The appointment took effect on 1 December 2023, for a term of four years. Alongside Halff, Mieke Pigeaud-Wijdeveld has also been appointed. The Supervisory Board further includes Gerard Schouw, Lucas van Wees, and Marijk van der Wende, who was appointed as chairperson as of 1 December.
The Open Universiteit is a non-traditional, public university. For bachelor's education, there are no admission requirements, and the education is designed for part-time study. Research at the Open Universiteit focuses on innovating Dutch higher education. The Supervisory Board of the Open Universiteit monitors the policy of the Executive Board.
Says Gregor: “the education system in the Netherlands is under pressure. As universities we need to now better learn from and be inspired by each other. I look forward to contributing to that.
In addition to being the dean of FSS, Halff is a professor of Corporate Communication at VU Amsterdam. He also holds university-wide administrative responsibility for lifelong learning. Halff earned his doctorate in Communication Sciences from Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität in 1997, transitioned to the corporate sector, and became a managing partner at Publicis Groupe, one of the largest advertising networks in the world, in 2000. He returned to the academic world in 2005.
In his research and teaching, he focuses on public relations and leadership communication. He served at the Singapore Management University for a decade, most recently as a professor of Corporate Communication and deputy dean, where he had administrative responsibility for the implementation of blended learning. Before joining VU Amsterdam in 2022, he was dean and a member of the Executive Board at Copenhagen Business School.