Aart van Vuure
Chairman
Aart van Vuuren has extensive experience in materials engineering, with a strong focus on composite materials and interface science. He has held research and advisory roles at KU Leuven and Sirris, where he supported innovation and provided guidance to industry. Earlier in his career, he worked in research and development at Unilever, contributing to the development of polymer-based products. As Chairman of SAMPE Benelux, he is dedicated to advancing knowledge and collaboration in the field of materials engineering and composites.
Bart Vangrimde
Vice-chairmain
Bart graduated as Electromechanical Engineer at KU Leuven Group T (Belgium). A PhD in Mechanical Engineering at the Ecole Polytechnique of Montreal (Canada) started his career in research and technology development of composite materials. Bart performed postdoctoral research at KU Leuven Materials Engineering Department (2001-2004), led the advanced composites materials & process engineering group at SONACA (2004-2009) and started the Sirris Leuven-Gent Composites Application Lab (2009-2011). Since 2011 Bart is the technical manager for composites at Huntsman Polyurethanes.
Adrie Kwakernaak
Treasurer
Adrie Kwakernaak has extensive experience in the aerospace industry, with a strong focus on composite materials and structural applications. Throughout his career, he has been involved in the development and implementation of advanced materials technologies within industrial environments.
Fabricio Brizon
Membership Manager
Fabricio graduated as Mechanic Production Engineer at University of Taubaté (Brazil) and he holds a specialization in Aeronautics at Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica – ITA (Brazil). In twenty+ years of experience working with composites materials, at Embraer he directly contributed for the design and manufacture of expressive R&D projects like wing and fuselage demonstrators, and the implementation of new technologies in serial production. Currently as Senior R&D Enginner at Royal NLR, he is researching into tight-tolerance wind tunnel composites models for the future generation aircraft engines and advanced fabrication processes for composites structures.
Laura Veldenz
Website Manager
Dr Laura Veldenz graduated as aerospace engineer (EngD) from Bristol University, UK in 2019. After working for Airborne in Den Haag, NL for several years, and completing her Executive MBA at the Rotterdam School of Management, NL, she joined the Dutch funding body Luchtvaart in Transitie in 2025.
Ferrie van Hattum
Coordinator student contest
Ferrie van Hattum studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Twente, where he graduated in the field of thermoplastic composites (1995). He holds a PhD (1999) in Polymer and Composites Engineering of the University of Minho, Portugal. Since 2013, Ferrie van Hattum is a professor at Saxion University of Applied Sciences, Enschede, The Netherlands. He is leading the ThermoPlastic composites Application Center – TPAC, that focusses on making thermoplastic composites work cost-effectively for SMEs.
Marie Hondekyn
Sponsor contact and Social media manager
Marie Hondekyn graduated from Ghent University in 2023 as Sustainable Materials Engineer, with a major in Polymers and Fibres. During her master’s studies, she completed a research internship in the Aerospace Structures and Materials department at TU Delft. She is currently pursuing a PhD in the Mechanics of Materials and Structures research group at Ghent University, where her research focuses on developing analytical and numerical models for composite pressure vessels for hydrogen storage.
Bram Jongbloed
Bram Jongbloed graduated with a degree in Aerospace Engineering from Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). He holds a PhD in continuous ultrasonic welding of thermoplastic composites from TU Delft. After earning his PhD, Bram worked as a Materials and Process Engineer at SAM XL, focusing on the industrialization and automation of composite manufacturing techniques. Currently, he is the Manufacturing & Automation Engineering Leader at SAM XL, a collaborative expertise center affiliated with the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering on the TU Delft campus.
Pierre Severin
Pierre Severin graduated as an Aerospace Engineer at University of Liège, with bachelor at University of Mons and Erasmus exchange at ENSMA in Poitiers, France. Pierre performed his master’s thesis on the study of shockwave propagation in solid-state stain samples. He is working since 2007 at Coexpair, as engineering team leader, on the development of aeronautic parts made with RTM & SQRTM processes.
Oliver Bottler
Oliver Bottler graduated as chemical engineer at the university of applied science in Aachen (Germany) and made his second graduation as chemist at university of Saarbrücken (Germany). Both diploma thesis he made at DuPont in Luxemburg in Mylar® R&D department. Oliver was production leader in the textile industry and head of process engineering at the Institute of New Materials (INM) in Saarbrücken in the field of nanotechnology. Oliver worked at Euro-Composites S.A. as R&D Manger, Airtech Europe Sarl. as European Technical Manager and in the General Management of Luxpanel International GmbH. Since 2024, he is working as Senior Project Manager at Gradel LightWeight in Luxemburg.