​Gerard Berndsen (born in Nijmegen, the Netherlands) and Seshnie Taylor (born in Durban, South Africa, grew up in Ipswich, United Kingdom) arrived in Adelaide in October 2020. Before coming to Australia, they both lived in China for six years.
Their reason to come to Adelaide was thanks to well-considered lifestyle design. Both have enjoyed the hustle and bustle of big cities such as Amsterdam, Hong Kong, London, Ningbo and Shanghai but were happy to settle down. Adelaide is the perfect city for them.
 
Gerard's background
Gerard moved to Shanghai in 2014 to study for a Master Degree in Economics. As a board member of the Dutch Association Shanghai, he coordinated events for up to 450 Dutchies. The events included Sinterklaas and comedy-nights (flying in Guido Weijers and Howard Komproe). As a board member, he also met His Royal Highness King Willem-Alexander in 2016. And he co-organised the political trade mission to China in 2018 with four ministers and 165 organisations. Before he left China, he was the Business Development Manager at the British   DS Smith Packaging. He managed the sales team and various Automotive and Electronics clients.
 
Seshnie's background
Seshnie studied languages (French and Chinese) and obtained a Masters degree in International Relations. Seshnie worked for a global charity in London, after which she decided she wanted more adventure and speak her languages daily. She started her own language tutoring company in Shanghai, providing curriculum and private teachers for hundreds of Chinese students from 3 to 65 years old.
 
Moving to Australia
Seshnie and Gerard left China at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. After two weeks of self-quarantining in the Netherlands, they arrived in Australia at the end of February. But they got stuck in Mildura due to the lockdown. This lockdown turned out to be an excellent opportunity to gain new skills and create lifelong family friends.

After the restrictions lifted, they went on a brief road trip in NSW and enjoyed Sydney and other unique places. During this road trip, they confirmed that it was time to settle down in a quieter area with a better lifestyle. They choose Adelaide because the city allows for personal and professional development, while the cost of living and the amount of green is unmatched. And they are still relatively close to their family-friends in Mildura, by Australian standards.
 
Careers
Gerard works for XMPLIFY Technology Services since December 2020 as a Project and Business Manager. XMPLIFY helps organisations integrate and automate Data, Applications, and the Cloud.
 
Seshnie started in February 2021 at Young Change Agents. This not-for-profit promotes social entrepreneurship for 10-to 18-year-olds to help Australian youth see problems as opportunities. The organisation provides youth with the tools to think creatively, build communication skills, and empower them to believe that they are good enough to be entrepreneurs, leaders, and world-changers.

Both Seshnie and Gerard would love to get in touch with you to learn more about like-minded people in Adelaide.
You can contact Gerard and Seshnie via LinkedIn or meet them at the DutchSA Drinks.
linkedin.com/in/gberndsen
linkedin.com/in/seshnie

Lilian was born and raised in the Netherlands and studied hospitality and facility management at the School for Hotel Management in the Burgundian town of Maastricht. After starting her career in the hospitality and tourism industry, she had management positions in Human Resources Management and Recruitment (Manpower) and within the TAFE sector. Before moving to Australia in 2008, Lilian lived and worked as a global citizen across Europe, the USA and Hong Kong. 
 
Adelaide has been home since November 2020, after having lived in Canberra for the last 12 years. 
 
Lilian is no stranger to DutchSA. During her 10-year tenure as Senior Advisor Trade and Economic Affairs at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Canberra, she was a regular visitor to South Australia. She organised many networking and business development events for various industries and businesses on behalf of the Dutch Department of Foreign Affairs and in close collaboration with DutchSA. She is most proud of the results that were achieved when she designed and coordinated the trade mission for Agriculture during the visit of His Royal Highness King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands to Australia in 2016, for which she received a Royal Commendation.

For the last two years Lilian worked for the Canberra Business Chamber - a member-based organisation, representing a broad range of businesses as well as many of the ACT's key industry and community organisations. She leveraged her broad experience in Business Development and Trade Facilitation, Stakeholder engagement and Relationship Management as well as Event, Project and Office Management. 

The move to Adelaide is the start of a new chapter for the Mellink family in Australia, and they are looking forward to exploring Adelaide, and have started to immerse themselves in all that South Australia and its people have to offer.  
 
Lilian has recently joined the Board of DutchSA and is keen to make a valuable contribution by liaising between, and supporting, Dutch and Australian professionals and businesses. She would love to get in touch with you to learn more about opportunities in Adelaide.

Lilian can be contacted on +61 420 335 840, by email [email protected] or LinkedIn.

PATRICK INGENEGEREN, SENIOR MANAGER TT LOGISTICS AND INDEPENDENT DIRECTOR SUPPLY CHAIN ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA. Patrick has expertise in Business Development, Logistics & Supply Chain, Operations and Commercial Management and has been a professional in various industries for more than 25 years.
The common denominator in his career however has been Automotive and he has worked across many facets of this industry which ultimately got him to Australia in 2004.
People always associate Automotive strictly with car manufacturing but this is not necessarily the case. Car manufacturers do need parts but it may come as a surprise these parts are not manufactured by the car makers themselves. Speedo Tacho cluster, Sunroof, accelerator pedal, steel sheeting, seat upholstery, lights, fuel sensor, etc. etc. are all designed, tested, manufactured and supplied by different companies in the Automotive supply chain and Patrick worked for several of them.
 
Just over 10 years ago Patrick changed from supplying parts to optimising the actual supply chain flow of these parts to various customer via contract logistics services. As a Senior Manager and member of the leadership team of TT Logistics (Australasia) Pty Ltd he optimised supply chains not only in Automotive but also in retail, FMCG, omni-channel and e-commerce. As TT Logistics is a subsidiary of Toyota Tsusho Corporation (an affiliate of the Toyota Group) continuous improvement is an important differentiator due to TPS (Toyota Production System) being applied across the business. Currently TT Logistics is providing quality 3PL contract logistics services to high end Australian customers in cosmetics, dairy, electronics, energy and whitegoods.

In 2017 Patrick also joined the Board of the SCLAA (Supply Chain and Logistics Association of Australia) to give back to the industry and to create further awareness how important the Australian supply chains are. With Covid taking over Supply Chains are more important than ever and need to stay agile. Think about this next time when you order something online!
 
If you  would like to know how TPS can benefit your supply chain feel free to reach out on 0408 643 087 or [email protected] alternatively visit https://ttlogistics.com.au

We’re proud to feature October's Member in Close-up: Aafke Boomsma.

Aafke is a research scientist with a background as certified auditor in accounting. Since moving to Adelaide in 2014, Aafke has been a regular visitor and supporter of DutchSA events and an active contributor to the communities she is part of.

Dutch Lessons
One of the community services Aafke has been providing since 2016, is Dutch lessons for novice and advanced Dutch learners. Aafke can deliver these lessons both in person and online, whichever best suits the needs of the student.

Vocabulary
Her students benefit from her individual approach and her extensive knowledge of the vocabulary of many of the professions of her students. Jargon, Aafke managed to pick up over the years working as a financial auditor in various business environments!

Grammar
Having a teacher like Aafke, who can explain the grammar and syntax rules of the Dutch language really well, can bring novice learners quickly to a level that even many native speakers would be jealous of!

Curious to know more? Send Aafke an e-mail at [email protected]. 

We’re proud to feature September’s Member in Close-up: MART SWINKELS.
​He started TELD, with his Co-founder Adish Jain, in January of this year. 
 
We found that many organisations are seeing the benefits of online training to enhance their performance. With TELD we create online training that aligns with the organisations' overall strategy. We want our services to make an impact on organisations, by saving them time and costs while improving employee performance. We believe that people only learn when they are truly engaged, that's why we are using storytelling, interactivity, gamification, and simulations to make online learning fun and impactful.
 
Curious to know more? Give him a call on 0499441110 or e-mail to [email protected]

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