What a fantastic way to finish Q3 of 2022: 7 new Sparkies have been added to the team in September. It’s great to have you all on board!
ELISE RIJNEN | PERSONAL ASSISTANT – AMSTERDAM OFFICE
Before joining SparkOptimus, Elise has worked at Philips, LeasePlan, Booking.com and as a freelancer, and most recently for 11 years at bol.com as PA for the CEO & CFO where she was responsible for all company events.
Elise lives in a small Dutch village near Amsterdam with her family and loves to travel, have fun/drinks/dinner with friends, and she’s always up for a good ski trip!
NICOLAS VELLING | SR. ASSOCIATE – DÜSSELDORF OFFICE
Originally from Germany, Nicolas lived many years in France where he pursued his Master’s degree and worked in digital strategy consulting for IBM as well as several start-ups.
In his free time Nicolas likes to travel, meet friends, go to restaurants, do all kinds of sports and he’s passionate about nature and wildlife.
ANIEK VUURMANS | ASSOCIATE INTERN – AMSTERDAM OFFICE
Aniek has joined Spark as an intern during the fall period (September until December). Last year, she finished the first part of her master’s program in Strategic Management at RSM (Rotterdam) and looks forward to finishing the last part in spring 2023.
In her spare time, Aniek likes to play tennis or try to find new recipes to add to her cookbook, which she hopes to publish soon!
CAROLA ROHNER | ASSOCIATE INTERN – AMSTERDAM OFFICE
Carola is studying Health Sciences and Technology and in her Masters program she specialized in Rehabilitation Engineering.
In her free time Carola likes to spend time with her friends and sports, especially kitesurfing and skiing cross-country or on the slopes.
VALÉRIE DE VLAM | ASSOCIATE – AMSTERDAM OFFICE
Valérie recently graduated from the TU Delft, where she completed a bachelor and master in Mechanical Engineering, with a specialization in Bio-robotics and Haptic interfaces.
Some of her hobbies include exploring nature by traveling in a camper-van, rowing on the Amstel river, cooking (spicy) dinners with friends and collecting vinyl records.
MEREL DE LEEUW DEN BOUTER | ASSOCIATE – AMSTERDAM OFFICE
Merel has a background in Applied Mathematics (BSc/MSc) and Applied Physics (BSc), and has spent the last 4-5 years doing PhD research at the TU Delft on the development of inexpensive MRI scanners for low-and middle-income countries.
In her free time, Merel loves traveling and to do a lot of sports like boxing, tennis, yoga, running and skiing, to name but a few.
NOOR BORREN | ASSOCIATE INTERN – AMSTERDAM OFFICE
Noor is pursuing a Technical Medicine master’s degree and moved from Delft to Rotterdam last December.
Besides studying, Noor keeps herself busy with cultural/social activities and sports like hockey, tennis, going wakeboarding, skiing, sailing or having a round of kickboxing after work.
