Rob Adank has over 12 years of ‘no-nonsense’ experience at Datastream International, which is currently part of Thomson (Reuters), where he held various positions. After a solid induction period at the European Helpdesk, he went on to become Quality Assurance Supervisor Continental Europe. He was employed as an Account Manager for institutional investors in the Netherlands, Denmark, Luxembourg and the United States for over 6 years. He gradually became more and more familiar with the depth and dynamics of the global stock markets. As a senior coach and as a member of the middle management team of the above-mentioned company, he became increasingly interested in communication psychology. This, together with the growing feeling that he wanted to help others in this field, prompted him to make a well-considered career change. He went on to become a trainer/coach in the field of communications and related psychological aspects. His relationship with university employees and lecturers ensured that he was able to successfully translate theory into practice. He also worked as an external lecturer at Intrum Justitia/DNB for a number of years, specialised in customer complaints, stress and time management. His efforts were largely focused on introducing a change in culture and increasing effectiveness.

Since August 2007, Rob has been employed as a regional and project manager at Flevum Forum Network. Around the middle of November 2008, he was one of the co-initiators of the collaboration with UK meets NL. His principal focus is on his region, which is the southern part of the Netherlands, where the main emphasis is on MaintenanceValley, Logistics, Innovation and Creativity. Here too, we see numerous opportunities arise from the ‘current crises’ that are geared to ‘future oriented enterprise’. Rob is able to put his experience and know-how in relation to the financial markets into good use here. Strategic collaboration and interaction with various business clubs can create extra opportunities for SMEs and larger businesses that operate internationally.