Advisory Board

Nancy Baghdadi-Vieten

She has completed Post MSCs in Development Economics and Project Analysis at the University of Economics of Clermont-Ferrand in France. As a senior advisor, she encourages leaders and (management) teams to reflect on the impact and effectiveness of their choices and behaviour. She invites them to investigate new ways of bringing focus, involvement and trust into their environment.

Nancy works at LTP, one of the most renowned Dutch consultancy firms, specialised in Business Psychology. Previously, she worked at SARV Business Consultancy as a trainer/coach and at Pink Roccade, where she held various consultancy and management positions. A mother of two children, she is actively involved in community life in a variety of ways.

Jordan Dey

Jordan Dey is Co-Founder and Principal of HKS Global, where he advises governments, international organisations, businesses and non-profits on democratic governance and food security.

Jordan previously served as US Director for the UN World Food Program (WFP), leading policy and government relations for the world’s largest humanitarian agency. Jordan also served on the front-lines of humanitarian crises across the globe with WFP, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Colombia, Sri Lanka, and Central America. He has worked at the US State Department as a Policy Advisor to Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, where he worked to strengthen international support for refugees; and he has appeared as a guest on CNN, BBC, National Public Radio and in the pages of The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Financial Times and other publications.

Jordan graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of California, Santa Cruz and earned a Master´s degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He lives in Washington, DC.

Eelco Fortuijn

He was born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands in 1970. Eelco studied Business Science at the Erasmus University and graduated with degrees in developmental economy and organizational psychology. He also followed an internship in Ethiopia and decided then to:

Achieve his ultimate goal: that all products in the Dutch market would be fair and sustainable, and not produced at the cost of people and the environment and contribute to a fair market and a sustainable world.

Eelco holds several functions in, among other groups, the MVO-Platform, the Tropical Commodity Coalition (formerly the Coffee Coalition) and the Milieukeur. His hobbies are traveling, biking and listening to as well as creating his own music. His life motto is “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” and “Never rest until all products in our stores are sustainable and hunger-free.”

Pierre Louis van Hedel

Pierre Louis van Hedel is the Managing Director of Rabobank Foundation; a position he has held since 2008. Pierre has been working with Rabobank since 1978 and has held a number of positions with the bank such as Management Trainer, Senior Consultant, Manager Marketing and Product Development and Business Manager.

He has held positions in both The Netherlands and Poland and the activities he has performed for Rabobank have taken him to over 25 different countries.

Jan is a board member of the President Rotary Club‘s Hertogenbosch division; Terrafina Micro Finance; Nice International; MicroNed and European Micro Finance Platform.

Pierre is married and he is the father of four children.

Roeland Meijs

After gaining his education in financial economy, Roeland has spent the length of his career in the field of HRM. Initially he worked as an HR (Reward) Consultant with KPMG and PwC, and later he held various HR positions with Philips International.

He is a certified counsellor of the Dutch Academy for Psychotherapy and he is currently working as an independent consultant in the field of career counselling, (organisational) coaching and interim HRM. As an organisational coach, his approach and interventions are mainly based on an appreciative view of organisational change (Appreciative Inquiry), separating the managerial from the professional domain and on connecting people’s drives with organisational development.

Roeland has a passion for astronomy and for the impact of early social experiences on our functioning in later life.

Shalini Nataraj

Shalini Nataraj is Vice President of Programs at the Global Fund for Women, where she oversees a grants program that disburses nearly $9 million annually to support women’s rights initiatives worldwide. Prior to joining GFW, Shalini was Associate Director of the Reebok Human Rights Award Program, focused on highlighting the work of young human rights activists.

Before joining Reebok, Shalini worked for the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee as the acting Director of International Programs, supporting social movements to promote women’s health and reproductive rights as well as political and civil human rights. She has worked with community organizations in Asia, Africa and the United States on human rights and environmental issues.

Shalini has co-founded several advocacy organizations focused on human rights issues such as ending the practice of trafficking, and promoting human rights and democracy in Burma, Rwanda, Burundi and neighboring countries following the Rwandan genocide. Shalini has also worked on sustainable development and corporate social responsibility initiatives. She serves on the boards of Grantmakers Without Borders and the Women’s Funding Network, among others, and serves on the advisory committees of several more social justice and human rights organizations.

Shalini possesses over 25 years experience in the fields of environmental justice, international development and human rights, working internationally as well as in the United States.

Michael Nkonu

As Executive Director of Fairtrade Africa, Michael Nkonu works with the Fairtrade Africa Board to
develop and manage the strategic direction of Fairtrade Africa. He ensures the organisation’s vision is effectively communicated and implemented to various stakeholders, both within Africa and internationally, to advance the cause of Fairtrade African producers.

Before moving to Africa, Michael worked for the Fairtrade Foundation as Africa Manager, spearheading the expansion of Fairtrade activities in Africa. His work with small farmer organisations, businesses, governments and international organisations has leveraged organisational, technical and financial support for African producers. Michael, who is a Ghanaian national, has a Master of Science in Agriculture, Food Security and Natural Resources Management from the University of Hohenheim, Germany.

Max van der Sleen

Born in Heerlen in the Netherlands in 1953, Max attended Groningen University, and majored in institutional economics (Drs cum laude, 1978) as an undergraduate; and obtained a Master´s degree from the School of Development Studies, University of Norwich, UK (MA with distinction, 1978).

After his studies he worked two years for the United Nations Development Programme in South Korea, before joining the Netherlands Economic Institute (NEI) in 1981. In the 1980′s he worked in many of the competence areas of Ecorys, Transport, Agriculture, Environment, and gradually specialised in programme monitoring and evaluations. His assignments have been focused particularly in Asia and Africa.

In the late nineties, Max became director of the Macro & Sector Policies Group of NEI, which soon after merged with Kolpron and ECOTEC to become Ecorys. In 2004, he was appointed Chairman of Ecorys Netherlands and in 2008 he was named CEO of the Executive Board of Ecorys.