Our people

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Management Team & Staff

Maria Westerbos

Director

Maria strategically paves the way for PSF and does so with humour. She founded the organisation in 2011 because she wants to make the world a bit more beautiful.

Jeroen Dagevos

Head of Programs

Jeroen focuses on tackling the negative effects of plastic pollution at its source. His ambition is to create a truly circular economy without leakage of plastics to the environment.

Annemarie Nederhoed

Head of Operations

Annemarie is on top of every aspect of our projects, ensuring PSF delivers the best for its mission. She is also responsible for fundraising.

Irene Vreeken

Financial Controller

Irene is taking care of all our financial activities and makes sure we run a tight ship. She’s one of our most active users of the Beat the Microbead app as she deeply cares about the issue of microplastics.

Microplastics & Health Campaign

Evelien Davidson

Campaign Manager Microplastics & Health

Evelien is responsible for our campaigns around microplastics and health. By tackling the source of the (micro)plastic problem she wants to make as much impact as possible for healthy people and a healthy environment. She has a background in media, innovation, design, and as a campaigner.

Laura Diaz Sanchez

Microfibers Campaigner

Laura is responsible for the Ocean Clean Wash Campaign and manages all online content for it. She is also behind the new version of My Little Plastic Footprint app which helps reduce plastic in daily life.

Madhuri Prahbakar

Microplastics Campaigner

Madhuri manages the Beat the Microbead campaign & is responsible for our international social media channels. She also co-created the Plastic Diet along with Laura to help reduce plastic consumption in daily life.

Fleur van der Laan

Data entry Officer

Stratos Kladis

Data entry Officer

Plastic Waste Campaign

Jurjen de Waal

Campaign Manager Plastic Waste

Jurjen is responsible for our Plastic Waste campaign. He has been committed to a clean, livable and healthy earth all his life. As a campaigner, he wants to build a big Plastic Waste movement and inspire as many people and organizations as possible to tackle plastic pollution at its source.

Marja Hollander

Project Leader Plastic Waste

Communication & Public Engagement

Robbert Meulenveld

Communications & Public Engagement Manager

Robbert is responsible for the right communication and tone of voice. To create, have and keep fans. To fight plastic pollution even more effectively and to make PSF even more relevant. From ‘cause’ to promise, movement, involvement and retention. Robbert likes to build, together with the team, towards a healthier world.

Elles Tukker

Senior Press Officer

Elles believes in the power of language and hopes to make PSF an even stronger communicator in order to convince both industry, consumers and journalists of the need to fight the plastic tsunami.

Fleur Bosch

Communications Officer

Fleur has a background in (English) linguistics and is responsible for our national and international social media channels. She loves working with language and wants to use this to get PSF’s message across in the best possible way.

Enora Regnier

SEA/SEO Specialist (freelance)

Enora manages our Google advertisements, she takes care of our websites’ visibility & makes sure our online presence is growing. She aims for a zero waste lifestyle or at least, a zero plastic waste one!

Kees-Jan van der Weijden

Digital Product Owner

Kees-Jan is responsible for the online ecosystem: the websites, apps and applications. After more than 10 years of working for all kinds of commercial companies, he wants to use his knowledge and experience in online communication and digital marketing for a better world.

Woltera Niemeijer

Graphic designer (freelance)

Woltera has developed the corporate identity of the Plastic Soup Foundation and is responsible for the design of a large part of all communications.

Helen Verkaik

Eindredacteur Plastic Health Channel (freelance)

Is everything correct? Does it look good? As editor-in-chief, Helen puts her hawk eye to the broadcasts on our Plastic Health Channel.

Ingrid Piet

Media planner (freelance)

Alex Pegler

Communications Advisor

On behalf of Higginson Strategy Alex works for Plastic Soup Foundation. Alex supports our campaigns and helps us in our mission to stop plastic pollution.

Education

Wendela van Asbeck

Education Manager

Wendela is responsible for all our educational programs & activities. Meanwhile, she’s always looking for fundraising opportunities and she tries to bring more people on board with a plastic-free lifestyle!

Pauline Salet

Education Officer

Pauline contributes to translating (scientific) knowledge about plastic to a young audience. In doing so, she aims to make young people aware of their impact on the world around them.

Hanny Brands

Consultant Branded Products (freelance)

Hanny has years of experience within licensing and merchandising and helps in the area of responsible product development and branding.

Research, Advocacy & Solutions

Anna van der Vliet

RAS Project Coordinator

Anna has a background in environmental law and anthropology and is doing research & development for Plastic Soup. She loves bouldering, learning, and the environment; she hates plastic pollution and late-stage capitalism.

Bentelise Kraaijeveld

Advocacy Officer

Bentelise is our political advocate. Her mission is to get the plastic problem on the political agenda, both nationally and internationally. As a sailor, she is passionately committed to fight plastic pollution at the source.

Harmen Spek

Innovation & Solutions Lead

Harmen focuses on solutions & innovations for all PSF projects and campaigns. He loves common-sense solutions in our plastic environment.

Sophie Vonk

Researcher Plastic & Health

Sophie is a biologist with an academic background. She conducts and coordinates research into microplastics and chemical additives, in collaboration with universities. She also provides scientific support for the Plastic Health Channel and Plastic Health Summit.

Kiki Dethmers

Researcher Plastic & Health

Kiki coordinates international research focusing on the health effects of microplastics on humans and animals. She has an academic background in marine ecology. As an avid wilderness camper, she strives to find the connection between a healthy environment, healthy animals, and healthy people.

Michiel Roscam Abbing

Advocacy & Author

Michiel has been working for PSF since its foundation as a researcher. He is author of Plastic Soup Atlas of the World a book that has been published in a number of languages, including Japanese.

Operations

Milou de Ruig

Fundraising officer

Milou is our fundraiser for individuals and companies and is responsible for raising donations. Milou is also the contact person for our Business Angels & Ambassadors and tries to get the most out of every collaboration.

Janna Selier

Education Officer/ Office Manager

Janna facilitates donations and sponsorships of companies and individuals. She’s also responsible for our webshop and the administration of our educational kit.

Michelle de Graaf

Office Manager

Michelle manages the ins and outs of the office.

She makes sure everyone at Plastic Soup Foundation can do their good work.

Anja van der Hoorn

Finance Officer

Anja makes sure that the financial operations are dealt with in a proper and orderly way, so that everyone at Plastic Soup Foundation is well informed.

Marjoleine Meijer

HR Officer (freelance)

Marjoleine has knowledge and experience in the field of Staff & Organization. She would like to use this knowledge and experience to help the Plastic Soup Foundation work together even better to increase their impact and to make the world a better place with solutions for the plastic soup problem.

Sander Böhm

ICT (extern)

Ere-voorzitter

Charles Moore

Honorary chairman

Charles Moore ontdekte de plasticsoep in 1997 tijdens een zeilrace op de Stille Oceaan. Vanaf dat moment gooide hij het roer om en hield zich alleen nog bezig met deze milieuramp. Charles is een inspiratiebron voor ons allemaal en veel mensen, waaronder het team van de Plastic Soup Foundation, zijn vervolgens in zijn voetsporen getreden.

Last but not least!

Pip

Joy & Happiness manager

Patroness

Andreas Lundgren

Member

Expertise: Entrepreneur, Business manager, director, financial manager
Position: entrepreneur, investor and high performance coach
Additional positions: Investment committee, advisory board member, supervisory board member, mentor

Committee of recommendations

Jack van Ham

In 1st phase professionalisation chairman of the board

Jack van Ham was chairman of the board in the first phase of professionalisation: ’Partly to ensure that funds could be raised to do even more in the fight against global plastic pollution and its use. I am currently retired. Previously, I was CEO of the Netherlands Red Cross and Chairman of the Board of Development Organisation ICCO.

Dieter Croese

Treasurer from 2014 to 2020, posthumously

‘Ik ben dankbaar dat ik vanaf 2014 structuur en financiële rust heb kunnen bieden als penningmeester. Mede door de CBF-accreditatie is de organisatie stevig gegroeid. De missie van Plastic Soup Foundation verdient het deze groei door te zetten, zodat komende generaties kunnen genieten van de natuurlijke pracht van onze planeet.’

Peter Keijzer

Member of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board from 2011 to 2019

‘Massaal en verkeerd gebruik van plastic is één van de bedreigingen van het welzijn op aarde. Gelukkig had Maria Westerbos dat al vroeg door. Met veel plezier kon ik haar en de PSF helpen om daar structureel iets aan te doen. Veel bereikt, geleerd en eeuwig dankbaar.’

Charles de Klerk

Member of the Board of Directors and Supervisory Board from 2013 to 2022

‘I am proud of the development that PSF has gone through. From an idea in 2011 to one of the leading organizations in this field in the world. Let’s hope that the world will realize in time realize that we need to deal with the use of plastics in a different way.’

Freek Stoove

Valentina Bellomi

Intern Plastic Footprint

Valentina heeft een achtergrond in business management en is nu bezig met de afronding van haar studie environment & resource management. Ze werkt aan de Plastic Soup Footprint voor bedrijven en ze ondersteunt ook in andere projecten.