Together Carola Wijdoogen and Laura Termeer 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 bij Elfrieke van Galen (partner at The Rockgroup) and Carola Wijdoogen (partner at number 5 foundation).
ABOUT US
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.
Laura Termeer
Laura Termeer is a creative catalyst of positive change and innovation. With an endless curiosity for new ideas and contagious enthusiasm, she feels dedicated to contribute to a sustainable transition.
As a consultant, she works partly in the paper industry to set up the industry sustainability goals and advise the paper producing companies on circularity challenges. Laura gets energy from connecting and activating the people she works with to evolve together the ways things are done and explore new perspectives.
Besides her job as industry advisor, Laura works as freelance consultant on several projects related to sustainable transition. She has experience in a wide range of topics such as sustainable business models, CO2-conversion, sustainable procurement, and energy reduction.
In 2018, Laura started her career as consultant Energy Transition at Balance, an advisory and interim company specialized in integrated project management and strategic advice for projects in the physical environment. She created business cases and drafted energy plans into future energy needs in sustainable energy projects mainly for municipalities.
Aside from being board member of Sustainability University, Laura is board member of SEE Network, which is a platform for sustainability professionals to learn and stimulate each other in this community. Since 2020, she joined Jong Warmtenetwerk as board member, where she sets up events for professionals working on the heat transition. She brings professionals to nature to get inspired by ‘natural’ heat- and ecosystems.
Laura is passionate about art. During her studies she studied a year at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in which she combined sustainability and art in order to find creative ways of problem solving. She believe that organizations should embed an ‘artist-view’ to accelerate the transition to a sustainable world.