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About 
Earth
Academy

CONTACT US

Reaching us is easy. Just send an email to the email address mentioned below and we will get in touch within 24 hours.

Democratizing Sustainability Knowledge

Earth Academy is on a mission to democratize sustainability knowledge. We believe that in order to create a sustainable world, everyone needs to contribute. Our platform provides educational content on highly technical subjects as well as fundamental knowledge on Sustainable development goals. With over several hundred thousand students growing within the last couple of years, we are making sustainability education accessible to everyone.

Office Building at Night

LEADERSHIP TEAM

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Stefaan van Hooydonk

Dean of Academy

Stefaan van Hooydonk is the Dean and the cofounder of the Earth Academy. Stefaan started his career in investment consulting in China. From there he moved to set up the executive education arm of a major business school in Shanghai, China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), which he ran for 5 years. Subsequently, he moved to the corporate side and set up global learning teams and innovative corporate universities for Nokia (China/Finland), Agfa Healthcare (Belgium), Philips (the Netherlands), Flipkart (India), Saudi Aramco (Saudi Arabia), and Cognizant (UK). His last role was that of Chief Learning Officer for Cognizant, where he overlooked the learning and development for over 300k associates across the globe. He has been globally recognized for his innovative approach to learning, people, and technology.

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Stefaan has a Master’s degree in Economics and in Chinese, together with postgraduate degrees in Marxist Economics from China, Cross-Cultural Management from France, and an Executive MBA from Rutgers University. He is a certified ACS and NLP coach. A Belgian national, Stefaan has been married for 25 years to Jeltje Peletier: a successful psychotherapist, coach, and yoga teacher. Together they have 4 children: Rik, Femke, Koen, and Menko. He practices meditation daily, is a marathon runner, and is currently pursuing a master's degree in philosophy.

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Location: Antwerp, Belgium

Nationality: Belgian

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Lorinda Niemeyer

Partner (Training & CSRD Product and Services) 

Lorinda has a broad range of experience in sustainability, having worked as a regulator, practitioner, consultant, and now as a leader. Currently, she is the Head of Sustainability for a large European insurance company, where she is actively involved in the CSRD implementation process. With over 15 years at McKinsey & Company, she has served as a consultant and leader in ESG strategy, communications, and reporting. Additionally, she has developed new sustainability offerings and thought leadership for a boutique ESG consultancy, bringing diverse perspectives to the table.

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Location: USA

Nationality: American

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Lawrence Solaiman

Head of Technology & Platforms

Lawrence has spent several years managing the communication strategy for Philips. At Journeyman, he helps clients with digital communication and branding.

Lawrence is a graduate in International Business from the University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

 

 

Location: Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Nationality: Belgian/Indonesian

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Shivani Rajpal

Chief Executive Officer

Shivani has 20+ years of experience in training and has delivered hundreds of trainings and consulting projects worldwide on ESG Reporting. She is a GRI expert who until recently , worked at Global Reporting Initiative as the Director for Services.

 

She has been instrumental in assisting many Fortune 500 companies, stock exchanges and Governments towards implementing GRI standards in their non-financial reporting.

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Shivani is also Partner and Senior Trainer at Presidio Graduate School's consulting arm PGS Consults in California. Shivani  serves as a board member for NGO, Partners for Good.

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Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Nationality: Dutch/Indian

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Rahul Bhatt

Partner (Head of Strategy, Operations & Marketing)

Rahul is the co-founder of the Earth Academy and manages the strategy, operations, and marketing for the academy. Before starting The Earth Academy, Rahul worked with Philips and Cisco in several leadership roles. He worked for these companies in India, the USA, and Europe, gaining valuable experience in cross-cultural engagements. During his stint in Philips, Rahul managed the global partner program and increased the number of partners from a handful to 200+ in less than 5 years. One of the top 100 educators globally, awarded by The GFEL, Dubai, Rahul,

 

Rahul has a Masters's from Kellogg Business School and MBA from IMT, Ghaziabad. Since 2007, Rahul lives in Amsterdam with his family and loves to travel around Europe. He also plays competitive cricket and is an above-average photographer.

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Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Nationality: Dutch/Indian

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Dr. Sezin Baysal Berkup

Country Head - Turkey

Sezin is an academician with nearly 15 years of academic and private sector experience in the field of Sustainability. After teaching at a university for 7 years, she has been working as a consultant and trainer in private companies for more than 7 years. Sezin, who holds the GRI sustainability professional certificate and Social Compliance Manager certificate, is co-founder of a company serving in the field of Sustainability.

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Location: Izmir, Turkiye

Nationality: Turkish

ADVISORY BOARD

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Anja Carron

CEO THEIA International

As an original thinker and compassionate global citizen, Anja founded Theia International in 2018. In 2019 she was nominated by the ZEIT Foundation for the Marion Doenhoff Prize for International Understanding and Reconciliation and awarded as one of the 100 Leaders of Global Education (GFEL Dubai). Anja designed THEIA to identify, inspire, and enable these pathfinders by sending them out into uncharted territories of new ideas and insane potential. Native German - 30 years international experiences - Cosmopolitan lived and worked in Europe, China, Latin America, Africa: Germany Cologne, Frankfurt | France Annecy, Marseille | United Kingdom London | Luxembourg City | Switzerland Geneva | Latin America Caracas | Africa Kenya, Botswana, Namibia, and Morocco Marrakesh | China Hong Kong Fluent speaking German, English, French

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Location: Cologne, Germany

Nationality: German

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Rob van Kuijk

CEO Finles Capital Management

After joining Finles as a managing partner in 1994, Rob became one of the first hedge fund managers in the Netherlands. Rob has 25+ years of experience as an investment manager, investing in alternative investments in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Rob is also a non-executive Board member of several international funds. He is a certified tax adviser, a certified credit analyst and holds various academic business economy certificates.

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Location: London, UK

Nationality: Dutch

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Tim Mohin

EVP & CSO Persefoni

Tim Mohin is a globally recognized sustainability/ESG executive.

He is the former Chief Executive of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) the world’s largest sustainability reporting standard.

With more than 20 years’ experience with three Fortune 500 companies – Intel, Apple, and AMD – Mr. Mohin has deep experience developing strategies to embed sustainability into business. Mr. Mohin also has a 10-year career in the US Federal government, serving in both the

Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Senate.

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He serves as an ESG advisor to large company Boards and was a founder and Chairman of the Board for the Responsible Business Alliance.

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He is the author of Changing Business from the Inside Out and a frequent speaker and writer on sustainability and corporate responsibility. He is consistently recognized in the top 20 of Corporate Social Responsibility Influence Leaders.

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Location: USA

Nationality: American

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 Dr. Pieter Smeets

Director ESG Strategy

Deloitte

Dr. Smeets is the Sr. Manager for Industrial Sustainability at SABIC, a Saudi Arabian multinational chemical manufacturing company. After completing his post-doc from Stanford University in 2010, Dr. Smeets joined SABIC. He is currently managing the industrial sustainability team, responsible for executing the renewable energy program, climate change strategy towards Science-Based Targets, and supporting ESG disclosures in SABIC. His team also supports the KSA Ministry of Energy in G20 and other external events related to sustainability.

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Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Nationality: Belgian

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 Maryam Telmesani

Chief Sustainability Officer

Al-Dabbagh group

Maryam Telmesani is the Chief Sustainability Officer of Al-Dabbagh group; with a sound career background in Sustainability, Change Management, Project Management, and Consulting; in addition to over 8 years of experience in the academic field (management and lecturing). Currently overseeing the strategic planning, implementation, and innovative solutions of sustainability across all business units of ADG. Holding an Executive MBA from HULT University in Business Administration with a flair of design background that enriched my design and creative thinking skills. A strong believer in the value of continuous education and skill development to accommodate the latest market trends and knowledge. A strong and passionate leader that aspires to influence the people through leading by example and simplifying the communication to reach out to all.

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Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Nationality: Saudi

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 Pietro Bertazzi 

Global Director Policy Engagement - Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)

Pietro Bertazzi engaged and shaped responsible business policy and regulation for more than a decade, focussing on human rights, climate, and sustainable development. He currently leads Policyengagment at CDP, boosting ambition and accelerating action on climate, water, and forests. Prior to CDP, Pietro worked at GRI, fostering corporate sustainability and transparency in national policies worldwide, as well as major regional and global intergovernmental processes such as the Rio+20 Conference and the adoption of the EU directive on Disclosure of Non-financial information. He is a proud architect of the Business Engagement in the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, he co-authored the SDG Compass and shaped and lead the UN GlobalCompact and GRI’s Business Reporting on SDGs Action Platform. Pietro grew up in the South of Italy and lived in Rome, Strasbourg, Milano, Brussels, Berlin, and Amsterdam. He graduated in PublicEuropean and International Law at LUISS University in Rome, Italy. He holds a Master in Management and Governance of Non-Profit (LUISS University), a Master in Corporate Citizenship (Fondaca, Sant’Anna di Pisa, Boston College), and a Master in Economics and management of Environment and Energy (Bocconi University).

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Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Nationality: Italian

Partner With Us.

The Earth Academy is always looking to partner with like-minded institutions. Our knowledge partners are content creators, consultants, SMEs, and influencers who believe in the power of education.

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