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The Class of 2020

SPEAKERS

See speaker's presentations

Rudy Stroink Founder of Dutchspring Rudy has been moderating the discussions around The Class Conference kitchen table since the first edition. He has over 30 years experience in the field of project development, architecture, research and construction. At Dutchspring he serves as an advisor to a wide range of international clients: from municipalities to construction companies.	Brikena Xhomaqi Head of Institutional Relations at Uniplaces & External Evaluator Erasmus+ Programme Originally from Albania, Brikena has spent the last 10 years in Italy, France and most recently living and working in Brussels, the capital of Europe. As Director of the Erasmus Student Network, she has built strong networks in student organisations and the European institutions. She remains committed to improving the student experience for international students through her work at Uniplaces and AEF-Europe.	Tom Ellett Senior Associate Vice President, Student Affairs, New York University During his tenure at NYU, Tom has focused on development of community at the most challenging campus location in the world, New York City. In five years he has set a vision by inviting faculty members, tremendously dedicated professional staff and top-notch paraprofessionals to create intentional living/learning centres on campus.
Laura Howard President of the EAIE, Lecturer at the University of Cadiz – UCA Spain As president of the European Association of International Education, Laura will be able to share how universities look at the future of internationalisation of universities in Europe. What discussions are happening in the boardrooms, and what role does accommodation play.	Felix Hillen Managing Director and Partner at The Student Hotel Felix is responsible for all procedural and operational aspects of The Student Hotel. This ambitious and innovative hybrid between hotel and student accommodation has quickly grown and is further expanding into the European market. Felix will discuss the importance of improving the student experience for a new generation of internationally mobile students.	Kajsa Ollongren Deputy Mayor and Alderman to the city of Amsterdam. Kajsa started her career at the Ministry of Economic Affairs in The Hague where she worked for a number of ministers and prime ministers. Most recently she served as Secretary-General at the Ministry of General Affairs, the Dutch equivalent of the Cabinet Office and the Prime Ministers’ Office. Her speech will focus on - "How attracting and accommodating international talent have become key in Amsterdam's economic strategy".
Erik Westin Head and Deputy Regional Director of the Academic Building Stockholm, he is also one of the driving forces behind the Stockholm 6000+ Project. Erik has been involved from the start in the STHLM600+ project, which is a cooperation project between housing providers, universities, local governments and the business sector, who together are planning and building 6.000 new students rooms in Stockholm in the next five years.	Alexandra den Heijer Associate professor at the Faculty of Architecture, Delft University of Technology In her research, Alexandra has developed models and theories that help universities to design and implement their campus strategies that contribute to creating knowledge cities. Her current research project explores (management of) the European campus to support European decision makers. Focus is the presumed relation between the quality of the physical setting and the success of the knowledge.	Joep van Vliet Senior research consultant at CBRE Netherlands He is the co-author of ‘Student Housing in the Netherlands and Investing in a better living’, CBRE’s investor guide into the emerging student housing market of the Netherlands. His research efforts focus on the student housing market, residential property in general as well as the retail market. Joep has broad experience in the Real Estate sector and has been working for investors and advisors for over 8 years.
Anouk Griffioen Researcher at the Wageningen University. Anouk’s PhD research is titled: Saving energy when others pay the bill: A field experimental approach to behavioural aspects of energy conservation. What can drive students to change their energy consumption behaviour in student accommodation?	Nikolaj Lubanski Director of Talent Department at Copenhagen Capacity Nikolaj Lubanski is leading the effort to ensure that Copenhagen will even better at attracting and retaining international knowledge workers, researchers and students in order to secure future Danish development and growth. His academic research was primarily aimed at the development of competitiveness in society with a specific focus at the interplay between the labour market and the educational system.	Stephen Orme Director Holland International ~Student Centre Stephen is Director at the newly established Holland International Study Centre, at Nyenrode Business University. The centre provides several options for international students progression to various universities in The Netherlands. They partnered with several top universities in the country, offering pathway programmes.
Hans Vugts Director of Casa400 Hans has beend Director of Casa400 for over 10 years. Casa400 started as a student hotel in 1957. Students live at Casa400 for eight months out of the year, while tourists and other hotel guests take over their spots in the summer months. Through their unique non-profit business model, Casa400 has been able to become an institution for students in Amsterdam.	Leo le Duc Director of Amsterdam Science Park Amsterdam Science Park is home to one of the largest concentrations of beta sciences in Europe. With the University of Amsterdam-Faculty of Science The Amsterdam University College, dozens of renowned research institutes and some 120 companies, Amsterdam Science Park has become a vibrant melting pot where business, science and innovation meet.	Joanna Romanowicz Student Switch Off Project Manager Joanna leads on the Europe wide SAVES project which helps to drive positive environmental behaviour amongst university students living in halls of residence. The projects aims to raise awareness amongst students on practical actions they can take to reduce their energy consumption, make them more active/responsible citizens and save carbon. Joanna is based in London and works for NUS who represents the interests of 7 million students in the United Kingdom.
Amund Aarvelta Project leader Campus Project at the City of Trondheim The City of Trondheim is developing its university campus in the heart of the City, moving academic facilities from the edge of town into the central area. Mr. Aarvelta will explain what benefits moving the university closer to the business and innovation communities will bring to the city.	Vanessa Debiais-Sainton Head of sector Erasmus + Higher Education, European Commission The European Commission is actively supporting student mobility through their Erasmus+ programme. The commission is aiming for 25% of European students to be internationally mobile by 2020, and has initiated research in the obstacles that students still face, accommodation being one of them. Ms. Debias-Sainton will speak about what the EU is doing to reach this goal.	Vincent Verspaandonk Head of University Value at StudyPortals \| Making Study Choice Transparent Globally
Stefan Hase Bergen Head of Communication and Marketing at DAAD Stefan has been in DAAD from 2001, working as a director of the DAAD branch office in China and the German embassy from 2005-2012.After his return he has been appointed Head of Marketing and coordinator of GATE in charge of supporting German universities in their international marketing activities. With 13 years of experience Stefan has gained extensive knowledge on the higher education market in China and on international higher education marketing	Philip Hillman Chairman of the JLL UK Alternatives team He has led the Student Housing and Higher Education Team for 25 years, advising on student accommodation projects for a wide range of universities, developers, operators, lenders and investors. He has been involved in most of the major student accommodation transactions in the sector over the past 10 years.	Willem van Winden Professor at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences Specialised in the field of urban economic development and policy, Willem has been involved in numerous international urban studies and exchange projects, mainly in the field of urban innovation management, clusters, ICT, campus development and city-university partnerships. He has worked with a large number of cities, mainly in Europe, and has published widely on urban knowledge based development and related topics in books and articles.
Dorothea Mahnke Head of Unit GATE-Germany Office and Marketing Expertise German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Dorothea has been working in the field of internationalization and higher education with the DAAD since 2008 and is currently head of section “GATE-Germany office and marketing expertise”. GATE-Germany actively helps German universities to position themselves successfully in the international market of higher education and to attract international students and research scientists.	Nick Katz Chief Housemate at Splittable A decade of experience in just about every segment of the real estate industry in US/UK. From buying and selling properties, to improving energy efficiency of hotels to deploying software. Before launching Splittable, Nick was Head of Europe for Honest Buildings. He's become and expert at dealing with housemate issues having rented and shared nine properties in London. Nick loves the idea of leveraging technology to help people live better at home.	Steven Zeeman Managing Director of Investments -Greystar Continental Europe Mr. Zeeman is responsible for investment strategy, operations, capital relationships and acquisition and disposition activities on the continent. He is also a Board Member of the Association of Foreign Investors in US Real Estate (AFIRE).
Jessica Winters Head of Marketing- University of Groningen As Head of Marketing, Jessica is responsible for marketing, domestic/international student recruitment and social media of the University of Groningen	Vincent Buitenhuis Strategy & Residential Manager at SSHN Vincent works for SSHN, an affordable housing company providing student housing in the Arnhem-Nijmegen region. From his previous position as Director of KENCES, Vincent has experienced first-hand what are the challenges and opportunities of the sector of affordable student housing in The Netherlands.	Henk Huizing Head of Investments Infrastructure, PGGM Mr. Henk Huizing is the Investment Director at PGGM. He had been the Head of Investments Infrastructure at PGGM since 2008.
Günther Jedliczka CEO of the OeAD Housing Office As CEO of OeAD’s Housing Office, Günther Jedliczka is responsible for accommodating over 12,000 (international) students in Austria. OeAD’s housing office is especially focused on delivering sustainable student accommodation, and is developing zero-energy residences for students and academics.	Lisa Einhorn Director of Department of International Welcome Service and Student Life at Campus France. Lisa leads this brand new department that brings together specialized services to assist international students (housing, administrative and practical procedures, social and cultural activities) and provides supports for the implementation of new facilities in French HigherEd institutions. The objective is to step up the quality of services in order to enhance international attractiveness.	Rober Moyle Operations Director at Campus Living Villages Rob has 20 years experience as a senior Operational Manager in hospitality management with both four and five star properties. During his time with CLV, Rob has managed the takeover of existing accommodation, successfully opened two stages of developments and overseen three refurbishment projects.
Robert Coelen Professor of Internationalisation of Higher Education - Stenden University of Applied Sciences Robert Coelen has worked for about 19 years in the field of international education. He is a member of Club33, a global think tank on internationalisation, a member of the International Ranking Experts Group. He was a member of the Executive Steering Committee and the Editorial Committee of the EAIE. He was the founding President of Euroscholars.	Kevin Williamson University Partnership Manager-Unite Students Kevin joined Unite in 2009 as an Asset Manager, having previously held a variety of roles with companies in the property sector. He was appointed as University Partnership Manager in 2013. Kevin is responsible for all partnering activity with universities across the UK, with a range of activities from discussing long term agreements, partnership arrangements, and other service led opportunities. Prior to joining Unite, Kevin worked for SEGRO.	Samuel Vetrak CEO of StudentMarketing During The Class of 2020 conference Samuel will share mobility statistics, top cities to study in, and key source markets, cover the size and value of the global market and highlight the key trends and features. Vetrak will also focus on the Educational Travel sectors including an overview of Higher Education, Language Travel and the K-12 market in terms of size, value, growth rates, economic and social impact.
Gilles Bonnier CEO -Dometude Gilles Bonnier has a 25-year experience in the areas of finance, investment, real estate and hotels in France and abroad. He was the CFO of Foncière des Régions and Gecina where he led numerous acquisitions and developed new activities such as the creation of Foncière des Murs, main owner of hotels in Europe. He has acquired an extensive experience of the student housing sector.	Hugo Gonçalves Pereira Board member at U.Hub Student Housing, CEO at Mogope, President at Kendall Develops, Partner at Shilling Capital Partners U.hub is one of the first companies in Portugal to develop and operate high quality student accommodation. The company has one location in operation in Lisbon, and two more underway. With his experience as a private equity/venture capital professional, Hugo will be able to shed light on the emerging Portuguese student housing market.	Rob Waterhouse Finance Director at GSA Europe
Patrick Hanisch Member of the Executive Board, Commercial Director, IC Campus AG With almost ten years of experience in the finance sector, Patrick is in charge of Accounting and Controlling at IC Campus AG. The company is not only responsible for THE FIZZ in Germany, but has also partnered with Dutch affordable student housing corporation DUWO. Patrick will discuss the opportunities and difficulties in providing affordable student accommodation.	Nathan Goddard Chief Relationship Officer at Student.com	Ian Jones Head of Accommodation Services at the University of Sheffield Ian works for the University since 2007, as Head of Accommodation Services. He is responsible for the physical infrastructure of the residential accommodation estate and for the teams who provide student accommodation, portering, cleaning, customer services and Residence Life.
Botos Balint Founding partner of Forestay Group/ Investment manager- Tippin Corporation Balint started with residential property developments and established Rigg Wealth Management Llc. in 2011. He is currently working at Tipping Corp. and manages the Forestay Group. Forestay specialises in residential and student housing developments in CEE. Together with the Austrian operator MILESTONE, the company develops the first privately owned, purpose built student house in Hungary with 420 beds.	Federico Rosi Marketing and Partnership Director at Camplus Federico oversees marketing, sales, communications and international development of Camplus, the Italian leader in student accommodation since 2007. With over 12 years of experience in the student housing market, Federico has gained extensive knowledge of student accommodation solutions and has been involved in the development of Camplus and its integrated housing and learning environments in over 14 Italian cities. “	Arjen Erenst Assetmanager Residential Properties at Syntrus Achmea Real Estate & Finance
Stephan Rind Stephan Rind, Chairman of the Board of DREF and Co-Founder of JCR Invest AG, headquartered in Berlin. Via its subsidiary EUREAS AG (European Real Assets AG), JCR Invest makes investments in selected real estate and infrastructure projects in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.	Jari Simonen Service manager at PSOAS

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