4TU.Alumni NL Network - Kick-off event - Utrecht, the Netherlands

Click here for the summary of the 4TU.Alumni NL Kick Off meeting.

17.30 - 18.00 Welcome with drinks
18.00 - 18.10 Introduction by the universities and 4TU.Federation
18.10 - 18.30 Keynote by Karin Sluis, senior advisor Witteveen+Bos
18.30 - 18.45 Introduction to the international 4TU.Alumni NL community
18.45 - 19.15 Panel discussion with inspiring alumni
19.15 – 21.00 Networking drinks

Date: Thursday, May 22, 2025
Time: 17.30 – 21.00 hrs
Location:Witteveen+Bos, Daalsesingel 51c, 3511 SW Utrecht 

Witteveen+Bos, home to many 4TU alumni, has kindly offered to host the kick-off event of the 4TU.Alumni NL network.

Mrs. Karin Sluis MSc

Karin Sluis (1965) studied Civil Engineering at Delft Technical University in The Netherlands. In 1989, she started her career within Witteveen+Bos Consulting Engineers as adviser sewage and urban water management. After several other assignments within the company, in 2013 she was appointed as managing director. By the end of 2020 she resigned from the board and now her focus within Witteveen+Bos is on the development of sustainable investment opportunities.

In addition to her work at Witteveen+Bos Karin Sluis is dedicated to sustainability, education and diversity. 'The beauty of engineering is that it has so much impact on the welfare of people: engineering brings safety, health and quality of life. For me engineering is the best work that there is, and it is my dream that everyone may work on his or her own Golden Gate Bridge.'

Karin is married and has 3 children.

The panelists for this event are:

• Anand Chowdhary (UT alumnus) - Co-founder of FirstQuadrant (an AI sales platform funded by Y Combinator) - FD Talents 2018.
• Juliana Romero Guzmán (alumna WUR) - Founder, Director Cano-ela (FoodTech company removing refined ingredients from food), FD Talents 2024.
• Akhilesh Goveas (alumnus TUD) - Founder, CEO SpectX (Aerial Radiography using drones and AI for structural defect detection), FD Talents 2024.
• Ayushman Talwar (alumnus TU/e) - Global Product Manager at APM Terminals

Anand Chowdhary 

Anand Chowdhary is a technology entrepreneur, engineer, and designer from New Delhi, India, living in Utrecht, the Netherlands. He is the co-founder, CTO, and CPO of FirstQuadrant, an AI sales platform funded by Y Combinator. Previously, he founded Pabio, a rent-to-own furniture company and Oswald Labs, an award-winning accessibility technology company. 

As an engineer, he's focused on web standards and the JavaScript ecosystem. As a designer, he specializes in user interfaces, branding, and design systems. And as a serial entrepreneur, he's built, scaled, and advised several technology-focused startups around the world. Anand has a BSc from the University of Twente’s Creative Technology Programme and has been featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 and by TechCrunch, GitHub, The Next Web, FD Talents and others.

Juliana Romero Guzmán

Juliana, originally from Mexico, came to The Netherlands 11 years ago, after a worldwide search directed her to Wageningen University, which back then, was already focusing its research towards a more sustainable food production. She came initially to do a MSc degree, but during an internship, had the opportunity to be part of an SME, that was a spin-off from Delft University before. This was a very enlightening experience that showed her how the process of building a company based on ‘heavy’ science was. After her master’s, Juliana got the amazing opportunity to pursue a PhD, with the aim of re-thinking the way in which oil-rich seeds were processed (inspiration of course, for the current aim of her company). Doing a PhD was a chance to let her curiosity fly, while improving research and management skills.

Towards the end of her PhD, the feeling of starting a company, trying to solve a problem (or more) in the real world was stronger and Juliana was lucky enough to be selected by a new program from EIT Food to incubate her business idea which was the beginning of a journey to become an entrepreneur. Right after her PhD she started Cano-ela, a startup enabling food companies to create more natural and healthy food products, by providing sustainable and healthy innovative ingredients produced from canola seeds. In 2024, Juliana was recognized by FD as one of the top young entrepreneurs in The Netherlands supporting a positive change. This year her startup also successfully closed a seed funding round and is now preparing for the launch of their ingredients.

Bio's from the other panelists will follow.

The Dutch Engineers Alumni Network of TU Delft, TU Eindhoven, UTwente, and Wageningen University & Research launched its activities in 2014 and now has active communities in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Nordics, Spain, Switzerland and the USA. Read more on the website, follow the 4TU.Alumni group, and join the 4TU.Alumni NL Internationals group on LinkedIn.