Together founders have over 40 years of experience in management and sustainability implementation. They want to apply their combined knowledge and share it with peers to support other CSR and sustainability professionals in their business endeavors. A large step towards achieving this goal is enabling a platform in which colleagues can come together for (peer-to-peer) learning, training and applied research. The journey towards that goal began in 2015 with the first CSR and Sustainability Intervision day and continues today with the State of the Sustainability Profession Events and Surveys. In 2019 the Sustainability University foundation was founded by Elfrieke van Galen (partner at The Rockgroup) and Carola Wijdoogen (partner at number 5 foundation).

Carola Wijdoogen

Carola Wijdoogen is a leader among CSR professionals: in 2014 she was elected national CSR manager of the year and in 2017 she held position 11 on the ‘Sustainable Top-100’ of the Dutch national newspaper ‘Trouw’. The jury report highlighted her innovative work on sustainability reporting and renewable energy procurement. She was the first Director of Sustainability (CSO) at NS Netherlands National Railways from 2010 to 2019.

She started her career with NS as Chief Procurement Officer at NSR followed by Head of Portfolio Management and Innovation. Before NS, she was CEO of a consultancy business in energy mertkets. She has a background in Business (Nyenrode University) and International Relations (SAIS Johns Hopkins University).

In 2016 Carola launched her nationally acclaimed book, “MVO doe je Zo”, in 2022- followed by a new revised edition “7 Rollen voor duurzaam succes”, which shares insights and expertise on the CSR profession. She began writing the book with the intention of exploring what sustainability managers actually do and what their added value to a company is. Carola identified, based on scientific research and with input from her CSR colleagues, a systemic practical framework for sustainability professionals by identifying 7 roles of a CSR manager and their 8 competencies. In 2020 she launched the international edition of her book “7 Roles to Create Sustainable Success”.

Next to founder and director of Sustainability University Foundation, Carola is also partner of number 5 foundation and (board) member of: Advisory Board Radboud University and Climate Group NL advisory group.

As an expert in systems thinking and transition skills her other activities include: writing, strategic consulting, individual coaching, guest lectures, workshops and masterclasses at Nyenrode University, University of Amsterdam and other universities. Some of her work has been published, such as the Whitepaper “A Case for System Indicators to Drive Change Toward Sustainable Mobility” which she co-authored as a Visiting Fellow at Yale.