Keynote Speakers

Henk Venema

CEO DHL Western Europe

Henk Venema is CEO Western Europe – DHL Global Forwarding, responsible for Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg and France in Air, Ocean and Value-Added-Services. He is part of the European Management Board (EMB). ​

​He has been working in the industry for over 20 years and has been with DHL Group since 2016 where he has been working in various roles, from Global Carrier Management managing the airline relationships of DGF and setting up the own flight operations to country management and now cluster management.

Koos de Glas

Sr Director Analytics & Data Science for Operations

At Albert Heijn we fill six million plates of food everyday. A key challenge for us is to find new ways to reduce food waste while making sure all products the customer desires are available (no empty shelves), both in our 1250 stores and online.

Koos leads AH's Operations Analytics and Data Science team and will introduce you to the digital world of supermarket operations. We will dive into how Albert Heijn leverages AI and Advanced Analytics to solve complex supply chain problems and fight food waste.

Daniel Kofman
Education Xcelerator Lead at Siemens

Daniel Kofman is the lead of the Education Xcelerator at Siemens, where he helps drive the digital transformation in education, preparing the next generation of digital-native engineers to address global challenges. Based in The Hague, he focuses on fostering collaboration between Siemens and educational institutions, enabling them to integrate advanced digital technologies and prepare students for the future of work.

With over 24 years of experience at Siemens, Daniel has held various roles, including in Business Development for High Tech Systems and Controlled Environment Agriculture. He has a deep understanding of how cutting-edge technologies—such as additive manufacturing, smart robotics, AI, and edge computing—can be applied to solve real-world problems, from manufacturing innovations to sustainable food production.

Octavian Vernica

Sr manager, Global Operations at Amazon

Octavian Vernica has 16 years of experience as Operations Manager for corporate operations within Finance, Learning Administration and Ecommerce industries. Octavian currently serves as a Senior Manager of Global Operations within the Product Safety and Compliance team of Amazon. In this role, he is responsible for more than 200 product safety and quality assurance processes that leverage technology and human expertise to mitigate risks across Amazon's vast product catalog. Octavian joined Amazon in 2017 and supported Amazon France, Italy and Spain stores as an Operations Manager for product compliance programs related to safe storage and transportation of goods and product sustainability. In 2019, he moved to The Netherlands to support the launch of the Amazon.nl store and was part of the launch team which started Amazon.nl in March 2020. Since then, he has worked with teams from Europe, Middle East, Asia and North America to expand the scope of efficiency of product compliance processes by leveraging technology and human expertise. 

About Amazon: Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Amazon strives to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, Earth’s best employer, and Earth’s safest place to work. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Career Choice, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, Alexa, Just Walk Out technology, and The Climate Pledge are some of the things pioneered by Amazon.

Sabine Waschull

Assistant Professor, University of Groningen

Sabine Waschull is an Assistant Professor of Operations Management at the University of Groningen. Her research interests include the design, operation and evaluation of human-centric manufacturing and logistics systems in the context of innovative Industry 4.0/5.0 technologies, with a specific focus on human-centric AI. She is actively involved in a number of Horizon Europe research projects, aiming to achieve impact towards a human-centred and ethical development of digital and industrial technologies across several application domains. Her teaching covers a variety of topics including Operations Strategy & technology, smart industry operations, human-centric design and evaluation of work systems and technology enabled innovation. 

Chair of the day

Paul Buijs
Associate Professor, University of Groningen

Paul Buijs is an Associate Professor and the program coordinator for the MSc Supply Chain Management at the University of Groningen. His teaching covers a range of topics including supply chain sustainability, the complexity of supply networks, buyer-supplier relationships, supply chain coordination, and transportation and logistics. Paul’s research focuses on innovations that enhance sustainability in the logistics sector, with a particular emphasis on urban freight transport. He is actively involved in the development, implementation, and evaluation of these solutions, striving to understand their potential and impact.