Louise van Weerden (Associate Professor)

International experience

Louise van Weerden studied Dutch Language and Literature at Groningen University. After graduating, she moved to Canada, where she studied Communications at Montreal’s Concordia University. She then worked in New York, for the United Nations, and in Tokyo, where she performed research into the differences between Japanese and Western management styles. After returning to the Netherlands, Louise van Weerden worked as an internationalisation project manager for a number of companies, for whom she designed and implemented international sales and marketing and training projects for business managers.

European Job Challenge Award

From 1996 to 2009, Louise ran her own export agency, called Top Trade Matching. Her export managers opened up new international business channels for Dutch and German companies from a wide range of industrial sectors. In 1998, she won the prestigious ‘European Job Challenge Award’ for her innovative approach to the promotion of international trade.

Outside interests

Louise van Weerden has a number of outside interests in addition to her work as Associate Professor at Saxion. She has been Vice Chair of Rabobank Groningen and a member of the National Advisory Board of Syntens (an agency that promotes innovation among small firms), advisor for individual SMEs on international business strategies and she is one of the founders and the Chair of the Board of the Smart Business Center. She also advises a number of health care institutions on organisational issues.