I always try to discover the structure of things, ever since I was a kid. When something breaks down, it's an opportunity for me to dive in and fix it. Whether it's my dishwasher or a high-end engineering process.

Also, when I cook for example, I want to find out what gives the flavour or structure. At what temperature do the flavours of an ingredient really come to life? Also, in my role as Director Business & Product Development I really feel that I have the same freedom to always follow my curiosity.

When I started at this company, it was not yet part of Aalberts. The founder was the managing director and at some point, he sold all his shares to Aalberts. After a while he stepped down and the international management was looking for someone to fill the gap. And they asked me. I was a product manager at the time. Together with a colleague of mine who did the commercial side, I was given responsibility for the whole unit. Big shoes to fill, let me tell you. The previous manager was quite an extrovert, which I am not. I was also not as experienced. I am also more of an engineer than a manager. Despite all these aspects, I did it and wouldn’t like to have missed it. I learned a lot and it gave me a much broader view of things. Being out of my comfort zone for a while got me to where I am today. After some time, they found the perfect new person for the job and gave me the opportunity to go back to what I love: engineering.

Together with a team of talented people, we work every day to create innovative solutions for our customers' challenges. Within this team I try to guide and inspire my younger colleagues, challenge them to always dig deeper into the problem and find the root cause. That's what I did when I started as a service engineer, that's what I do today and that’s what I will to tomorrow: inspiring people to dive deeper.