Servant-Leadership Programme

Fons Trompenaars received his MA in Economics at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 1979 and his PhD from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1983 for the thesis The Organization of Meaning and the Meaning of Organization. In 1989 together with Charles Hampden-Turner he founded and directed the consultancy firm Centre for International Business Studies, working for such companies as BP, Philips, IBM, Heineken, PepsiCo, Mars and Motorola. 

Fons is listed regularly as one of the world’s most influential management thinkers and was inducted into the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame in 2017. In 2023 he recieved the Global WFPMA George Petitpas Award from The World Federation of People Management Associations. In the academic space, he serves as Co-Director at the Servant-Leadership Centre for Research and Education (SERVUS) at the VU Amsterdam. 

Sylvia van de Bunt is UNESO chairholder ‘Cross-Cultural Sustainability’, co-director of the research centre SERVUS and Associate Professor at M&O (VU), coordinator of executive education courses, and Visiting Professor at University of Suffolk, UK. In 2020 she was appointed by VU Vereniging to lead a VU broad project ‘We Shall Overcome’ to capture the heritage of Dr Martin Luther King jr. in VU’s identity.

During her career she has gained extensive supervisory and governing board experience e.g. was/is president of NGVO. She served as a management consultant for various international firms, business schools and NGO’s. She was EU coordinator of a large-scale (12 countries) novel European project FILTER. She published extensively on cross-cultural management, executive education and talent diversity e.g. in handbooks of leading academic Publishers.

Prof. dr. Svetlana Khapova is a full-professor of Organisational Behaviour at the School of Business and Economics (SBE) of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She is Head of Department - Management & Organisation, and Head of Section - HRM/OB. 

Between 2009-2017, she served as a founding Director of Amsterdam Business Research Institute (ABRI). ABRI caters for doctoral education in management and organisation studies at VU. She also served as Director of Doctoral Education between 2009-2015. Since 2013, she is Director of the part-time PhD programme in Business Studies. Her research focuses on the link between careers and institutions. Topics:

• Individual careers as a resource for innovation
• Employees who take initiative to make changes
• Nascent entrepreneurs who make their careers successful
• Board members who define the future of their firms

Milton co-founded the Leadership for Impact Knowledge Centre at the Nova School of Business and Economics where he has also been Associate Dean for Institutional Relations and International Development and Academic Director.

Previously, he was Director of the MBA Programs at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. Milton currently serves as President of the Estoril Institute for Global Dialogue, a think tank dedicated to globalisation and local change.

In business, Milton founded Leaders2Be, an organisation offering leadership development programs. He worked in various research and management positions, including Royal Philips Electronics, and the Hay Group.

Milton is a frequent speaker and guest lecturer on the topics of leadership and organisational behavior. His research interests include ethical leadership and servant leadership

Currently, dr. Meindert Flikkema is programme director of the VU Postgraduate Course Management Consulting, member or chairman of various Advisory Boards in Professional Service Firms, and involved in research on Managing Service Innovation, Trademark Economics and Knowledge Worker Productivity.

He obtained a master degree in Econometrics, a PhD in Economics and a master degree in Management Consulting (with honors). 

He teaches BA and MA courses in Business Administration programs, in MBA programmes, and in Post Graduate programmes. 

In 2005, he won the Best Teacher Award from the School of Business and Economics and he was nominated for VU Best Teacher award. The evaluations of his teaching capabilities are always ranked in the top 2%. 

Prof. dr. Jos Akkermans is a Full Professor of Sustainable Careers at the department of Management and Organization at VU Amsterdam. He is the program director of the Business Administration Master program, and leading researcher on projects related to sustainable career development. His main expertise within this area focuses on career shocks, employability, and non-standard careers.

Jos is associate editor for the Journal of Vocational Behavior, the leading journal in the field of career research. He is also a Past Division Chair of the Academy of Management Careers Division. In addition, he is actively involved in cooperating with businesses and professionals. Among other things, he was a board member of the Dutch Foundation of Management Development (NFMD), and he is regularly invited for keynote lectures and media contributions.