We have made some incredible progress in professionalizing the work of our foundation

A few questions to Jeroen van Lent on what it means to be the President of the Board.

What do you work on as the President? What skills are required in these works?

"As President, I aim to ensure the overall sustainability of the EIT Digital Alumni Foundation. This concretely means that I support the rest of the Board with their individual tasks and coordinate the overarching Alumni Board tasks and initiatives. Besides that, I’m often the face of the EIT Digital Alumni in meetings with external stakeholders, EIT Digital or the EIT and while presenting the work of our community to the rest of the world. I try to ensure future planning and accurate reporting to EIT digital and sit on the EIT Digital Alumni Governing Board."

What have you achieved in your mandate 2019-2021 as the President?

"Over the past two years, we have made some incredible progress in professionalizing the work of our foundation. Together with the rest of the Board we have outlined new financial regulations, introduced the Working Group Survey and started restructuring our work in GSuite. Alongside this, we have also strengthened our collaboration with EIT Digital and managed to involve a large number of Alumni in the 2019 Kick-off and EIT Digital Annual Conference. While we were well on our way to organise the 2020 Annual Meeting in Split the covid-19 pandemic struck, and we have managed to successfully cancel the event with full refunds to all alumni. Lastly, I’m extremely proud of all the online events we organised that included the Tuesday Afterwork series, the 2020 Start-up contest with a record number of start-ups and the AlumniHack that took place fully online."

What could you have done better or differently during your mandate?

"Although there are probably many things to improve, I think we have done what we could in these extraordinary years. The lack of physical events and the Annual Meeting in 2020 has had a significant impact on the community and it is key to organise some much needed events once the world reopens."

Interested in this position? Apply now to be the next President or ask Jeroen van Lent for more information!