The team

David Jonker

David Jonker (1974) is trainer, coach and systemic therapist. He is educated as business administrator and worked as a manager in hospitality. As a trainer he combines his business background with knowledge on topics such as; personality, communication, motivation, learning, leadership, relationships between people and the systemic influence on employees and organizations. His style is playful with considerable attention for deeper lying patterns and motives.

Since 2005 he worked for several leadership and talent development institutes, such as de Baak, Ludens and Foodstep. He facilitated young talents, managers and board members of, among others, Mammoet, Espria and PostNL. After his 3-year education in Systemic Constellations, Transactional Analysis and Neuro-Linguistic programming at Phoenix institute, he specialized in long-term development and change, increasingly with an international focus.

He likes to explore new cultures, loves to speak Spanish, surf and dance salsa and is passionately involved in a social project that empowers girls in Bogota, Colombia.

Passionate about; dealing with group patterns and dynamics.

Only satisfied when; insights during programs are applied in daily work.

Enjoyed watching; Into the wild, Cartel land (doc) and Motorcycle diaries.

Coen Koomen

Coen Koomen (1969) is facilitator, consultant and coach. He started his career as marketeer and business developer at Grolsch Breweries and Caterpillar. During a global cycle tour and work in Nepal in the educational field, he got intrigued by learning, developing and change.

Since 2004, he worked with a wide range of Leadership Institutes (de Baak, TWWWI, Better Future), developing an eclectic style of facilitating leadership development and change. He's educated in Theory U at MIT (Boston) and in Constellations at Hellinger Institute. Coen currently facilitates programs in the field of leadership, strategy and change for Schiphol Airport, Sherpa Healthcare, Ampelmann, Eriks, Friesland Campina, Snappcar and many others. He chooses his partners and clients well; trust, equality and a good sense of humor are crucial. He uses many playful and powerful methods to bring out the best in people and organizations.

In the summer of 2015 he moved to Copenhagen for 3 years. He now lives in an old prison in Rotterdam. 

Wake him up for: complex organizational change, personal courageous breakthroughs, disruptive innovation, contribution to society. Believes every person and organization has the wings to fly and create something unique.

Enjoyed watching: Captain Fantastic, As it is in heaven and 12 angry men.

Femke Ottevanger

Femke Ottevanger (1975) is facilitator, trainer and coach. 'Connect before you lead’ is her leadership motto. She works as trainer/coach since 2000, of which many years for de Baak, as trainer of Young Executive Program and The Informal Leader. Femke is a certified Haptonomist, (team)coach and intervention specialist. She encourages her participants and coachees to develop their talents, ask probing questions, and connect to themselves and others. She uses experiences and makes people feel confident and encourages them to experiment and find hidden treasures.

Femke is lead trainer for leadership programs at Mammoet, Post NL, Arriva and KPN.

Femke moved to Copenhagen in 2015 and now lives in Rotterdam.

She loves theater and dance to get inspired and look at things from different perspectives. Femke loves to travel and go for a run.

Enjoyed watching; The Restaurant, Sex Education. 

Barbara Takacs

Barbara Takacs (1969) is a social psychologist, change facilitator and coach with over 20 years of experience. She started her own business in 2004 after having worked for two leading Dutch professional training companies. Barbara enjoys working with experts that excel in their field, but need support when they step into a new role that often requires a shift from ME to WE. She became a specialist on the topic of professionals leading other professionals in higher education.

Barbara works for several Dutch universities, ING bank and Schiphol group – all long term relations. She enjoys tailoring programmes to the context with her colleagues/clients, to make it more than a fun experience. She can quickly built a safe workplace where people feel at ease to share and practice. Barbara strongly believes we can only co-create new realities by shifting from debate to dialogue. With clients, colleagues and ourselves.

Barbara is founder of the ‘Pitstop for Professionals’, a senior train-the-trainer sequence. She is inspired by the success of this network of colleagues, where peers develop each other by exploring differences, exchanging knowledge and experiment with new ways of working.

Since 2015 Barbara is a volunteer at the Child Helpline. She is married and lives in Haarlem with three teenagers, where they enjoy the good life in between the seaside and the capital.

Enjoyed watching; Casa de Papel and Thirteen reasons why.

Marieke van der Giessen

Marieke is involved in strategy, change and transformation processes at a wide range of companies. She has experience in designing and facilitating change and leadership programmes since 2000, when she started working at De Baak. 

Marieke studied business economics and found further inspiration in a two-year course in Gestalt therapy. She has developed and facilitated change and leadership programmes and executive coaching for SMEs and (multi)nationals like Ampelmann, Nationale Nederlanden Philadelphia, Signify, LBC Tank Terminals.

Marieke likes to create a context that invites people to find their own answers and solutions and see things from various different perspectives. Looking through someone else’s eyes will broaden the perspective and enhance both the question and the solution. Clients are challenged to learn from their own clients, employees, artists, professionals, other generations and experts from other sectors.

Marieke quickly gets to the essence of matters, is inquisitive and focuses on the issues that really matter.

Marieke is living with her husband and daughter in Baarn. Theatre, music, biography’s and art are an inspiration for her work.

Enjoyed watching: Sugarman, Bohemian Rapsody

Josette de Goede

Josette de Goede has over thirty years of experience on the interface of strategy, leadership, and change. For example, she was managing director of executive education at the Rotterdam School of Management, director of international affairs at Management Center De Baak, and has been working both nationally and internationally as a change expert for years. She has two masters in Change Management (SIOO + HEC and Oxford University). Within The Change Academy she operates as change leader, coach, and teacher in leadership and change. In addition, she works as a moderator and as a supervisor at educational institutions and housing corporations.

Josette has a special talent for offering surprising and keen perspectives to generate movement in people and organisations. She has a particular eye for creating new realities: think out of the box and do the unexpected to achieve your goals. She passionately searches for new ways to organise and connect both poles and antipoles that fit in with contemporary questions. Josette uses a multidisciplinary approach for realising changes. She engages individuals and organisations by inspiring and empowering them in the context of their goals and prupose. This stems from her vision that real change does not occur top-down, but through those people who know why they are doing it and are capable of doing it. She therefore cooperates with very experienced experts from an international network. And she connects all of this on a deeper level with the underlying forces of life. "Seriously but with humor”.