Since my childhood, the sea has played an important role in my life. During walks along the beach we would find all kinds of marine life and objects washed upon the shore. Once we found a dead white-beaked dolphin lying in the wet sand. The idea of a dolphin living in the cold, grey, murky waters of the North Sea, opened up a whole new world.

After exploring the North Sea in sailboats, I obtained my Master License for larger ships and worked on a range of different types of ships around the globe: with dyslexic teenagers across the Atlantic Ocean, taking passengers around Spitsbergen and carrying cargo in Nw Europe on a sailing cargo vessel. When serving as chief officer on the Rainbow Warrior II, I started to think about the way we are dealing with our oceans and decided to change my course.

From 2000-2015 I devoted much of my time to the well being of the North Sea, the past 5 years as Executive Director of the North Sea Foundation. In the summer of 2015 I decided to take a next step and start up a consultancy firm.