Stefaan van Hooydonk

Stefaan is the founder of the Global Curiosity Institute. He consults global corporations, leadership teams, and individuals to help build stronger curiosity muscles. He helps them in baselining individual and workplace curiosity and supports them with designing and implementing intentional curiosity improvement projects and learning initiatives.

Stefaan started his career in investment consulting in China. From there he moved to set up the executive education arm of a major business school in Shanghai, China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), which he ran for 5 years. Subsequently, he set up global learning teams and innovative corporate universities for Nokia (China/Finland), Agfa Healthcare (Belgium), Philips (The Netherlands), Flipkart (India), Saudi Aramco (Saudi Arabia), and Cognizant (UK). His last role was that of Chief Learning Officer for Cognizant, where he oversaw learning and development for over 300k associates across the globe. He has been globally recognized for his innovative approach to learning, people, and technology.

Stefaan has a master’s degree in Economics and in Chinese, together with postgraduate degrees in Marxist Economics from China, Cross-Cultural Management from France, and an Executive MBA from Rutgers University. He is a certified executive coach. A Belgian national, Stefaan has been married for 25 years to Jeltje Peletier: a successful psycho- and yoga therapist. Together they have 4 children: Rik, Femke, Koen, and Menko. He practices meditation daily, is a marathon runner, and food forest amateur, and is pursuing a master’s degree in philosophy.

 

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Super thanks for a truly inspiring, enriching, and thought-provoking session! - Rita Vanhauwenhuyse, VP, Customer Experience and Insights | Executive Networks

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It was wonderful meeting you again Stefaan! Your session was the most insightful at the London Learning Technologies 2022 conference. - Saurav Jaiswal, Founder and Managing Director of Innostrat Technologies

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Dear Stefaan, I have just viewed the recorded version of the session about Curiosity. I was overwhelmed by its color and preciseness. Many of the aspects that were brought forward are on our agenda, and the research you presented gives us confidence that we are on the right track. Also, the simplicity you used in describing forces, behaviors, etc. really appealed to me. And the Individual/Team/Organization perspectives align well with the way we understand Lifelong learning in the company context. This session is really valuable for us. Thank you so much for making an effort! - Britta Börjeson, Head of Learning Expertise, Volvo Group University

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Stefaan van Hooydonk spoke at our global summits for over 150 learning and development professionals. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Many conference delegates stated that they found Stefaan very poignant and that his message was timely and something the industry wanted to hear. We would not hesitate to invite Stefaan to speak again at our summits, across diverse geographical locations, as he also brings a global outlook having worked in different locations amongst the greatest industry leaders. - Vassilis Theocharides, Associate Director, Global Association for Talent Development