CEO of Experientia Srl
Biography
Mark Vanderbeeken is a founding partner of Experientia and became its CEO in June 2014.
As CEO he is in charge of management, administration and business development, in intense collaboration with the other partners. In addition, he also leads individual client projects and project teams, guaranteeing the quality of project delivery and managing strategic client relations, with a particular focus on service design and business strategy design.
His remaining time is focused on editorial contributions (particularly on the Experientia blog Putting People First), occasional lecturing, design policy, and communications.
Prior to starting Experientia, he was communications manager of Interaction Design Institute Ivrea (Ivrea, Italy), European communications coordinator for the World Wide Fund for Nature (or WWF, Copenhagen, Denmark), marketing director of Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects (New York, USA) and chief press officer of Antwerp 93, Cultural Capital of Europe (Antwerp, Belgium).
He studied visual and cognitive psychology at the University of Leuven, Belgium and obtained a master’s degree in cognitive psychology at Columbia University, New York. He speaks English, French, German, Italian and Dutch.
3 Questions
What’s the most interesting thing about UX for you?
It takes a human and cultural perspective to innovation, and as such provides a valuable addition and even alternative to mere technocratic and business thinking.
Where have you lived?
In Belgium, USA, Denmark and Italy. In villages and big cities (Copenhagen and New York). And mainly always in old places with lots of character (and work).
What’s your dream design challenge?
Having a positive social impact in the lives of people who are often outside of our typical professional design lives: the elderly, the disadvantaged, children, the immigrant communities, etc. They open up your mind and are often more innovative than one might imagine.
The leadership
