeleiding met 1-3 mentees. Het aantal mentoren en mentees groeit ieder jaar! Wij danken de mentoren voor hun belangeloze inzet.

Sinds 2023 doet ook DBRT Genève mee aan Minds of Tomorrow. 

Voorwaarden voor deelname

Om voor 2023 in aanmerking te komen voor een positie als mentee, dien je te voldoen aan een aantal voorwaarden, waarvan je de belangrijkste hieronder vindt:

Deelname is (behalve je lidmaatschap) geheel vrijgesteld van kosten. 

De mentoren van Minds of Tomorrow 2023

Hieronder vind je de mentoren, die zich geheel belangeloos inzetten voor onze young professionals. De volgende namen zijn bevestigd voor 2023. In de komende weken worden de rest van de namen hieraan toegevoegd:  

Martin de Groot

CFO, Member of Board of Directors
Meer over Martin

Martin’s 25-year experience in finance spans over corporate M&A, IR and Capital Market Transactions in executive and non-executive board roles, in sectors such as healthcare, software, telecom.


Prior to Xeltis AG, he co-founded, is Chairman of the Board and CFO at Avalia Systems. Previously, Martin was CFO at P&I AG and deputy CFO at Temenos. Earlier on, he spent 10 years at Nokia and started his career in the Dairy Industry at Campina Melkunie.


Martin is an alumnus from IMD Lausanne and holds an Executive Master of Finance and Control from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Mark Ypinga

Strategic sparring partner, advisor & executive coach
Meer over Mark

Over the past 20+ years Mark has worked in different markets in Europe, Middle East, Africa and the US; 15 years for a top 5 biopharmaceutical company and the remainder of the years for start-up/smaller to mid-sized companies either in life-sciences or design. 

 

He has gained experience in general management, global and regional commercial leadership roles; launching products & services, integrating and expanding companies/divisions/portfolio's and optimising P & L's.

 

Mark currently has his own management consultancy firm focussing on strategy execution and employee vitality. He strongly believes that employees are the true backbone of each company and is passionate about building strong cross-functional teams and organisations that, by creating clarity and focus, are inspired and fuelled by the challenge and vision that lays ahead of them.

Bernadette Nelissen

Director at Genera Services AG
Meer over Bernadette

Over the last 20 years Bernadette has worked in the Financial Service Industry in Geneva and in Zug. She also worked as an auditor and in Corporate Finance in The Netherlands and in the UK.

 

Her main areas of experience are in Finance, Internal audit, Human Resources, Insurances, Legal, Compliance and General management. She is hands-on and known for discussing things over a cup of coffee instead of in formal meetings.

 

Bernadette holds (and held) several Board positions in the areas of hospitality, non-profit organisations and insurances. She also founded with friends a coworking place. In admiration of the Swiss democratic system, while recognising its many shortcomings, she has been active in local Swiss politics for many years mainly in the areas of sport, culture and childcare.

 

Loyalty and Integrity are her main values, and she is very much interested in new developments in circular economy and artificial intelligence. 

 

Bernadette is a CPA and studied Fiscal Economics at the University of Rotterdam.

 

Walking in the Swiss mountains and swimming in its lakes has become a passion in recent years, reading in French, English, Dutch and German has always been.

Coen van Rosmalen

Management & Strategy Consultant
Meer over Coen

Coen’s is an independent senior executive with more than 20 years international management experience in industrial companies such as Bucher Industries AG (stock-listed), SR Technics AG and Hilti Corporation. Coen has extensive international general management experience and has developed expertise in various areas such as strategic management, internationalisation, sales & marketing, operations, emerging markets and M&A incl. post merger integration.
 

Currently, Coen has  his own Management & Strategy consultancy firm and is non-excecutive Chairman of the Board of Schaeff Holding AG, an international group of medium sized industrial companies.

 

He is an alumnus from Erasmus University Rotterdam (Master of Science in Business Administration) and holds in addition 2 Bachelor Degrees in Mechanical Engeering and Industrial Sales.

Arnout Ploos van Amstel

Strategic Consultant, Independent Board Member, Founder Apaxcel Life Sciences GmbH, Founder of MoonLake Immunotherapeutics AG
Meer over Arnout

Arnout has a long standing, global track record as executive leader in Life Sciences/Biotech with over 30 years of business and operations experience in a wide variety of leadership positions across countries and regions. He is passionate about converting science and products into sustainable value for investors, customers and patients. Extensive cross-functional biotech expertise from early clinical development to late stage commercialization, including proven launch excellence as illustrated by Novartis' blockbuster launch of Cosentyx.

 

Currently, Arnout is strategic consultant through his company Apaxcel Life Sciences GmbH. He is Founder of MoonLake Immuntherapeutics (NASDAQ: MLTX, www.moonlaketx.com). MoonLake is a biotech company dedicated to creating next level therapies for inflammatory skin and joint diseases with Nanobody® science.


Arnout enjoyed a global career with executive positions in the US, Canada, Greece, the Netherlands and Switzerland. He was born and raised in the Netherlands, and holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Groningen.

Robert Oudmayer

Independent advisor (ex CEO bank)
Meer over Robert

Robert heeft ruim 35 jaar ervaring in de financiële dienstverlening, onder meer bij Peugeot-Citroen en bij General Electric en heeft in Nederland, Frankrijk, Portugal en Zwitserland gewoond. Hij kwam voor General Electric in 2009 naar Zwitserland en was tot 1 mei 2021 CEO van GE Money Bank, dat na de beursgang in 2013 Cembra Money Bank werd. Hij heeft in diverse Boards gezeten en werkt nu
nog als zelfstandig consultant.

 

Robert houdt van skiën en golfen. Ook muziek, koken en wijn behoren tot zijn hobby’s.

Matthieu Bijnagte

Digital & Technology director Heineken
Meer over Matthieu

Matthieu has over 25 years of IT experience in the FMCG and Telecommunication industry.

 

In his current role Matthieu is responsible for the digital agenda within HEINEKEN Switzerland. His focus is on creating value with Data & Analytics, ERP business transformation and resolving technology debts.

Prior to his move to Switzerland, he has worked in various senior management positions in the Netherlands at HEINEKEN, TNO and KPN.

Matthieu has a proven track record in delivering business-driven IT transformations, simplifying IT and turnaround problematic projects.

Brings strategy into action with attention to detail while never losing sight of the big picture. Always has the end-to-end process in mind, connecting the dots, to ensure adding value through IT.

 

Enthusiastic, results-driven people manager with a strong drive to improve. Quick and independent thinker with good understanding of IT concepts and business processes. Translating complex problems into an actionable strategy using a structured approach and having the right balance between pragmatism and vision.

 

Matthieu is an alumnus from University of Twente and holds a master in applied physics. In his free time, he loves to visit music concerts and to hike in the beautiful Swiss mountains.

Pierre Girardin

Managing Partner
Meer over Pierre

Curiosity and contribution to sustainable development have guided Pierre’s career across very different roles and geographies. After a study of mechanical engineering at ETH Zurich, worked in Africa, did an MBA at INSEAD and joined McKinsey & Co in Amsterdam where he became a partner. Later he joined TNT Logistics, which later became CEVA Logistics. After 18 years at CEVA Logistics, Pierre decided to free up time to research supply chain sustainability and advise selected clients. In 2021 he joined Dr. Bjørn Johansson Associates, a globally renowned Advisory Boutique that exclusively focusses on top Executive and Non-Executive searches.

 

People are at the core of every success. It's not only about picking the right person for the right job, but also about supporting and coaching talented individuals to grow. The ultimate legacy of a leader is the strength of the team who takes over.

 

Born and raised in Switzerland, Pierre spent 32 years abroad, of which 28 in The Netherlands, before returning to his native country in 2017.

Reinier Labadie

Managing Partner
Meer over Reinier

Executive with more than 25 years of successful international management and consulting experience. Proven track record in the development and management of international markets and global accounts in a complex and multidisciplinary service environment. Passionate about true client service and about leadership development.



Strategic thinker and networker with strong interpersonal/intercultural and communication skills. Transformational leadership coach and Managing Partner of TPC Leadership Switzerland.

 

Functional expertise includes strategic planning, organizational transformation, process optimization, internal audit and risk management as well as compliance. Deep understanding of the fast-moving consumer goods and the high-tech sectors.

Rolph van der Hoeven

Emeritus Professor
Meer over Rolph

Emeritus professor of Employment and Development Economics at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in the Hague, Rolph van der Hoeven has an extensive career in international development. He has worked mostly for the International Labour Organisation (ILO) at various duty stations, including Zambia and Ethiopia, as well as at the ILO HQ in Geneva, among others as interdepartmental manager on structural adjustment programmes and Director for Policy Coherence overviewing research, seminars, meetings, and negotiations with other parts of the UN system on the challenges of globalisation, work and income. He was also the Chief Economist at UNICEF, New York, in the early nineties.

 

He is currently involved in research on issues such as income inequality, globalisation, the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and serves as a member of various international development-related advisory bodies to the United Nations and to the Dutch government.

 

For more than a decade he taught courses on development economics and managed throughout his career multicultural groups and projects on development cooperation, financed by various funding agencies. He sits currently on the Board of Trustees of the KNCV Tuberculosis Fund and of the INCLUDE cooperation program in the Netherlands and of the ADAPTED research programme of the European Union.

Bart Slager

CEO Fotokite
Meer over Bart

Over the last 25 years Bart has held many different (leadership) and Board positions in Aviation, Aerospace and Manufacturing.  After a Master’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering from Delft University of Technology and an Associate’s Degree in Economics from the Erasmus University Rotterdam, he gained further technical and financial experience as Engineer, Management Consultant and VP Aviation Finance at a Dutch bank. 

 

Bart is a strategic and innovative thinker with broad-based experience in Corporate Management, Program/Project Management, Manufacturing/Operations, Finance and Sales. His “hands-on” experience enables him to support, lead and drive strategic, financial, and operational change. Proven track record in MBOs, company mergers, transformations/transitions and turnarounds mainly at medium-sized and scale-up companies (50-500 employees) with a technical, complex, international, and business-to-business setting.

 

Since 2021 Bart is CEO at Fotokite, a Zurich (and US) based company developing and manufacturing actively tethered drones for first responders.

Marianne Mulder

International Marketing Manager
Meer over Marianne

In haar huidige functie richt Marianne zich op strategische marketing projecten en business development projecten binnen de diagnostische product groep Point of Care, dit zijn diagnostische devices die aan het bed van de patient gebruikt worden en door Roche ontwikkeld en verkocht worden.

 

Voordat Marianne bij het hoofdkantoor van Roche Diagnostics aan de slag ging heeft zij voor het lokale kantoor van Roche in Nederland gewerkt als Product Manager. Daarvoor heeft Marianne meerdere jaren gewerkt in sales en marketing functies binnen de farmaceutische industrie.

 

Als International Marketing Manager is Marianne gespecialiseerd in alles wat met product/marketing management te maken heeft: van product ontwikkeling, business development, marketing en sales tot trainen en workshops ontwikkelen voor en met klanten. Het geven van presentaties op internationale bijeenkomsten, bezoeken van klanten om meer inzicht te krijgen in de wensen en benodigdheden om een toekomst visie en strategie te kunnen ontwikkelen voor het product portfolio. Marianne heeft haar drs titel behaald in de Sociale Psychologie en daarnaast diverse marketing en business cursussen gevolgd.

Mandy Bronsil

CEO B-Inspired, Talentmanagement
Meer over Mandy

Over the past 15 years Mandy has been active in recruitment, executive search and career development. She supports leadership teams by aligning their talent management strategies with their company strategies.

 

As the founder of B-inspired Partners, she provides strategic consulting to companies allowing them to make sure the right people are in the right roles, as well as supporting individuals leverage their careers. Her expertise lies in leveraging experience, expertise and ambitions which allow for enhanced performance and engagement.

 

She provides courses and coaching services to EMBA and doctorate students for the local universities on topics such as your own career management, and networking.

 

Her approach is very practical (famously Dutch!) and tailored to all her projects. This is in order to make sure the implemented actions are aligned with the objective at hand.

 

She holds a Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management from the Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne. The strong client-focus as well as flexibility are elements that have been a priority throughout her career despite having left the hospitality industry. She has worked in countries such as Spain, Ireland and China before settling in Switzerland. 

Mandy van Kesteren

Group SVP Marketing Operations & Transformation
Meer over Mandy

Volgt...

Nicole Pieterse van der Velde

Head of HR EMEA
Meer over Nicole

Nicole has been Head HR EMEA since 1 January 2021. Before that she was the Global Head of HR Corporate Solutions since 1 January 2017, during which time she has supported a significant transformation of the business.

 

Under her leadership, the CorSo HR function has partnered with the business to redesign and prepare the organisation for the future, to build stronger leadership and connect people with our purpose. Prior to that, Nicole was HR Partner for Asset Management and Group Underwriting having joined Swiss Re in March 2015. Before joining Swiss Re, Nicole worked for Credit Suisse for four years as an HR Cluster Head covering nine locations in the EMEA region for the Investment and Private Bank. Prior to that she worked at Fortis (later ABN Amro).

 

Nicole has lived and worked in the UK, Netherlands and Belgium as well as Switzerland. Nicole is a member of the HR Executive Team and the EMEA Reinsurance Management Team.

Paul Staartjes

Board president, independent advisor
Meer over Paul

Paul heeft meer dan 30 jaar ervaring als CEO in met name technische handelsondernemingen. Ondernemer en investeerder met eigen ondernemingen in Nederland. Paul was vier jaar voorzitter van de DBRT Zürich en heeft mede het MOT programma vorm gegeven. Paul was eerder ook al mentor bij de DBRT en bij de Universiteit St Gallen, waar hij bedrijfseconomie heeft gestudeerd. Op dit moment heeft hij meerdere board posities.  Overige kernvaardigheden: strategieontwikkeling, innovatie, familieondernemingen, governance en M&A activiteiten. 

Gerben Schreurs

Partner Forensic Risk Alliance
Meer over Gerben

Gerben Schreurs is a partner in FRA’s Zurich office and has over 25 years of experience solving technical challenges on complex problems requiring insight into large (un)structured data sets. He leads high profile and confidential cases in the areas of fraud, information leakage, money laundering, disputes and regulatory breaches.


Prior to joining FRA, Gerben served as the Global head Systems & Controls for Financial Crime Compliance at Credit Suisse.
Gerben previously served more than 20 years in KPMG, where he was the global lead partner responsible for the Forensic Technology team, focusing on topics relating to Data Analytics, Cyber Security and e-Discovery.

Aynur Kaya

HR Director EMEA & Global Talent Management
Meer over Aynur

Volgt...

Arnoud Douw

HR Director and Executive Manager
Meer over Arnoud

Arnoud is a well connected entrepreneur, networker, coach and executive with more then 25 years of executive, management and entrepreneurial experience.

 

He is an inspiring, creative and strategic thinker, and excellent networker with strong interpersonal/intercultural and communication skills.

 

Long career at Swiss Re, Jet Aviation, Finance Industry and Consulting, including COO Africa, multinational Head of HR, Head Mgt Development as Global Talent Mangeer - and Chief of Staff in various firms.

 

He founded and built numerous companies and firms, set up academies around the world and built own consultancy boutique. Next to that he is active in various roles in Sports Management and Functions.

 

With his extensive experience in Leadership, Culture and Organisational Developement, he also gives lectures at universities. 

 

In his free time he is co-founder of the Zurich Marathon, “Zukunftsbüro”, President of the most beautiful Tennisclub in the Zurich area and big fan of anything regarding flying or paragliding. Dutch/Swiss double citizen and young at heart 😉

Esther van Laarhoven-Smits

Partner, Data & Analytics lead EY
Meer over Esther

Esther is Partner and Data & Analytics competence leader at EY. She has been with EY since 2008 and has over 14 years of Consulting experience.

 

She has been in leadership roles since 2015 and loves to support other in their development. Since February 2021 Esther has moved to Zürich to pursue a new challenge. She left her mature Analytics team of around 30 people behind to build up a team from almost scratch. The Data & Analytics team she is leading, is focusing on Data & Analytics Consulting services (e.g. Data Strategy, Data Governance, etc.), Data & Analytics Execution (e.g. Dashboarding, Data Science, Process Mining, etc.) and Automation (RPA, Intelligent Automation and Hyper Automation).

 

In her free time, she likes social activities, skiing, traveling and driving a motor cycle.

Suzan van de Kerk

Transformation Lead
Meer over Suzan

Volgt zo snel mogelijk!

Koos Vink

C-Level Executive and Honorary Consul General of the Netherlands
Meer over Koos

Volgt zo snel mogelijk!

Ronald Wijs

International Tax Council
Meer over Ronald

Volgt zo snel mogelijk!

Laura Cieraad

Global head of Marketing
Meer over Laura

Volgt zo snel mogelijk!

Daphne Engelke

Market Head Netherlands, Nordics, Canada & New Zealand Intl.
Meer over Daphne

Volgt zo snel mogelijk!

Pauzelijst 2023

Jelte Waardenburg

Head of Compliance International, platforms and distribution
Meer over Jelte

Over the last 20 years, Jelte has worked in different markets in Europe, South Africa, Australia and Asia. Starting his professional career at PwC in the Netherlands, he went on a secondment to Cape town (South Africa) and subsequently on an assignment to Sydney in 2006. He was responsible for leading and managing strategic clients in addition to provision of non-audit related services relating to valuation of financial instruments, regulation, risk management, capital market transactions.

 

With his transfer in 2012 to Westpac Banking Corporation (SEC listed, 2nd largest Bank in Australia) he deepened his international banking experience. He had a variety of roles as Internal Audit, Head of Business Risk and Risk & Control management in Australia and for the past 6 years in Singapore. Outside of his role he is active as a non-executive advisor in the blockchain / digital asset and RegTech domain. He now works for Vontobel Bank AG as Head of Compliance International, platforms and distribution.

 

Jelte has a results-oriented business mindset, in addition to strong interpersonal, communication, and leadership skills.

 

Jelte is an alumnus from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Master of Economics) and holds a Post Graduate Degree as a Chartered Accountant (CA) and AML Specialist (ACAMS).

Coen van Rosmalen

Management & Strategy Consultant
Meer over Coen

Coen’s is an independent senior executive with more than 20 years international management experience in industrial companies such as Bucher Industries AG (stock-listed), SR Technics AG and Hilti Corporation. Coen has extensive international general management experience and has developed expertise in various areas such as strategic management, internationalisation, sales & marketing, operations, emerging markets and M&A incl. post merger integration.
 

Currently, Coen has  his own Management & Strategy consultancy firm and is non-excecutive Chairman of the Board of Schaeff Holding AG, an international group of medium sized industrial companies.

 

He is an alumnus from Erasmus University Rotterdam (Master of Science in Business Administration) and holds in addition 2 Bachelor Degrees in Mechanical Engeering and Industrial Sales.

René Koets

Partner, Head of Management Consulting

René is a Partner in Enterprise Applications and responsible for the Data & Analytics services in KPMG Switzerland. René has extensive experience in large technology enabled transformation projects that are ERP or Infrastructure related. Within these projects, René played various roles, such as program and project manager, subject matter expert and Quality Assurance lead. He has significant experience in successfully turning around struggling projects.

René was guest lecturer ‘IT Project Management & Project Quality assurance’ at the executive master program of the University of Amsterdam. He is specialized in large size ERP implementation program assurance, ERP/SAP control design & implementation, master data management and data analytics.

Marco Hoogendijk

DIRECTOR, HEAD OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN SWITZERLAND FOR LSE & SME CLIENTS

Marco is director at Deloitte AG leading the Small Medium sized Entity practise for Central and  Eastern Switzerland. His team consists of students up to experienced senior managers. He is working for over 15 years for Deloitte in Switzerland and used to work before at PwC in the Netherlands.

He has a broad experience in all types of clients (except FINMA regulated banking) and supports his clients in all different aspects which are relevant to SME companies. He is specialized in consumer businesses and manufacturing and is a licensed auditor (register accountant) for Switzerland as well as for the Netherlands and also a member of the Art & Finance Group within Deloitte.

Marco is an alumnus from Erasmus University Rotterdam and holds a master in business economics.

Marjan Kraak

Head of the Spin-off Group at ETH Zurich

As of Nov. 2014 Marjan is heading the spin-off group at ETH transfer. Each year between 25 and 30 spin-offs are incorporated in different areas ranging from Biotech, Medtech, Robotics up to Cleantech and ICT. Since 2014 more than 150 ETH Spin-offs have been supported by the team and many of them are very successful. The spin-off group supports entrepreneurs from the first steps of building up a company up to license agreement negotiations for patent applications and software. A very important factor in the success of ETH Spin-offs is the growing entrepreneurial ecosystem which connects founders, serial entrepreneurs, investors and support organizations such as ETH transfer, Innosuisse, Venture.ch or Venture Kick. The technology driven ventures, the dynamics of supporting founder teams in their individual journeys and the challenges with each novel business model makes this a highly dynamic and interesting job.

Marjan is an Alumna from the University of Groningen with a degree in microbiology and she has a PhD in Biotechnology from ETH Zurich. She has 10 years of industry experience in product development (Morwell Diagnostics (CH)), project management in a CMO (DSM Biologics (NL)) and global marketing (Tecan and Qiagen (CH)) in the fields of biotechnology and medical- and molecular diagnostics.