ECWO Conference 2024: Pathways to Inclusion

Designing and building the workforce culture of the future is what drives Ahmed Shafik, Head of IT Group Services at NN. With over 20 years’ experience in IT, and in-depth knowledge of the Telecom, Banking, Manufacturing and Energy sectors, Ahmed’s focus is on strategy design and execution as well  as delivery management. In his current role, he oversees multiple applications and teams focused on supporting group functions. Ahmed places a high value on transformation and team building and has proven himself as a driving force in promoting diversity and inclusivity within the digital technology sector. This manifests in developing a management team that embraces diversity, including individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds. He additionally takes a proactive approach to empowering women, actively supporting their career development.

Juliette van der Laarse is an IT strategist and innovator, and currently the Product Owner of Engineering Ecosystems at NN Group. She is the founder and chairwoman of NN Women in IT, where she actively promotes gender equality in tech. Before joining NN, Juliette led a startup specialising in the development of simulations for training and education, which eventually led to the creation of an AI-driven platform for personalised learning, earning her international recognition. Her diverse background includes research on North Korea and AI projects for social impact. In 2018, she was named one of the 400 most inspirational Dutch women and featured as a technology role model by the European Parliament.

Yuli Kim moved to the Netherlands, and she earned an MBA at Rotterdam School of Management in 2011. Spanning 18 years in Japan and the Netherlands, Yuli’s career focused on business development in IT consulting, advertising and market research. She finished her 2^nd master’s degree in Human Resource Management at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam in 2019. Afterwards she started Inclusion Sensei with the big ambition to improve workplace inclusion for marginalised groups of people. Yuli lives in Amsterdam with her wife and three children. She believes a sense of belonging is a prerequisite for anyone to perform their best at work.

Hanneke Takkenberg is Executive Director of Erasmus Centre for Women and Organisations (ECWO),  Professor of Management Education focusing on Women in Business at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) and Professor of Clinical Decision Making in Cardio-Thoracic Intervention in the Erasmus Medical Center (EMC). In her RSM and ECWO roles, her work includes leading RSM’s participation in the European Commission-funded Horizon2020 EQUAL4EUROPE research project, developing and facilitating ECWO’s social safety programme for organisations, and facilitating within ECWO’s programmes. At EMC, Hanneke’s research focuses on prognosis and clinical and shared decision making in cardiovascular interventions, with special attention to male-female differences. Among her awards have been the 2018 Els Borst award, the 2019 Caty Asscher award for her efforts to achieve gender diversity in the Erasmus MC and Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) and the 2021 Female Academics Moving toward Equity’s (FAME) Athena Award. Her additional roles include Chief Diversity Officer for EUR (2015-2018) and chair of board of the Dutch Network for Women Professors (LNVH) from 2018 to 2022.

In her role at ECWO, Dorothy has contributed to the development and delivery of gender-balanced leadership and inclusion programming since its inception in 2014. As a specialist in leadership and influence communication in progression from management to leadership, she facilitates powerful dialogues that coalesce individual perspectives into shared meaning that drives change. An expert in the embodiment of confidence and engagement techniques, since 2016 she is also an executive coach in leadership communication at INSEAD and as communication faculty at IEDC Bled. Dorothy has encapsulated her experience in gender communication dynamics in a 2015 TedX talk ‘’Authenticity is a Dangerous Word’’. She holds an MM in Vocal Performance from Mannes College/The New School for Social Research and a BA in Asian Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. 

Wiley Davi is Professor of English and Media Studies at Bentley University, Waltham, Massachusetts. An ECWO faculty member whose work focuses on diversity, inclusion, and social justice, Wiley’s research and teaching emphasises the importance of inclusive learning and creating environments in which participants productively and safely engage with diverse perspectives - and their interests span the fields of writing, diversity, gender studies, leadership and service learning. Wiley is co-author of the 2020 book, Leading with Uncommon Sense: Slowing Down, Looking Inward, Taking Action that calls for leaders to operate with more humility and greater awareness of the multiple contexts in which they function—approaches that improve life for all organisational members.

Kirsten Kardijk graduated from Erasmus University Rotterdam in 2023 with an MSc in Sociology, specialising in Governance of Migration and Diversity, and Engaging Public Issues. Driven by a passion for creating a more inclusive society through critically questioning societal norms, she joined ECWO as a researcher in 2022. Initially, she contributed to the EQUAL4EUROPE project, focusing on gender equality in academic institutions. Currently, her research is centred on defining and measuring inclusion within organisations. She explores which dimensions of inclusion employees value most and how inclusion can be quantified.

Ewout Goudsmedt studied Law, Negotiation and Mediation at KU Leuven and specialised in research and teaching in the latter two matters. He fulfilled an internship at the International Chamber of Commerce after graduation, contributed to the renewed Dutch Professional Training for Lawyers (Beroepsopleiding Advocaten) and co-directed the pilot of the first European Mediation Accreditation Program of In-Medias. Ewout currently works at De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek as Senior Adviser, Lead DEIB and Head of its Learning Institute. There he teaches skills and ethics, and mentors students at Beroepsopleiding Advocaten, and is part of its Advisory Committee.

Maria Carmen Punzi is a PhD researcher, lecturer and consultant. Since 2017 she has built bridges between the for-profit, the non-profit and the academic world to achieve gender equity. In her research, she investigates the key role menstrual health can play to achieve gender equity. Maria Carmen translates insights from her academic work to media conversation and social change projects. She contributed to debates on menstrual leave and free period products in international media and her input was brought into Dutch Parliament, during the Kamervragen (Parliamentary Question time). In 2021, in collaboration with other stakeholders, she has advocated and obtained funding for free menstrual products in the university campus and continues her activism within and beyond the university. As a consultant, she regularly works with companies on themes of Diversity Equity & Inclusion, how to accommodate menstrual needs in the workplace and how to conduct social impact evaluations. Her past clients include PwC, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Vodafone and the Sanitation and Hygiene Fund (United Nations). 

As the Director of Programs and Communications, Dominique Wilburn leads all university initiatives on behalf of the CWB – including formulating and executing comprehensive change strategies across campus to make Bentley the preferred business school for women and gender-diverse individuals. In service of the CWB's role as an idea incubator, Dominique manages institutional partnership relationships and strategic internal collaborations focused on advancing gender equity through an intersectional lens and supporting the development of women+ leaders on campus. She also manages communications, ensuring the CWB's message resonates throughout the Bentley community and beyond.  

Yaro Fong-Olivares (she/her) is an Afro-Caribbean and Chinese immigrant from the island of Ayiti and Quisqueya (now known as the Dominican Republic and Haiti), Washington Heights, and now living in Massachusetts. Her most salient identity is as a priest of Yemaya in the Lucumi spiritual tradition. She serves as Executive Director of Gloria Cordes Larson Center for Women and Business at Bentley University, an organisation dedicated to advancing women and intersectional gender equity from the classroom to the boardroom. As an organisational development leader focusing on systems change, equity, and inclusion, she has developed and delivered programmes worldwide that focus on advancing an intersectional equity-centered approach to complex, often covert workplace dynamics. Yaro received a doctorate in Organisational and Leadership Psychology with a concentration in the neuroscience of leadership from William James College; she has an M.S. in Organisational Change Management from the Milano School of Management at The New School; and a B.A. Sociology, Barnard College, Columbia University.  

Michael Page is Professor of Finance and Management and a past Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Bentley University in Massachusetts, United States of America. Before joining Bentley, Mike served as the Dean of Post-Experience Programmes at Erasmus University’s Rotterdam School of Management and as the Executive Director of the Rotterdam School of Management BV, The Netherlands. He joined Erasmus after sixteen years at Cape Town University’s Graduate School of Business where he also held the Len Abrahamse Chair in Finance. Mike has completed full terms of office on the boards of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB, International), the EFMD and South Africa partners. His current research interests are targeted at diversity and inclusion, particularly with respect to the progression of women in organisations.