Tim Brinkman

I have three major goals for the coming two years: focusing on local events, becoming an opportunity hub, and further professionalising our association.

1. I want to focus more on local event engagement. We have a great local rep community, and throughout the year, we organise several events all around the world. However, I believe these local events can become more professional and attract more alumni. In my opinion, these events are our key local connection points for alumni, yet I still notice that some alumni are unaware of them. In recent months, as a pilot we’ve hosted Data & Pizza events in Amsterdam and Paris. These events attracted around 30 alumni on average, including some attending for the first time. This shows a lot of potential, and in the coming two years, I want to collaborate closer with local reps to experiment with different concepts to better connect and engage alumni locally. 

2. Secondly, I feel we are not fully leveraging our amazing network of digital innovators. We have such a strong community with many digital experts. I want us to become an opportunity hub — by alumni, for alumni. By this, I mean we should proactively identify and share opportunities within our community. These could include joining an DigitalEU project with EIT Digital, or collaborating on freelance projects with companies like Bosch. I previously worked for a Dutch think tank, where I was involved in similar projects, and I would love to adapt and implement that model within our community.

3. Finally, I want to further professionalise the association using the funds we receive. I believe we can optimise our marketing and business development processes. Ultimately, this should help us communicate more clearly with our alumni, while also better involving our sponsors and other partners.