Meet our team
Jan Bormans
CEO
Jan Bormans’ passion is working with people to make innovation and entrepreneurial creativity happen. He has a substantial background in high-tech and uniquely combines this with extensive experience in corporate innovation. He has been active in the Belgian and European startup scene since 2010. Jan has been active in European projects as participant, reviewer and rapporteur since 1996.
Adèle Yaroulina
European Project Manager
Adèle has a 10-years experience in business development, sales, strategic partnerships and project management within private & public sectors. She has acquired significant knowledge of digital innovation and is fascinated by the impact of new technologies on business activities. She is convinced that a cohesive European startup ecosystem is the key to empowerment and scaling up.
Massimo Privitera
Communications and Policy Coordinator
Massimo holds a Master’s Degree in “European Economy and Business Law” and has acquired substantial experience in the realm of EU policy working in Brussels for consultancies and NGOs. He is the former Acting Director of the European Network for Social Integration Enterprises (ENSIE). At ESN, he is in charge of analysing the policy landscape relating to startups and contributing to future policy developments. Massimo also handles internal and external communication for the network, ensuring that ESN maintains strong relationships between member associations and creates connections with new partners on a consistent basis.
Kristy Jacobs
Management Assistant
Kristy is our management assistant and supports our colleagues with everything HR, office, and administrative-related. She organizes our office operations and makes sure everything runs smoothly behind the scenes so our colleagues can fully focus on what they do best.
Nawal Rahman
Communications Intern
Nawal is an eclectic person, having interests in many different domains. Most prominently, she specializes in Social Media communications and Data Science. In fact, her current Master’s research fuses these two fascinating fields! She has experience in the analysis of survey research and social media analytics, as well as visual content design. At ESN, she is responsible for curating Social Media content that fosters a productive online space for a pan-European start-up ecosystem!
Moira Smets
Communications Intern
Moira is fascinated by everything pertaining to the Digital Single Market. She went on to study New Media and Society in Europe after completing her Master’s degree in English Linguistics. She believes that Europe’s startup ecosystem holds great promise and that it is the key to a prosperous and innovative economy. At ESN, she manages social media and works on the HUBiquitous project.
Former
Lorie Vandeuren
Management Assistant
Lorie Van Deuren is our management assistant who supports her colleagues and loves organizing our office operations. She started as an administrative assistant and soon after built a way through the financial, HR and marketing part of her function. With full enthusiasm, Lorie strives for a European Startup Neat-work.
Rania Arrami
Business Intern
Passionate about everything that involves startups and innovation, Rania pursued her studies in Entrepreneurship after her Master’s degree in architecture. She strives to be part of the change by helping startups to succeed, the reason why she joined the ESN where she works on Corship and Tetra projects.
Jelena Saneder
Business Intern
Jelena Sanader is a creative and enthusiastic person who is passionate about business development and tech innovations. After many years in administration, she decided to pursue her dreams and went to study international business and computer science. She decided to start her new business journey at European Startup Network because she would like to contribute to the start-up community in Europe.
Antonio Teles
European Project Manager
With a degree in Communications, Antonio has a dynamic background in Journalism in different positions based in Spain and Portugal. He worked as an editor for news agencies, public communications departments and digital media enterprises. After a break immersed in the African business development, he decided to focus on his real passion: startup ecosystems, talented entrepreneurial projects and multicultural environments. This all made him start a new pathway as a European Project Manager for European Startup Network.
Karan Raúl Novo Devani
Business Intern
Karan Novo is a recent graduate in Economics and already has experience in European Projects as he has worked in the Chamber of Commerce of Santiago de Compostela. He now enrolls in the European Startup Network to get to know the entrepreneurial and start-up environment from the capital of Europe. His eagerness is to make a difference in the life of the startups with the help of European Projects.
Ana Krce-Ivancic
Business Intern
Ana completed her studies in Croatia and joined ESN as International Business Intern. She is passionate about entrepreneurship and believes that (co-)innovation is a way to build more effective and sustainable business environment. At ESN, she manages social media and works on the Upskilling Lab 4.0 project that connects international start-ups, scaleups, and established companies in the context of Industry 4.0.
Daan Verhelst
Business Intern
After volunteering at Slush 2019, Daan’s passion for startups and their pursued link with corporates grew exponentially, and so he ended up at ESN. He sees much potential in co-innovation between startups and corporates and he is eager to help accelerate this mindset among the European enterprises. Daan is mostly working on the internal structure within ESN to help streamline our organisation for us to excel in the future and help succeed startups in the EU.
Nicolas Jamar
Business Intern
Nicolas has followed international business studies in Brussels. He is fascinated by the startup world and is convinced that startups are the key for a more sustainable economy. As International Business Intern, he took part in the organisation of a European project (SEP Summit) and developed new value propositions for ESN’s potential partners and customers.
Emily Bogen
Communications and Policy Coordinator
Emily completed her studies in the U.S. and began her professional career in Brussels, where she has established experience in European projects like SEP 2.0 and CORSHIP and provided political support to the startup ecosystem. She has worked on documents like “Startup and Scaleup Ecosystem Recommendations for Policy Change” (2018) and the upcoming Pan-European Manifesto (2019). Emily also handles internal and external communication for the network, ensuring that ESN maintains strong relationships between member associations and creates connections with new partners on a consistent basis.
Marlène Bouhon
Business Intern
Marlène Bouhon is a business student fascinated by the startup world. She is in charge of selecting promising companies and initiating contact with them. She believes that great ideas should be given a chance to succeed and to benefit as many people as possible.
Elke Vosters
Business Intern
Elke is studying SME-management. That’s the context in which she developed her passion for entrepreneurship. She likes to communicate with people and to be part of a team!
Lucía Rodríguez Lacasa
Business Intern
Lucia grew up in Brussels and now studies Biotechnology with Management at Edinburgh University. She has always carried an entrepreneurial spirit, starting her own start-up company project at 16 and currently running a radio show. She is eagerly delving into scouting for SEP and CORSHIP as well as running social media. She believes start-up innovation in Europe is essential for technology, health and world advancement!
Andries Bruggeman
Business Intern
Intrigued by everything that involves startups and innovation, Andries is a passionate business intern. He considers startups and scaleups as fundamental and crucial organizations that are a prerequisite for a more innovative and more sustainable business environment.
Carolin Bednarz
Business Intern
Carolin Bednarz is passionate about fostering businesses and people in their growth. She has experience in consulting and digital strategy for large corporates in Germany which are looking to change through innovation. Her recent involvement in the Paris incubator realm gave her deep insights into various business models and the concerns of startups. She works to see Europe be the most entrepreneur-friendly place on earth.
Contact
For all inquiries and interest in the European Startup Network, please contact us at: contact@
For interest in membership: jan.bormans@europeanstartupnetwork.eu.
Follow us on Twitter @EUStartupNet