Board

Ralph Hamers is a corporate advisor, and investor, and former CEO of UBS Group AG and Dutch bank ING Group. He was Group CEO of UBS from 2020 to 2023, where he launched the successful One UBS strategy and managed the rescue of Credit Suisse by UBS, early 2023. Prior to UBS, he spent 29 years at ING Group in various roles, including CEO from 2013 to 2020. During his time as CEO, he steered the bank to profitability while repaying the Dutch government money it received during the financial crisis. Under his leadership, ING invested heavily in its digital transformation, relying far more on its online offering and less on its branch network than most rivals, leading to the bank having one of the lowest cost-to-revenue ratios in Europe at the time. Mr Hamers is an advisor to digital wealth platform Arta Finance; to GRAB, South East Asia’s super app in deliveries, mobility and financial services; and to JPMorgan Chase. He also is secretary general of the Institut International d’Études Bancaires.

Jan Louis Burggraaf (1964), is senior legal M&A advisor and founder/partner at Burggraaf & Hoekstra. He was previously partner at a prestigious international law firm for 20 years and has been involved in a large number of mergers and acquisitions of listed and non-listed companies. Jan Louis’ practice covers domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, including public offers. He advises on both Dutch and cross-border transactions and counsels numerous Euronext-listed companies on aspects of corporate governance. Currently, Jan Louis is a Supervisory Board member at Salta Group, Non-Executive Director at DPG N.V., Board member at AECA, chairman of the Supervisory Board at New Amsterdam Invest N.V., Supervisory Board member at Alda Seafood Holding B.V. and Board member at the foundation Stichting Verburg Fonds. Jan Louis received multiple awards: twice for Best Dealmaker, eight times for Best M&A Lawyer and a lifetime achievement award in 2017 for Best M&A Lawyer of the Netherlands. He graduated cum laude from the University of Utrecht in Dutch and International Law. He also attended London School of Economics, University of Edinburgh and Harvard Law School.

James Kim is a Partner and Head of European Opportunistic Credit in the Ares Credit Group, where he focuses on opportunistic credit investing. Additionally, he serves as a member of the Ares Credit Group’s Opportunistic Credit Investment Committee. Prior to joining Ares in 2022, James was a Partner and the European Co-Head of Hybrid Value at Apollo Global Management, where he focused on providing innovative debt and equity solutions to European corporates. Mr. Kim also served on Apollo’s European Operating, Strategic and Risk committees. Previously, Mr. Kim was a Senior Associate on the European Leveraged Finance team at Citi, where he focused on structuring and syndicating leveraged loans and high yield bonds. In addition, he was an Analyst in the Private Equity team at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Mr. Kim holds an Honours in Business Administration (H.B.A.), with distinction, from the University of Western Ontario’s Richard Ivey School of Business.

Taj Sidhu is a Managing Director – Partner, Head of European and Asian Private Credit at Carlyle. Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Sidhu was a Managing Director and Head of European Private Credit for Oz Management (Och-Ziff) where he worked for almost 14 years. Mr. Sidhu led Private Credit in Europe, was a member of Oz Management’s Global Commitments Committee, European Institutional Credit Strategies Investment Committee and European Executive Committee. Mr. Sidhu joined Oz Management in 2004 and during his tenure, he was involved in a broad spectrum of the firm’s investment strategies. Prior to joining Oz Management, Mr. Sidhu was an Investment Banking Associate at Merrill Lynch in the Financial Sponsors and Leveraged Finance Groups. Mr. Sidhu has a B.Sc. in Mathematics from the University of Warwick Mathematics Institute.

Jean-Pierre Buijtels is Chief Investment Officer at Strikwerda Investments, Member of the Investment Committee of Strikwerda Investments, Member of the Supervisory Board of Your.Online and former member of the BoD of Topicus.com. Before starting at Strikwerda Investments in 2011, he worked in private equity at Gimv and 3i. Jean-Pierre started his career at PwC Transaction Services after graduating from Maastricht University (Msc. International Business).

Dorinda van Oosten was previously active as General Manager at TSS, where she led the primary healthcare software businesses in the Netherlands and the French-speaking markets. Since joining TSS in 2013, she played a key role in acquiring and developing software companies, contributing to the group’s long-term growth and decentralized leadership model.
With a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Erasmus University Rotterdam, Dorinda combines a strong analytical foundation with extensive experience in entrepreneurship and M&A. Today, she is CEO of Your.Online and Your.Cloud. In this role, she leads the next phase of growth across the group, focusing on sustainable value creation, entrepreneurial autonomy, and operational excellence. Her leadership combines strategic vision with a deep understanding of how independent companies can thrive within a serial acquirer, operating through a long-term partnership model.

Robin van Poelje is Chairman & CEO of Topicus.com, Member of the BoD of Constellation Software Inc. and Chairman of the Investment Committee of Strikwerda Investments. Robin holds an MSc. in Economics from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, and is a postgraduate in Marketing and Strategy from École Supérieure de Commerce de Montpellier, France.