D2L Connection: Amsterdam

John Baker

John founded D2L in 1999, at the age of twenty-two, while attending the University of Waterloo. He strongly believes that learning is the foundation upon which all progress and achievement rests. 

He is a member of the Business Council of Canada, board member of the Business Higher Education Roundtable, member of the Industry Strategy Council in Canada, Chair of the Digital Economic Strategy Table in Canada, has served on the Governing Council of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, is the Past Chair of the board of Communitech, and is a board member of Canada’s National Ballet School. 

John was awarded the Meritorious Service Cross, the EY Entrepreneur of the Year (Ontario for Software and Technology), Young Alumni Achievement Medal from University of Waterloo, and Intrepid Entrepreneur of the Year in Waterloo Region Hall of Fame. 

John graduated from the University of Waterloo with an Honours B.A.Sc. in Systems Design Engineering, with First Class Honours and an option in Management Sciences. 

Timo Kos

In 2020 Timo Kos became member of the Executive Board of Saxion University of Applied Sciences. Saxion UAS is located in the East of the Netherlands and has three campuses (Apeldoorn, Deventer, Enschede) with a total of approximately 27.000 students. As executive board member Timo is responsible for Education, Student Support and Digitization. Before his start at Saxion Timo was Executive Director of the joint Centre of Education and Learning (CEL) of the University of Leiden, Delft University of Technology and Erasmus University Rotterdam, which focuses on research and teacher professionalization in the field of online & blended education. Between 2013 and 2019 Timo worked as director of education at Delft University of Technology, where he initiated the TU Delft Extension School for open and online learning and oversaw the first implementation of Brightspace in the Netherlands.  

On behalf of the Vereniging Hogescholen (Society of Universities of Applied Sciences of the Netherlands) Timo is member of the Steering Committee of NPulse, the eight year national program funded by the Growth Fund (Groeifonds: Eur 560 million) for digital transformation of vocational and higher education in the Netherlands. In April 2024 NPulse launched Expedition AI, a joint effort by all twelve research universities, 36 universities of applied sciences and 50 vocational college’s (ROC’s) of the Netherlands to develop a vision, roadmap and policies regarding the (safe) use of AI in education. 

Liz Chase

Liz Chase is a trailblazing legal entrepreneur, connector, and innovation leader with extensive commercial and property law expertise. After a successful career as a practicing lawyer, Liz reinvented herself through self-study and is now a Legal Engineer at a leading legal AI company. In this role, she serves as the domain expert, training AI systems to perform complex legal tasks and bridging the gap between technology and legal practice.

Liz is also a sought-after Legal Industry Consultant specialising in AI-integrated technologies and digital transformation. She helps organisations navigate the evolving legal tech landscape, advising on integrating AI tools effectively to optimise operations and enhance service delivery.

Liz’s entrepreneurial journey includes founding her practice, Chase Legal, and serving as a national law firm partner. Her human-centred approach to legal services earned her recognition as a finalist for Innovator of the Year in 2022 and 2023.

In her current work, Liz is driving the future of legal services by combining AI technology with legal expertise. She showcases the power of career reinvention in a world increasingly influenced by AI.

As an active member of the Women of Australian Legal Tech Association (WALTA), the Liquid Legal Institute, and the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC), Liz continues to shape the future of legal practice. She is excited to share her journey of reinvention with higher education professionals and discuss how to thrive in a post-AI world.

Rob Telfer

Rob has more than 20 years’ experience working on digital transformation projects across various industries. Since joining D2L in 2020, Rob has been working in D2L’s Education team and has helped numerous schools, colleges and universities across Europe throughout their evaluation, selection and implementation of the Brightspace Learning Management System. Rob is a firm believer in a pedagogy first approach to the design and development of learning technology.

Kelsea Walsh

As D2L’s sustainability lead, Kelsea has spent the last couple of years formalizing D2L’s approach to sustainability and ESG. She is responsible for compliance-level reporting, decarbonization efforts, and supporting social impact programming and donations. In her spare time, Kelsea teaches on sustainability and social impact at business schools in Paris and Berlin. Past roles include sustainability consulting and involvement in federal politics in Canada. She holds a Master’s in Business from HEC Paris and an undergraduate degree in International Relations from the University of Ottawa

Nils Viken

Nils Viken is Senior Director at H5P Group and he heads their Revenue Team. Following the acquisition of H5P Group in July 2024 by D2L, he is now working actively with an exciting integration process with the mother company. Nils has 16 years of international EdTech experience, and he has spent his entire professional career in the computer software industry.

 As education Nils studied Computer Science at Norwegian University College and Management Sciences at the University of Manchester (UK).

Bettina Schlass

Bettina Schlass is a subject-matter expert in the digital development of educational organizations. She joined the D2L Europe team in 2016 as a Customer Success Manager, advising and supporting Higher Education institutions in their strategic implementation and operation of D2L’s Brightspace learning environment. Now she manages D2L’s Customer Success team in the EMEA region for the education and the enterprise sectors.

Bettina holds master degrees from the University of Amsterdam in Literature (1995) and in Teaching (2013) and an MBA in Education and Research Management from the University of Oldenburg (2018).

Agustina Bruno Videla

Agustina is a seasoned E-Learning & Digital Coordinator with over a decade of global experience, currently making strides in the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) for the past two years. Originally hailing from Argentina, Agustina’s career began as a media creator in the biochemistry sector, where her passion for digital innovation first took root. Her journey has since evolved into a dynamic role where she manages the GAINLINE platform, empowering players, and coaches worldwide with cutting-edge e-learning solutions. Agustina is excited to bring her insights and expertise to the D2L Connections event in Amsterdam, continuing her mission to enhance digital learning experiences on a global scale. 

Mairi McLaughlin

Mairi McLaughlin is a Partnership Manager with sportscotland, the national agency for sport in Scotland and leads on Digital and blended learning. Mairi is responsible for overall management and delivery of the Learninginsport Brightspace project, which is designed and delivered as a virtual learning environment to be utilised across the sporting sector in Scotland. The project has now expanded to include partnerships with other Home Country Sports Councils, including Sport Northern Ireland and Sport Wales. To date, Mairi and her team have managed and supported over 40 partners to on board and go live in their digital journey through the platform and developed over 500 pieces of content. 

Steve Bentley

Steve is the Strategic Learning Technology Advisor at the University of Huddersfield, and has over 20 years’ experience of supporting and developing learning technologies. His particular areas of interest are in assessment and feedback and in using analytics to inform decision making and development.  He has developed a number of API driven widgets to enhance Brightspace functionality to support Huddersfield’s existing workflows and requirements. 

Dr Sue Folley

Dr Sue Folley is an Academic Developer at the University of Huddersfield, with a remit to support the pedagogic development of staff with the use of digital technologies. Her role involves contributing to the University’s strategic developments in this area and providing training courses, resources and support for academic staff. She has worked in Higher Education for the last 25 years and has a PGCE, a master’s degree in Multimedia and eLearning, and a doctorate in Education focusing on tutors’ experiences of teaching online. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and her research interests include online teaching, digital literacy, and student dashboards. 

Tirza Smits

Tirza Smits is an educational advisor with a dual role at both Leiden University and The Hague University of Applied Sciences. She specializes in blended learning and the integration of AI in education. Tirza enjoys working closely with educators to design effective and personalized blended learning strategies for their courses. She is also keen on exploring new educational tools and finding creative approaches to enhance teaching and learning experiences.

Colin Moran

Colin has been involved in education all his professional career, initially as a secondary school teacher and then in rugby development with both the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) and World Rugby. Over the past 27 years he has witnessed both evolution and revolution in his sport and considers himself very privileged to have played a part in some of the most significant developments in the IRFU and rugby in Ireland. In recent times one of those revolutions has been brought about by the adoption of Brightspace by the organisation – its first ever eLearning platform.  

He is a regular presenter at conferences and workshops and has travelled the world to avail of opportunities to both teach and learn – though always looks forward to returning home to his wife and teenage daughter.  

Olly Fayers

As a Senior Instructional Designer at D2L, Olly builds engaging courses in Brightspace and empowers others to do the same. He has over a decade of experience in education, having worked as a primary school teacher and a teacher of English as an additional language before moving into instructional design in higher education. He is passionate about using technology to make learning more accessible and impactful for everyone.

Zain Qaadri

Zain is a Solutions Engineer with 6 years of hands-on experience in the educational technology industry. His journey began as a Business Development Representative, where he honed his skills in understanding customer needs and motivations. With a keen eye for identifying pain points and drivers, Zain transitioned seamlessly into the role of Solutions Engineer. His forte lies in crafting customized software solutions that precisely address the unique challenges faced by clients, leveraging his Brightspace expertise to revolutionise learning experiences and drive educational innovation.

Roel Steendijk

As a Product Owner, Roel works to improve the digital learning landscape at Avans University of Applied Sciences. Alongside his team, Roel works on optimising educational processes, building dashboards based on Brightspace data learning analytics as well as innovating with new technologies such as AI and citizen development tools.

Dr Chris Trace

Dr Chris Trace is the Head of Digital Learning at the University of Surrey where he leads a team as part of a wider Institute who aim to make education more awesome! His background is as a Veterinary Surgeon; he was a teaching-track academic prior to his current role. He is a National Teaching Fellow (NTF) and in 2024 was awarded the D2L Excellence Award as well as the Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE). Most recently Chris has been leading the use of AI in Education at his University and is an advisor to KEATH.ai, a University spin-out company.

Allard Naber

Allard is one of the coordinators for educational applications in the University of Groningen’s team ICT for Education. In this role, he has been involved in the early phases of digital exams at the institution and the university’s transition to Brightspace as LMS and exam environment. The team is responsible for a collection of applications that span the whole student lifecycle, which allows the team to optimally align these systems to pursue the best possible user experience. The team consists of coordinators, student assistants to provide first and second line support, application managers and developers.

Josien de Boer

Josien is one of the coordinators for educational applications in the University of Groningen’s team ICT for Education. Her focus is on user-friendliness, testing new functionalities and optimising digital testing. The team is responsible for a collection of applications that span the whole student lifecycle, which allows the team to optimally align these systems to pursue the best possible user experience. The team consists of coordinators, student assistants to provide first and second line support, application managers and developers.

Adam Elce

Adam Elce, VLE Manager, Nottingham Trent University. I have spent over 20 years working across the UK Further and Higher Education sector, leading on the implementation and application of digital learning technologies. I have been at NTU – D2L’s longest serving European customer, for over 5 years, managing our Brightspace environment and a team of Digital Academic Practice Trainers.

Bob Mooijenkind

Bob is an educational advisor at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. He specializes in the integration of Edtech in education and has a background as project leader and consultant for the implementation of Learning Management Systems.

Rynell Offerman

Rynell Offerman is an Educational Advisor specializing in Blended Learning at The Hague University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. With a background in Education and Child Studies and two master’s specializations in Educational Science and Digital Media in Human Development, Rynell has played a key role in implementing the university’s LMS, Brightspace. His expertise encompasses Internationalisation and Inclusive Education, supported by a foundation in Communications. Outside the academic sphere, Rynell is a passionate Fitness and Zumba instructor, bringing energy and enthusiasm to his diverse professional and personal pursuits. 

Robert van ‘t Sant

Gerard Folkerts

Gerard is involved in supporting IT within education throughout his career at Wageningen University and Research (WUR).  In the early days more from a technical perspective as IT administrator but more and more in and advisory role. He has been actively involved in the implementation of Brightspace within WUR but made a switch to the product owner role for the Digital Examination process just before the COVID lockdown. In his current role as information manager, maintaining a coherent information landscape within Education is part of the job. 

Jurjen te Hoonte

With a solid background in Business Information Technology, Jurjen has been working in education and IT for over 20 years. In recent years, he has been responsible for managing the online learning environment of Wageningen University and Research (WUR). He was closely involved in the implementation of Brightspace and the further development of the online learning environment at the university.

Robert Meijeringh

Robert is a college professor of mathematics at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, faculty of Computer Science. He teaches mathematics within the minor Applied Quantum Computing, Big Data and is a developer of online content in Grasple for all students. He is also involved in the mathematics summer course which uses Grasple as a primary tool. 

As of 2006, he has much experience in developing online mathematics with several tools. As education Robert studied mathematics and philosophy at Utrecht University and University of Amsterdam.