Anja Grootoonk

Anja Grootoonk has dedicated her professional life to the public sector. She is currently City Manager of Almere, the highest civil servant with nearly 2,000 employees, running a city with complex challenges. She used to work as a police chief and in a trade union. Anja is a leader who is able to create strong followership. People that work for and with her really believe in her. But because she is very outspoken, she also meets resistance. Her leadership style is characterized as a mix of hugging and hitting. Anja first will be interviewed by Twan van de Kerkhof. After this plenary introduction participants will engage in Roundtable dialogues.

Seamus Keating

Employees, especially the younger generation, are demanding to use their own iPads and smart phones in their jobs. Companies will need to become fast adapters to whatever mobile devices their employees believe will equip them to do their jobs more effectively and more productively, but that means they also have to deal with new security challenges. Moreover, some leaders will have to change their styles; since employees are coming into the office less, command and control are just not possible anymore. Seamus Keating, CEO Logica Benelux and COO of Logica Group, will explain what kind of technological future he sees emerging in the workplace and what the leadership implications are. At the Roundtables, leaders will explore these challenges in their own organizations. This event is open to the President Circle and Young Leader Circle for their usual rates €450 and €295 respectively.

Simon Reinink

Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam might be the best concert hall in the world. The best orchestras and musicians love to play here and hardly a night goes by without a performance. Nevertheless, profitability, innovation and its role in society are challenging issues. These dimensions of cultural entrepreneurship (and more) will be addressed by Simon Reinink, Managing Director of Het Concertgebouw. After his introduction, participants will engage in Roundtable dialogues. This Leadership Dialogue will take place in Het Concertgebouw.

Geert-Jan Haveman

Bercan Gunel

Despite massive attention there are shockingly few women in top positions. What can women do and what should their (future) employers, nonexecutives and spouses do? Bercan Gunel and Geert-Jan Haveman will each introduce the topic from their own perspective, before joining the participants in a dialogue. Bercan Gunel is founder of search firm Woman Capital. Geert-Jan Haveman is Director Learning & Development at Tata Steel.

Jan H.M. Hommen

Dutch financial giant ING has experienced dramatic change since the financial crisis of 2008. ING is breaking up into separate banking and insurance companies and has sold subsidiaries as a consequence of an EU crackdown on banks too big to fail. With CEO Jan Hommen we will explore what lessons ING learned from the financial crisis and how he sees developments in the financial industry and its role in society in the years to come.

Caro van Eekelen

Leaders should see their customers and employees as guests. When you provide a better service than your guests expect, they will recommend you to others. When you succeed in doing this continuously, guests keep coming back and bring friends too. If you want to achieve this as a leader, you have to start with your employees. You will have to take good care of them to enable them to excel in their interactions with guests. Caro van Eekelen will explain the concept of hospitality and give many examples from her own practice how to apply the concept. Caro is currently Managing Director of Accor Hotels in the Netherlands and learned great lessons about this topic during her many years with Disney.

Johan van de Gronden

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), a leading green NGO, does not work against business but engages with companies in a constructive dialogue to help conserve the environment. WWF chooses partners that aspire to be frontrunners in their industries. One example is KPN that has committed itself to green electricity and to decrease its energy use by 20% in 10 years; KPN currently uses 1% of all electricity in the Netherlands. Johan van de Gronden is CEO of the Dutch chapter of WWF; he will articulate WWF's global strategy to work with business. After his introduction participants will share their personal experiences in cooperation between businesses and NGOs.

Johan van den Elzen

As a leader you have to give trust and freedom to your co-workers and foster the richness of their diversity. Many CEOs say that they do it, Johan van den Elzen really does. And his approach has been rewarded. Van den Elzen is CEO of Movares, an engineering consultancy working in energy, mobility and the environment, which has been selected as the best employer of 2010 (research by Effectory). A huge inspiration for Van den Elzen is Brazilian CEO Ricardo Semler, author of bestsellers 'Maverick' and 'The Seven Day Weekend', who runs his company like a democracy or maybe even anarchy. Like Semler, Van den Elzen is not your average CEO. Be inspired by his story and afterwards share your personal leadership experiences at our Roundtables. The plenary part of this meeting will be in Dutch.

Jolande Sap

*Note Date Change. Jolande Sap has been mentioned as having the potential to become the first female prime minister of the Netherlands. This is testament to her quick career in Dutch politics as the leader of GroenLinks (Socialist Green party) since December 2010. Her leadership was tested right from the start at a tumultuous time in Dutch politics. She will talk about her leadership of the party and about her basic drive for justice as the main reason to be in politics. After her introduction, participants will engage in Roundtable dialogues over dinner.

Michiel Boersma

Choosing the right strategy to grow your business in a changing world is a major challenge for every leader. The decisions to work locally or internationally, to be independent or be part of a larger organization - to name just a few of the choices to be made - have consequences for leadership, governance, R&D, investments, clients and cooperation with partners. Michiel Boersma will explain how leaders can make the right choices. Boersma was CEO of Essent and President of Shell Global Solutions. He is the co-author of 'Ster-Ondernemingen'(2011) and holds several (Supervisory) Board memberships in The Netherlands and abroad.

Alexia Michiels

Laurent Levisalles

More than education, experience, or training, an individual's level of resilience will determine who succeeds and who fails. In this Leadership Dialogue, Laurent Levisalles and Alexia Michiels will explain the concept of resilience and will present tips to achieve a state of flow. They will touch upon mastering stress, securing physical vitality, EQ and breathing, to mention just a few. Laurent and Alexia are partners in The Resilience Institute, an international organization that is using modern preventive health, positive psychology, emotional intelligence, cognitive behaviour therapy and neuroscience to help leaders become more effective.

Ben Knapen

The second European Leadership Dialogue will be delivered by Ben Knapen. He is Minister for European Affairs and International Cooperation in the Dutch government. The European Leadership Dialogue is intended to provide a deeper understanding of the future of Europe. Ben Knapen will give his view of the desired future for Europe, the current situation and the leadership that is needed to bridge the gap between the two. The first European Leadership Dialogue was held in 2010 with French thinker Dominique Moisi as the speaker. This event is open to all four member circles.

Henk Breukink

Jaap Winter

The pressure on boards is high but boardroom dynamics are rarely as effective as they could be. What can and should Executive and Supervisory Boards do to optimize their dynamics? Jaap Winter will talk about his experiences in board evaluations, his observations of relationships between executives and non-executives and the impact of individual personalities in boards. Henk Breukink will react to his introduction based on his personal experiences in boards. Jaap Winter is Partner at De Brauw Blackstone, Professor at the University of Amsterdam and Duisenberg School of Finance, and member of the Supervisory Boards of Randstad and Mauritshuis. Henk Breukink is Supervisory Board member at ING, Hogeschool InHolland, et al. After their introductions, participants will discuss the effectiveness of their own boards.

Arjan Eleveld

Focus, Involvement and Trust are the defining characteristics of successful organizations. In this Leadership Dialogue Arjan Eleveld will explain what leaders can do to increase the FITness of their company, what they can do to build engagement, break through bureaucracy and eliminate distrust. He will also show how limiting beliefs and unconscious processes can dramatically weaken a leader's impact. Arjan Eleveld is Managing Director of consultancy LTP, Chairman of the Global Alliance for Performance Improvement and author of 'Maak je organisatie FIT' (2011). After his introduction participants will exchange views about their own FITness in Roundtables.

Frank Schreve

A pattern is appearing in the careers of several top executives: first you learn how to do your job right, then you have a number of years in which you execute what you have learned and after that you start giving back to society. Frank Schreve, former CEO of Ten Cate and Heidemij and former chairman of Rabobank International, is using his resources in a variety of ways, from supporting tigers in Nepal to helping businesses and ngos internationally. After his introduction participants will engage in Roundtables about their personal career patterns.

Stef Kranendijk

Stef Kranendijk has had the guts as the CEO of Desso to move beyond mere sustainability in producing its carpets and artificial grasses to adopt Cradle to Cradle as a guiding principle. In addition to being CEO of Desso since 2007, Stef is co-owner and partner of an asset management firm, and was until 2009 Board Member of Sterling Strategic Value Ltd., a reputed investment firm taking positions in public companies. Prior to his independent entrepreneurship, Stef had senior leadership positions at Stanley Works and Procter & Gamble.

ELP invites you to celebrate the beginning of Summer on our beautiful terrace in Amsterdam. A networking event you cannot miss.