EXED grew into one of the larger Dutch internet companies and online publishers in the fields of health information and internet publishing. In 2010 the company became part of the MixCom Media Group, of which I served as Chairman of the Board until 2015 and Managing Director from September 2015 until October 2017.
Throughout my career I have continued writing. I began in 1985 and, alongside my work and entrepreneurship, have never entirely stopped. My first publications were scholarly articles on socio-economic history. These were followed by twelve books on business history and dozens of articles.
In the early 1990s I wrote about political and cultural subjects and shortly thereafter about e-learning in national and international journals. For Vissers, Kapers, Arbeiders (Fishermen, Privateers, Workers) I was nominated for the Zeeland Book Prize in 2015 and received an Accolade. In September 2018, De Klimaatparadox (The Climate Paradox) waspublished, a search for the answer to why the issue of overpopulation disappeared from the climate debate.
My penultimate book, Meten en tellen. Stedelijke inwonertallen in de Lage Landen: een nieuwe benadering (Measuring and Counting. Urban Population Figures in the Low Countries: An Alternative Approach), appeared in 2022. This was also my doctoral dissertation, on which I earned my Ph.D. at Utrecht University on 2 September 2022.
During the past three years I worked on The 226 City Maps of Jacob van Deventer in Figures. Street Lengths, Accuracy in Relation to Modern Maps, Cross-Comparisons, which was published in May 2026 as both a book and a digital publication by Royal Brill Publishers.
From 2017 through 2025 I served first as Treasurer and, from 2020 onward, as Chairman of the Royal Zeeland Society of Sciences. I have also been active as a Administrator in various other cultural-historical and scientific organizations.
EXPERIENCE
Researcher and Writer (1985-present)
Rotterdam, Vlissingen
For my complete bibliography: click here.
Administrator (1972-2026)
- Royal Zeeland Society of Sciences (Chairman 2020-2025; Treasurer 2017 2019; member of various working groups and committees, 2013-present)
- Reygersberch Foundation (Secretary/Treasurer, 2017-present)
- Van de Sande Foundation (Board Member, 2012-present)
- Scheldt Estuary Historical Publications Foundation (Administrator, 2013-2022)
- Friends of the muZEEum and Vlissingen Archives Association (Chairman, 2013-2020)
- Zeeland Maritime Museum Foundation (Vice-Chairman, 2016-2020)
- Zeeland Salt Academy Advisory Board (Vice-Chairman, 2017-2018)
- Pharmacotherapeutic Abstract Service Foundation (Administrator, 1997-2018)
- Film by the Sea International Film Festival, Vlissingen (Supervisory Board member, Audit Committee, 2014-2018)
- VVE R sidence Naerebout, Vlissingen (Administrator, 2003 2014 and 2017-2025)
- Film by the Sea Sponsor Network (Founder and Spokesperson, 2011-2013)
- Den Spiegel, Vlissingen (Editor, 2008-2012)
- Foundation for Social-Historical Research, Rotterdam (Chairman, 1987-2005)
- Historical Association Dronten (Treasurer, 2002-2005)
- Art and History Foundation, IJsselmuiden (Board Member, 1990-1995)
- C.J.Q. Aerts Foundation, Rotterdam (Chairman, 1986-1992)
- VVE Havenstraat 187 197, Rotterdam (Chairman and Administrator, 1980-1990)
- Delfshaven Community Newspaper, Rotterdam (Editor and Designer, 1977-1980)
- Delfshaven Homework Class (Co-founder, 1974-1983)
- Parents Retaking Education, Delfshaven (Co-founder, 1974-1980)
- Zeeland Centre for Amateur Theatre, Middelburg (Board Member, 1972-1973)
Total: 172 board years across 23 organizations.
Royal Zeeland Society of Sciences
Middelburg, Zeeland, Netherlands
1. Treasurer (2018-2020), Responsible for financial management and policy.
2. Chairman (2020-2025)
Founded in 1769, the Royal Zeeland Society of Sciences is the second-oldest scientific society in the Netherlands. Its purpose is to stimulate and promote the arts and sciences in Zeeland through maintaining and expanding its unique collections, organizing scientific meetings, lectures and excursions, and publishing scholarly works. The collection contains more than 200,000 objects, including paintings, maps, drawings, prints, books, fossils, shells, minerals, ethnographic objects and archaeological artifacts. In 2017, 300 items from the collection were entered into the National Register of Protected Cultural Property. The entire collection is on loan to institutions such as the Zeeland Museum, the Maritime muZEEum, the Zeeland Archives, the Zeeland Library and the Zeeland Cultural Heritage Foundation. A group of 23 curators supervises collection management and supports scholarly access.
Mixcom Media Group
Managing Director, Publisher and Co-founder (2010-2017)
Zwolle, Vlissingen
The internet publishing company I founded in 1995 became part of the MixCom Media Group in 2010. Through its three operating companies, the group provides services in internet technology, database integration, app development, publishing, content creation, marketing and design.
Edit.nl B.V., Consumed B.V., Etas Electronic Publishing B.V., Fus Foundation, EXED Internet B.V.
Managing Director, Publisher and Founder (1995-2010)
Lelystad, Vlissingen
EXED Internet (now part of MixCom Media Group), including its predecessor Edit B.V., is one of the longest-established internet companies in the Netherlands and Belgium. During this period I also founded and managed the online publishers ConsuMed B.V., Etas Electronic Publishing B.V., and the FUS Foundation.
Reed Elsevier
Publisher (1992-1995)
Amsterdam, Arnhem
Reed Elsevier (now RELX Group) is one of the world's largest professional publishing companies. I was responsible, among other things, for the correspondence education division of subsidiary Koninklijke PBNA.
KOK Publishing House
Publisher (1990-1992)
Kampen
KOK was a broad publishing company in the 1980s and 1990s with both consumer and professional publications. I worked as educational publisher and publisher of children's books.
Waterstad Publishers
Rotterdam
Managing Director, Publisher and Founder (January 1986-1990)
Waterstad specialized in history books. It also produced publications for Studium Generale (Erasmus University Rotterdam) and sponsored magazines for companies such as ECT, GTI and RTD.
Van Druenen, Office for Business Historiography
Business Historian (1985-1990)
Rotterdam
Between 1985 and 1990 I wrote twelve books and dozens of articles on business history for commercial clients including Melkunie, GTI, Siemens and the Chamber of Commerce.
Primary and Secundary Schools
Teacher (1973-1985)
Rotterdam
EDUCATION
Utrecht University
Ph.D., History (2018-2022)
Erasmus University Rotterdam
M.A., History (1981-1986)
Open University, Heerlen
Program in Business Economics (1994-1995)
Reed Elsevier, Amsterdam
Management Development Program (1995-1996)
State Teacher Training College, Middelburg
Teacher Qualification (1968-1973)
HONORS & AWARDS
- Golden Monkey Tail Award (1999, nomination)
- Entrepreneur of the Year Dronten (2005, winner)
- Zeeland Book Prize (2015, nomination and accolade winner)
- Laureat Cinglé du Mont Ventoux (2013)
- Silver Bottle distinction Vlissingen (2015)
