Date and place of birth? The Hague, Netherlands - June 29, 1954.

Greatest professional success? Starting my first company in 1980 in an old milk shop. It never feels as good as the first time - the excitement of independence, of shaping your own destiny.

Greatest professional mistake? I guess people expect me to say here: "that we sold INK".... And they are right! I wouldn't do it again. I follow my instincts more than my reasoning. Making mistakes is part of doing business, and that is good, as long as you don't make the same mistake twice.

Most embarrassing professional moment? That's difficult. I guess I am hard to embarrass. I do feel a bit embarrassed sometimes at LISA Forum meetings when I recognize someone's face, but forget their name and the company. It is getting harder with people now changing their employer, and because I am getting older and both my memory and my eyes are getting weaker. That's why I am always pushing for bigger name tags at conferences!

Most likely to say? I have been portrayed as the "apostle of change", so "change" could be seen as my favorite word. Next would be the word "think". I may not say it out loud, but I often say it softly in my mind: "Think, people, just think". I hate it when people just copy one another. You have to think it through on your own.

Least likely to say? Anything really nasty about industry colleagues or competitors. I don't like bad mouthing and always try to stay away from it.

What do you like most about the business? If we - the localization industry pioneers - had spent the same amount of energy, creativity and entrepreneurship working in another industry, no matter what, we would have become multi-millionaires. But it wouldn't have been half the fun. The real fun is to be spearheading an entire industry - rising from the decision level of a secretary (i.e., deciding on a simple translation job) to the strategic level of corporate management, which has to conquer the global market. Competing with our clients? We are making it our core business.

What do you like least about the business? The travelling, the crowded airplanes, hotels and airports. And most important, missing my family.

Who do you most admire in the business, and why? The people who do the hard work everyday and do it well. Be it translation, engineering, or project management. I have done it myself and I wasn't happy until I did something else.

What advice would you give to someone just starting out? Stop, and come and talk to me first! We are always looking for entrepreneurs, people who can make a difference. And if I can't convince you to join ALPNET, I will always be happy to share some ideas and give some advice.

What is your favorite industry fantasy? I am a victim of nostalgia and my fantasy would be to have an everlasting LISA Forum reception in a place like Prague or Dromoland Castle, full of industry friends and laughter, no quality issues or banks, and only happy clients and colleagues.

Where will the industry be in five years time? The reality is that the industry will never be the same again. I am surprised that there still seems to be a sort of artificial fence around the so-called 'localization industry'. I think it will soon open up to a much larger challenge - that of deploying technologies to their full extent in order to manage multilingual information really effectively. To be a survivor you will have to know everything about XML / SGML, content management, database publishing, controlled authoring, and how translation management is integrated into workflow management. The localization boutiques and translation agencies will be subordinated and used as outsourcing partners by the big three, four or five globalization consulting companies. And if you want to be one of these big players, you will find yourself in competition with Andersen Consulting, Ernst & Young, IBM, etc.

If I had my time over again I would... Do the same again (I am afraid).

How would you like to be remembered? : Positively, I hope. But then again, I don't care too much. I will be looking forward to the next set of ideas.