Panel Members
1. Ellen Schindler
At De Zwarte Hond, an architecture, urban planning and strategy firm with around 110 employees in four offices (Groningen, Rotterdam, Cologne and Berlin), Ellen Schindler is managing partner and responsible for Strategy & Development, Marketing & Communications, and Internationalization. As partner she is also responsible for the new Berlin office.
“Enabling development”, be it of employees, projects, the office or the field of architecture and urban design in general, is Schindler's guiding principle.
Ellen Schindler is the founder of the foundation YOU – Young Optimistic Urbanists. The aim of the foundation is to promote young people's sense of ownership of their urban living environment through multi-layered educational projects in the form of a book and/or manifestations. The result is a visual story, the graphic novel METRO 010, which is not only available in bookstores in Dutch and in English, but is also distributed as a free school edition since May 2023. By now almost 20.000 free books have been distributed to 11/12-year-olds in Rotterdam on their first day of secondary school – at a time when they are spreading their wings, increasing their reach and starting to explore the city. Their city!
Ellen Schindler was previously a partner and managing director at the Amsterdam based office of Kossmann.dejong exhibition architects. With her strategic vision, organizational talent and ability to connect people, she developed Kossmann.dejong from a national design firm into an award-winning international studio with projects around the world, operating in 15 countries and on three continents.
For students at art institutions she developed a lecture series, Business your Design, on entrepreneurship, project management and business development, which she taught at the Royal Academy of Art (The Hague) and the Design Academy (Eindhoven).
Ellen Schindler is chair of the board of the dance company Conny Janssen Danst and a board member of Cultuur Concreet, an organization that supports local cultural initiatives in the neighborhoods of Rotterdam. Schindler was a member of the board of the Council for Culture, an advisory body to the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science
Ellen lives in Rotterdam, together with her husband and two sons, age 16 and 18.
2. Joeri Aulman, Director Business Development
NACO, Netherlands Airport Consultants – a company of Royal HaskoningDHV
Joeri Aulman has been working for the company for over 15 years during which he had different roles in the field of airport consultancy, planning & design; from airport planning to project management and ultimately business development. For several years he was stationed in India working on assignments for private airport developers. Back in the head office in The Hague, he has been engaged in positioning the company for sustainable growth on airport projects worldwide.
Mr. Aulman has a MSc in Architecture from Delft University of Technology.
3. Koen Stoffers
Koen Stoffers is 35 years old and currently employed at PAS bv, a company specializing in advising on financial area development. He began his career at PAS bv as a medior and was promoted to senior and team leader within four years. In his role as team leader, he is responsible for employee development and strategically planning the company’s future.
At the age of 18, Koen began studying Architecture. During his studies, he was also active as a national-level ice speed skater. To balance his academic obligations with his sporting activities, he took additional courses. After six years, he had completed three years of architectural studies and decided to stop skating. He subsequently ended his Architecture studies and began a new program in Spatial Planning and Urban Development in Breda. He completed this study within the regular timeframe and started his career at Gloudemans.
4. Robin Neef
Robin Neef (1992) holds a bachelor degree in Environmental and Infrastructure Planning (in Dutch: Technische Planologie) (2014), a Research Master degree in Spatial Sciences (2018), and a PhD based on his dissertation ‘Towards the Planning of Infrastructure Renewal’ (2025), all from the Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen. He is co-founder of the SAC Groningen (2013), Member of Merit of Ibn Battuta (2022), judo teacher at G.S.B.V. de Mattekloppers (2024), and judo referee on regional, and occasional national and international tournaments (2010).
Since the summer of 2024, he is working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen. He is involved in, among others, Next Generation Infrastructures as program coordinator for knowledge development, where he connects science to practice at its six infrastructure administrations, particularly focussed on resilient design and maintenance of infrastructure networks. He continues his line of research on institutional approaches at the interface of multiple infrastructure networks.