Kumardev CHATTERJEE
Founder and President

Founder and president of the European Young Innovators Forum (EYIF), is a young innovator and equally, an experienced ICT industry professional. He is responsible for overall leadership of EYIF, setting the strategy, direction and objectives for the organisation. Engaged for more than a decade in the innovation and ICT space, from the age of 19 when he set up his first company (he setup his first social business at the age of 14), he is currently Senior Enterprise Architect and Programme Manager for European Research and Innovation at THALES, where he is employed since 2005, leading projects with major organisations like British Rail, NATO, European Commission, and EUROCONTROL.
Kumardev holds a MSc. in Computer Science from University College London (UCL) where he studied as a guest of her majesty as a recipient of the prestigious British Chevening Science Scholarship for young future leaders.

kumardev.chatterjee@eyif.eu

Larry MOFFETT
Co-Founder and Vice-President, Partnerships & Projects

Larry is the Vice President of EYIF and responsible for its partnership strategy and collaborative projects. He is also the managing partner of e-Strategy sprl, a consultancy he founded in 1998 providing international business development services to small and medium enterprises in the IT sector. Larry is also active in charitable and volunteer work, as board member of the NGO Dyslexia International, director of Democrats Abroad Belgium, and moderator of the group Expats Networking in Brussels. Larry holds an engineering degree and obtained his MBA from INSEAD business school in France.

 larry.moffett@eyif.eu

Arno GEENS
Co-Founder and Vice-President, Digital Platforms

Arno is a belgian entrepreneur, designer, paramedic and innovation advocate. He holds a MA in Audiovisual Arts and Multimedia from St-Lukas University College of Art and Design in Brussels. In 2003 he started up the first african digital post-production television facility in Burkina Faso. After his return to belgium he worked as a broadcast designer for national and international television productions, co-founded the visual communication studio Josworld and the artistic production studio M'Atuvu, and has ten years of experience as a design and media consultant. Currently Arno is co-founder and vice-president of EYIF. Being a licensed Paramedic, he is a Disaster Manager, Staff Member and volunteer  for the Belgian Red Cross, and is very active in several artistic-, cultural- and expatriate organizations.

arno.geens@eyif.eu

Nicholas ZYLBERGLAJT

Co-Founder and Vice-President, European & Legal Affairs

Nicholas was born in Montevideo, Uruguay from a French father and an Uruguayan mother in 1983. He grew up in Montevideo and at the age of 18 moved to France to study at the famous French University "Sciences Po" in Paris where he got a Bachelor in Latin American Studies at the Poitiers campus of Sciences Po and a Masters in International Relations and conflict resolution in Paris.

Nicholas has been living in Brussels since September 2006 where, as most of the newly arrived people in Brussels, he arrived to spend 6 months for an internship. The French Permanent Representation to the EU was his destination and he stayed there until August 2009. He worked at the cabinet of the Ambassador for community policies and was the deputy to the coordinator of all community policies such as energy, environment, transports, telecommunications, competitiveness, fisheries, industry, etc. During his time at the French Representation, he had the unique chance to participate and contribute to the success of the French Presidency of the EU in the second semester 2008. In August 2009, he moved to the European Parliament, to become the political advisor to the youngest French MEP, Damien ABAD where he had the opportunity to work on EU budget issues, Financial Perspectives as well as Single Market initiatives. In July 2011, he joined the EPP Group to become the first ever Social Media Coordinator of the largest political group in the European Parliament. He has there the ambitious mission to develop and implement a Social Media Strategy for the communications of the Group.

Nicholas is a co-founder and Vice-President of EYIF. He believes that Europe has a strong potential in its Youth, who needs to be inspired again and feel confident in the opportunities the future can bring to them.  Nicholas likes traveling, meeting new people, football and Opera. He has a certain tendency to prefer warm weathers but has found in Brussels a good compromise for the rest.

nicholas.zylberglajt@eyif.eu

Elisabeth SCHOEFFMANN

Director Communications

Elisabeth joined the EYIF in April 2012. She is an Austrian national and works in her non-EYIF time as Communication Associate at the SESAR Joint Undertaking, a 2.1 bn Euro public-private partnership with the European Commission and Eurocontrol as founding members. Previously, she was employed as a deputy spokeswoman and communication officer at the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Having graduated in Communication and Political Sciences as well as Italian Philology,Elisabeth worked in communication departments of environmental NGOs, the European Commission, Directorate-General for Environment and an international communication consultancy. Elisabeth is familiar with all communication disciplines, from event organisation, publishing to social media with a focus on strategy and planning. She is 34 years old and has a son of 13 months.

elisabeth.schoeffmann@eyif.eu 

Diana ZAHARIA

Project Manager - Community Engagement 

Diana is responsible for social media outreach and for partnerships with youth organisations in Europe. She is a communications consultant based in Brussels. Her previous roles brought her expertise in PR, marketing and communications, as Communications Coordinator for Online and Collaterals at Microsoft Europe as well as Vice President of the Romanian branch of AIESEC, the largest youth-run organisation in the world. Diana holds a Bachelor's degree in Management from the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest.

diana.zaharia@eyif.eu

Paula Cristina NETO

Partnerships and Projects Coordinator

Paula is graduated in Business Management and holds a technical degree in Multimedia Design. Restless and challenge driven, at the age of 22 moved in to Cairo where she co-implemented the Microsoft Product Activation Centre. Eager for a new challenge and still in Cairo, she stepped into Expedia’s recent partner in Egypt  successfully implemented the e-business business model in more than 120 hotels in Egypt, drove the learning curve of the e-commerce, raising awareness of Expedia’s business model and value proposition and building a positive brand profile.

At the Age of 25, in order to finish her graduation studies she returned to Portugal, where she  joined the  Portuguese Association for the Development of Communications (APDC) where she firstly implemented the Quality Assurance & Compliance, followed by one year in the Corporate event planning. While finishing her graduation studies, she also joined AIESEC.

Nowadays, Paula is an independent Strategic Marketing Consultant and since 2011, a strong Entrepreneurship active, flying the Flag for the European Young Innovators Forum and supporting other Entrepreneurship and Innovation associations.

Paula is Social media and Mobile enthusiast and Passionate about Marketing and Innovation. Currently living in Munich, Germany but her heart is divided and partly in Lisbon, city that she loves and blogs about on AngloInfo expat network.

paulacristina.neto@eyif.eu

Maria CERNEA

Commercial Partnerships and Communication

Maria, one of the youngest in the EYIF team, is a graduate of Coventry University, UK with a degree in Politics and International Relations and a soon to be graduate of an MA in International Business Economics and Management from the KU Leuven-HUB University, BE. She is a young entrepreneur herself who recently cofounded 3Defining, an innovative technology start-up specializing in 3D digitization and digital content building.

maria.cernea@eyif.eu

Panos KORONIOS

Financial Controller and Commercial Partnerships

Panos joined EYIF in January 2012 to provide financial expertise to EYIF

Prior to his involvement in EYIF, Mr Koronios worked as a financial analyst in FOKAS AE and as a business consultant in Com. Ec.- Consulting. Mr Koronios holds a degree in business economics and a post-graduate master degree with honors in International and European Economics from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece. He is also a certified project manager and community advisor from the Belgian –Italian Chamber of Commerce and the Catholic University of Louvain in Brussels, Belgium.

panos.koronios@eyif.eu

Anna RYDZEWSKA

Partnerships Manager and Social Media team member

Entrepreneur, journalist, activist, social innovator, cook. Sociologist and theatrologist by education, already during the studies Anna got to know that this is not enough. She joined press office of Congress of Women (Warsaw), participated in various volunteer programms (Ukraine, Romania, France), finally found herself in Brussels as a trainee in Europarl TV (DG COMM in European Parliament). 

“I believe that no innovation is possible unless it serves society who is ready to use it. I engage myself in the projects where I can combine women empowerment, sustainability, social responsibility and innovation  because I believe that this is where future is being born now. “

Anna recently got involved in meeting architecture and designing learning experience movement where she learns how to change people’s attitude and behaviour through meetings and events.

anna.rydzewska@eyif.eu

Mina LEGNERED

Community Manager

Mina Legnered studied Service Management at the University of Lund in Sweden where she focused on business development in the experience economy. She early on found an intricate passion for the web and had the opportunity to develop as a Web Marketing Manager for Outokumpu - a globally leading manufacturer of stainless steel - where she during 4 years also managed several development projects both on a local and global scale.  

This year she has been actively pursuing her dream of enabling individuals to embrace digital opportunities - at Brussels’ leading communications agency ZN. She has always been inspired by true innovators and entrepreneurs and aspires to become one herself. She is proud to be part of EYIF, working towards an improved and more friendly environment for young innovators in Europe.

She thrives on challenges, motivating people by knowledge, engaging and making things happen – reasons why she enjoys diving in to the wonderful world of social media. She also loves diving in to the deep sea and taking dance classes - while the challenge of a lifetime remains a continuous improvement: Golf! 

Mina has one claim of fame: "I make the best Mojito's in Brussels"

mina.legnered@eyif.eu