Mario van Hamersveld studied economics and sociology atRotterdam University. He is Director of van Hamersveld MCspecialising in international marketing, management and research.Prior to his present role, he was Marketing Development Manager ofthe Consumer Electronics Division of Royal Philips in Amsterdam. Heserved as management consultant in the strategy team and wasManager Marketing Research and Support for the Consumer ElectronicsDivision. He has also held other marketing and research positionswith Philips at a corporate level over many years. He has beenengaged in a variety of international management, marketingtraining and development activities and contributed to variousinternational publications. He served on the board of a number ofnon-profit organizations and governmental bodies. He has beenactive in ESOMAR as Council Member, 1990-1996, President,1996-1998 and Acting Director General (2001-2003). Heis Editor-in-Chief of "ResearchWorld". In September2005 he was awarded the ESOMAR Excellence Award for Standards ofPerformance in Market, Opinion and Social Research, the "JohnDownham Award".
Cees de Bont is trained in economic psychology. Heobtained an MSc from Tilburg University in 1987 and a PhD from theDelft University of Technology in 1992. After fulfilling hismilitary obligations at the Royal Military Academy (KMA) and afterworking as an assistant professor at Tilburg University for twoyears, Cees joined Philips Design in 1995. At Philips Design, Ceeswas the founder of the Human Behaviour Research Centre.
In 1997, Cees moved to one of the product divisions of Philips(Domestic Appliances and Personal Care) to become responsible forthe discipline of market research and strategy.
In 2002 Ceesde Bont was appointed Professor of Marketing at the VrijeUniversiteit in Amsterdam. This part-time academic responsibilitywas combined with the professional work for Philips. In 2005 Ceesde Bont moved to Delft to become the dean of the faculty ofIndustrial Design Engineering at the Delft University ofTechnology. This faculty is one of the leading academic designschools worldwide. In his role as Dean, Cees de Bont is integrallyresponsible for the faculty (340 employees).