Andre de Wit is a motivational and experienced speaker, regarded for the combination of global successful operational leadership experience and strategic human resource experience in leading international companies.  

On the speaker’s platform, he is engaging and passionate. His blend of power and warmth, as well as knowledge and instinct, translates into messages that are informative, entertaining, and practical. Because of his wide experience as a facilitator and speaker, he is able to build interactivity with the audience quickly.

Currently, Andre is the dean of Leadership Academy Amsterdam, an organisation specialised in creating leadership interventions for organisations in turbulent environments. As a CEO within IKEA and the Metro Group, Andre gained more than 20 years’ leadership experience with large corporate organisations. During his time as vice president of learning in the Metro Group and Carlsberg Group, he was involved in the design and implementation of leadership interventions from the perspective of learning.   

The topics Andre speaks about in conferences are the relationship between the changing world (10-20 years’ perspective) and the demands this will have on future leadership. He will share within his area of expertise the ways these future demands on leadership can be included in a leadership development strategy. The latest practical example is the “Learning Leaders Program” that he developed and implemented for the Carlsberg Group.

Michiel Van Eunen started out working for Libertel/Vodafone in the early days of mobile phones. Later on, he shifted to retail (BelCompany), until he was hired away by a training and consultancy firm (Retail Result) that saw his performing for a group of sales-peers. In the next five years, he trained employees of different retailers. Michiel’s training sessions became notorious for being ‘hard fun’.

Working together with a market research firm operating with over 100 mystery shoppers, he developed ‘The Hunt’, a real-life game (ARG) to trigger engagement and sales impulses of over 1,000 retail employees in a limited period of five weeks. It became a huge success, both in employee engagement and in financial results. He refined and re-used the format for different clients. Meanwhile, he developed and executed other formats (like ‘The Million Dollar Man’) that could be played ‘on-the-job’ with entire organisations.

Around 2005, Michiel started his own event company (Living Story), continuing to develop and perform events and games with groups of people. Early on he used state-of-the-art mobile technology to play location-based city games with the first smartphones. Day after day he experienced the fun, the engagement and the potential of playing with about any group you can think of. After a few years, he started a spin-off company (Beleef! Team Training) focussing on game-based learning and serious games. In the same time – from 2005-10 – he did a theatre school in Amsterdam, where he learned to stage and direct experiences.

In 2010, he initiated a corporation (Tempeest), where they made location-based games for cities (Lost in Time), heritage sites (Tess and the Zeitgeist) and nature parks (The Nature Game), featuring Apple’s latest device – the iPad.

He started to share his experiences, including best and worst practices, within the gamification community and on talks and conferences around gamification and game-based learning. In 2015, he started as gamification designer at Performance Solutions, where he applies gamification and game-based learning for clients (for many different purposes) ranging from LEGO Serious Play to pop-up escape rooms.

Meanwhile, he loves to share his designs and evangelise about gamification and game-based learning at companies and conferences around the globe.

Ernesto Barrios is learning office manager at Repsol. He is an industrial engineer with an MBA, and a background of more than 20 years in different business and countries with Rep­sol. Originally from Peru, Ernesto has lived and worked in USA, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and in Spain since 2005. During this experience, he understood early that people are the main driver of change within organisations, which led him to shift his career into the learning and development areas. Ernesto is a founding member of the corporate university at Repsol. He created the learning strategy, the instructional model and the content factory that they are running. Their responsibility covers more than 60,000 employees and collaborators through more than 50 countries worldwide. During his participation, Ernesto will share with us how they are facing corporate learning through the new workday human capital man­agement environment, which has changed the flow of learning initiative and responsibility in his organisation towards an upwards model.

Muriel Semeneri describes herself as an evangelist of collective intelligence and a knowl­edge addict. She is knowledge management director for Essilor worldwide operations, and her mission is to spread technical knowledge to more than 490 production units through a learning organisation and digital knowledge tools. Muriel graduated from Institut d’Optique graduate school with an optronics speciality. She started her career as project manager in the aerospace and defence industry in various large companies such as Thalès, Airbus, Naval System and Astrium. Muriel then joined Essilor, the worldwide leader of ophthalmic lenses, where she first managed and put in place project organisation with associated governance and processes. She then deployed competitive intelligence and technology scouting within the group, leveraging knowledge, methods, tools and organisation. Since 2015, she has been knowledge management director, driving a learning organisation responsible for the operational learning of a diverse and complex structure. This learning organisation branded as “LOFT” (Learning Organisation for Tomorrow) is relying on an active community of 2,000 trainers from the floor. In parallel, Muriel designed and deployed digital tools within Essilor group, leveraging collective intelligence processes..

CMA CGM Academy is a lever to support the strategy of the group and its transformation by:

1. Creating a pole of operational excellence, transmission and education
2. Transmitting the corporate culture and values of a fast-growing group
3. Setting up a platform for applied innovation and creation of value
4. Developing a state-of-the-art venue, opened to all the group’s employees, customers and partners to promote dialogue

Dr. Bruno Kahne is an experienced trainer, facilitator and coach in individual and team develop­ment. He has managed projects, talked at conferences and trained in many parts of the world: Bangladesh, Belgium, Bhutan, Brazil, Brunei, China, Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, France, Germany, India, Italy, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Senegal, Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Thailand, UAE, UK and USA. Bruno is the author of the book “Deaf Tips, Powerful Communication: Twelve Lessons From the Deaf World to Improve Your Communication in Your Personal, Social, and Professional Life

Alessandro Cecconi has been working in digital learning for over 12 years and started his career in specialised companies back in the days when digital learning was mainly known as e-learning. Later on, he continued his professional journey in multinational retail corporations within the HR and training area and a global scope. His expertise covers all aspects of digital learning and technologies management, and his background includes a master’s degree in communication, a master’s in instructional technology for distance education and e-learning management from Nova Southeastern University, Florida, plus other project management, coaching and psychometrics qualifications. Alessandro currently works as head of digital learning at Swarovski, based in Switzerland, whose numerous lakes allow him to cultivate his passion for open water swimming as well. His case study will focus on the particular blend of creativity and complexity that enables successful digital learning implementation in a global organisation, alongside some key challenges and reflections from the field.”

Arno Onnen is an experienced global L&D leader and business coach with a strong back­ground in field service and sales enablement. He aligns learning and development programs with business and growth strategies. After 20 years in different L&D roles at SAP and leading a local cooperative university, Arno joined GE Power Conversion in 2016 as global training manager. In his various roles, he developed and led a variety of global L&D programs such as:

•  Global certification programs

•  Career progression program for sales roles

•  Field service academies

•  Cooperative study programs

•  Peer coaching programs

•  Customer training programs  

Arno holds a master’s degree in education, an MBA and degrees in industrial engineering and forestry.

Martin Caine is one of those rare pioneers who is very comfortable with exploring to the edge and beyond in the Learning and Talent Management space. He’s an L&D leader with over 20 years of experience in L&D leadership, facilitation, instructional design, blended and online education, talent management, and team effectiveness.

In 2020 Martin returned to Philips University as the Learning Business Partner for Markets, having held the role of Talent Partner for the Personal Health business and the Innovation and Strategy and IP&S and Legal functions at Royal Philips. Martin holds an MSc degree in Blended and Online Education.

He is a fellow of the Learning & Performance Institute, and during his MSc studies was awarded Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA) accreditation in embedded Learning Technologies and for the last three years has been a program advisory board member and program cohort mentor for the International Masterclass L&D leadership at Nyenrode Business University.

Learning is about telling stories and making connections. Jonathan Sears started telling sto­ries as a video editor, working in the film and television industry. He left the world of film and television for learning 13 years ago to teach others how to make films and tell stories, and through learning, empower themselves. Since then, he’s led cutting edge learning transfor­mation at companies like Apple, Lynda.com, LinkedIn, The Wonderful Company, and today, Philip Morris International. In addition to working in learning, he regularly guests lectures on a wide variety of topics ranging from film production to learning transformation. Today at Philip Morris International, Jonathan is driving digital learning innovation and managing a 90,000 member learning space, which delivers content in 11 languages to employees in more than 90 countries

More than a decade ago Maud started the most fascinating journey, working in the Human Resources world. She is a passionate person for who the greatest career achievement to date is to bring out the best in talent and being surrounded by the people that encourage her to be every day a better human being and professional.

After a few years as an HR Generalist in France, she entered the magic world of working internationally, across hundreds of countries globally, as a Recruiting Specialist. With LinkedIn and then Facebook, she had the chance to design and implement a Strategic Sourcing model that involves: Being a strong business partner, strategically and proactively design creative ways to talent map, surface top notch talents, engage, coach and bring them all the way to an offer! 

Two years ago she made a new turn in her career and became a Learning & Development Partner for Facebook EMEA & LATAM. She is now working on enabling the amazing potentials of the talents that surrounds her. She’s a partner, teacher and advocate to her Recruiting & Sourcing colleagues. She ensures they have the guidance and resources to turn their high-impact work into the talents Facebook needs now and in the future.

Brandon is a 2x founder, ICF Certified Leadership Coach, and non-profit board member who has coached leaders of all levels at Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, military and sports organizations, and in higher education. He empowers diverse leaders to create significance by designing alignment between purpose and action. Brandon currently serves as the Founder and CEO of Hustl Leadership and is an adjunct Executive and Leadership Coach with renowned global organizations, including the Center for Creative Leadership, Bravely, and All American Leadership...among others. He also serves part-time as an officer in the United States Air National Guard, as the Director of Organizational Development and Diversity Programs.

Previously, Brandon was a coach and leadership consultant with the U.S. Air Force Academy's Center for Character and Leadership Development and the Profession of Arms Center of Excellence. His career began as a decorated U.S. Air Force pilot, U.S. Senate staffer, and college football coach. He has studied leadership and innovation at Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Duquesne University, and the U.S. Air Force Academy. Much of Brandon's current work explores the intersection of design thinking and leadership development.

Lori bills herself as an ‘accidental’ Senior L&D practitioner, but the truth is her experience has perfectly positioned her to work within the learning and development space. After being approached to take on the role leading the development of sales capabilities 4 years ago, she put her growth mindset into play, leveraging her 20+ years in CPG, building her own competence in business functions such as Marketing, Business Development, e. Commerce and Retail Sales to build a self-development learning culture at Nestlé Waters. Today, she leads the learning and development strategy for the Nestle Waters sales organization with a laser-focus on skills that will future-proof employees and uphold Nestle Waters’ competitive spot in the retail beverage landscape. Lori believes she has found her calling in the L&D space. She has a passion for helping people grow, has reinvented herself many times, and believes that the key to personal happiness is continuously achieving new heights for skills and capabilities. Outside of her work at Nestlé Waters, she is a Board Member for the Metro NY Region of Network of Executive Women and is committed to developing and empowering women leaders. She believes that in a post-Covid world, diversity, inclusion, and especially belonging are going to be increasingly vital to future business and societal success. 

Ann Smith joined Simplot in January 2017 as an Organizational Effectiveness Manager for the Talent and Culture team. In that role, Ann partnered across the business on initiatives to enhance employee engagement and performance, including onboarding, performance & development, and employee engagement. She then transitioned to the Leadership and Development team, where she leads a team responsible for conducting learning needs analysis, instructional design, team building, and facilitation in order to support the growth and development of global leaders and team members at Simplot.  

Prior to Simplot, Ann spent several years building the learning department and sales training for a global medical device company. She also spent five years at Microsoft as a Learning and Development Manager, supporting a global business group in their professional development efforts. Previously, she worked at Micron in Corporate Workforce Development and owned her own consulting firm, AMS Training. Ann has deep expertise in leadership development, performance management, and global learning implementation. She is also certified to facilitate a variety of development programs, including DISC, Myers Briggs, Situational Leadership II, Crucial Conversations, Speed of Trust, and DDI.

Ann has a master’s degree and bachelor’s degree in English from San Diego State University.

When not at work, Ann enjoys running, raising funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and camping with her husband and dogs.

Tania Fernandes is an experienced Agile coach and HR projects expert at Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company – one of the world’s largest bottlers and partners of The Coca-Cola Company.

She started her career as Management Support and has over 10 years supporting C-level suite, taking part in various strategic projects, and serving as a hub and people´s coordinator gaining vast exposure and experience in Business and HR Management working in different sectors like Advertisement, Education, Investment Management and FMCG.  

Tania is part of the company´s D&I Council and a member of the Women´s Network Steering Committee. During her role as Agile Coach, she drove many Commercial Initiatives helping the business deliver on its priorities in developing the new commercial platforms and services to our customers, guiding teams to implement more effective and collaborative agile ways of working while improving their motivation and empowerment.  

Tania holds an MBA from the University Aberta in Lisbon, and she is a Certified Scrum Master and Design Thinking Facilitator. She is passionate about Data Science and has attended Machine Learning Trainings, has initial experience with SQL and programming languages R and Phyton as well as Tableau and Azure DevOps. She currently lives in Zug, Switzerland.