Organisation
The organization of the Connect2Trust foundation is set up to optimize services to all forms of participants. The organization is led by the Board, which is advised in its strategy and implementation by an Advisory Board. The Board is supported by a secretariat and a security office that is headed by one of the directors. Furthermore, there are specific activities focused on coalitions and partnerships that are part of the Cyber Threat Alliance.
The Board of Connect2Trust
The board of Connect2Trust consists of the following three people:
Raymond Bierens has many years of experience in the field of cybersecurity in various roles ranging from a global responsibility at Atos, to his current roles as strategic advisor to (inter)national organizations in the public and private sector.
Central to these activities is the management of digital risks and cybersecurity strategy in major digital transformations. From this area of expertise, Raymond fulfills the role of chairman of Connect2Trust. Raymond holds various degrees from Erasmus University and is now a PhD researcher at the Amsterdam Business Research Institute of the Free University of Amsterdam and therefore also a lecturer at the same university.
In addition, he is an experienced speaker and publishes regularly at home and abroad.
Erik Slingerland is one of the founding members of Connect2Trust and works as Senior Information Security Officer at Netherlands Railways. He has a long track record in information security, compliance and privacy. For instance, he has spent years securing infrastructure for financial clients but has also written Business Continuity plans for several organisations.
After completing his university education, he worked for a while in the Royal Netherlands Army as a non-commissioned officer in the medical service and thus also came into contact with ICT. He then obtained several certifications within the field such as CISSP, MBCI, CISA and CIPP/E.
In his role as vice-chairman of Connect2Trust, he combines his years of experience as an ISO with the desire to make the Netherlands safer.
In his eyes, this can be achieved by, for a powerful Connect2Trust, implementing and defining the strategy, with mutual trust between both board and participants being his first priority.
Mariëlle Kolff has extensive experience in the security domain. For example, she worked for the Ministry of Justice and Security (NCTV) on the first Dutch Cybersecurity Agenda. At the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate, she contributed to the establishment of the Digital Trust Centre. More recently, for the Ministry of Justice and Security, she contributed to the development of My Cyber Driving Licence: based on (behavioural) science, children from group 7 and 8 learn about the unique properties of the internet through this teaching package. Mariëlle is currently working for the Ministry of Justice and Security on the prevention of High Impact Crimes.
In addition, Mariëlle served as secretary on the board of the VVD Leusden, subsequently serving as a municipal councillor for the same party. For the alderman for finance of the municipality of The Hague, she worked as a political/administrative advisor.
Mariëlle gets energy from understanding and translating complex issues into explainable solutions. She also enjoys making connections between parties, domains or people to achieve common goals (or just for fun).
“At Connect2Trust particularly nice elements of my career come together. Being allowed to play a role in making the Netherlands’ most beautiful companies digitally resilient is something I truly consider an honour”
Connect2Trust’s Advisory Board
The Advisory Board consists of at least three people whereby members are sought from private, public and scientific backgrounds. These individuals are:
Hein Dekkers currently leads the Country Digitalization Acceleration program as a Director in the Dutch Management Team of Cisco Netherlands. In this role, he is responsible for innovation and investment in line with the Digital Strategy of the Dutch Government
Hein Dekkers responsible for social responsibility and investment at Cisco Netherlands with a strong focus on closing the digital literacy gap, accelerating innovation and increasing public support for digitization by investing in the cyber resilience of Dutch business and government, among other things.
Hein has a rich background as Global Digitalization Officer and Head of Global IoT Acquisitions incubation at Cisco. In this capacity, he led the incubation of acquisitions and took global responsibility for integrating these companies. These new companies add momentum to the development of innovative technologies within Cisco to achieve a digitally inclusive society at large.
Peter van Burgel is CEO of AMS-IX (Amsterdam Internet Exchange). AMS-IX is one of the largest Internet Exchanges in the world and the market-leading platform in Amsterdam has played a crucial role in the global Internet for 30 years. AMS-IX’s mission is “Build better society through better Internet” and from the mission, AMS-IX is globally active in discussions about the future of the Internet with the aim of guarding the original values of the Internet (open, neutral) while making it safer for users.
As CEO, Peter is responsible for AMS-IX’s long-term strategy and own Digital Transformation based on three pillars: Innovation, Optimisation and Growth. Within Innovation there is a strong focus on responsible data sharing, quantum Internet, security and sustainability. Furthermore, AMS-IX is part of vital services and is therefore partly in close contact with the government and other vital services.
Peter has more than 30 years of experience in IT, Security and telecommunications. Security is a common thread in his career, starting with the first types of firewalls and antivirus solutions to security hotlines and zero-trust today. Peter has rich international experience in transformation, “Go-To-Market”, M&A and integration with a strong focus on value creation.