High school:

Sint Gummaruscollege Lier
Graduated: 1998
Degree: Human Sciences & Modern Languages

Extracurricular (during elementary & high school):

Art (drawing) school: 4 years
Music school: 5 years, option classical guitar
Drama & Diction: 2 years

College:

HPA / Plantijn Antwerpen
1998 - 2000
(dropped out, worked until 09/2003)

Katholieke Hogeschool Mechelen
Graduated: 2006
Degree: Bachelor Communication / Interactive Marketing

Achieved: Bachelor of the year award (2006) (web 2.0 pet project)

Active:

English / Flemish / French / Typonese / HTML / PHP

Passive:

German / Spanish

Definitely more than average:

Adobe Creative Suite 3/4: Photoshop, Dreamweaver
Microsoft Windows (XP, Vista, 7)
Microsoft Office 2003/2007/2010

Possibly more than average:

Anything that comes with a manual
Anything that has tutorials
Anything that has a file menu

For a description of the things you can hire me for as a freelancer, please check the main page of this domain.

I started the Wavelab Comm.v under the comforting wings of the global financial crisis in the summer of 2009 after I was made redundant at Microsoft, together with many other colleagues.

• Technology Evangelist

  Microsoft

  (Public Company; MSFT; Computer Software industry)

  December 2006 — July 2009 (2 years 8 months)

  Organizing events with training sessions and demos for internal and external purposes,
  to introduce newly released products or to deliver experiences around products the users
  already are familiar with, but of which they maybe have not yet realized the full potential.
  
  Most of the products were about to be launched or rolled fresh out of Microsoft Research,
  the product teams or the Live Labs.

• Strategic Planner

  i-merge (later rebranded as Boondoggle)

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Marketing and Advertising industry)

  January 2006 — December 2006 (1 year)

  Fame and fortune in advertising land, in the shadow of great talents, right at the kickstart of web 2.0

• Dealer Support The Netherlands

  General Motors Acceptance Corporation -GMAC-

  (Public Company; 11-50 employees; Financial Services industry)

  April 2002 — January 2003 (10 months)

  Based in Antwerp
  Sector: Credit Financing & Loans
  Practical:
  Dealer support Netherlands, Customer Research & Financial Profiling, Internal Sales, Account Managing

• Junior e-Commerce Consultant

  Goodwill M&G

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Events Services industry)

  September 2001 — January 2002 (5 months)

  Based in Kontich
  Sector: Theme & Event Decoration
  Practical:
  Webdesign, e-Presentations, Application Coaching, Helpdesk

• Account Manager / Internal Sales

  World Online / Tiscali

  (Public Company; 51-200 employees; Internet industry)

  November 2000 — August 2001 (10 months)

  Based in Antwerp, moved to Brussels
  Sector: ISP
  Practical:
  Account Managing / Customer Care

• Internal Sales

  Versatel

  (Public Company; 51-200 employees; Telecommunications industry)

  October 2000 — November 2000 (2 months)

  Based in Antwerp
  Sector: ISP
  Practical:
  Input & Process Sales Orders

• Internal Sales

  ITT Promedia

  (Public Company; 51-200 employees; Consumer Services industry)

  September 2000 — October 2000 (2 months)

  Based in Antwerp
  Sector: Print/ Online Media
  Practical:
  Contacting Lawyers, Doctors to place ads

• Consultant

  Resorts 3000

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Commercial Real Estate industry)

  June 2000 — September 2000 (4 months)

  Based in Antwerp
  Sector: Ownership Consultancy & Direct Sale (aka Time Share)
  Practical:
  Selling Holiday Ownership via Cold Prospect Direct Sales

Active: (strictly scheduled)

Savate / French boxing. Current level: assault/pre-combat
Started: July 2009
Frequency: twice a week

Running. Current level: leisure, cardio
Average distance per run: 10km / 6.2 miles
Frequency: 3 times a week

Passive: (happens random)

Indoor Soccer with the MSFT team (inter-company competition)
Gym workouts

Wishful thinking: (supposed to happen eventually)

Surfing at the Queen's section in Waikiki, Hawaii
Snowboarding in fresh Canadian powder, back-country heli drop

Interior Design:
Loungy, modern, contemporary, minimalistic, spacy, zen.

Food:
French & Italian, some Thai or Vietnamese, sushi, sweets.

Music:
Jazz & blues, classic violin or piano concertos.
G-Funk, soul, 90s rap music.
Deep house, minimal house, electro, groove, goa.
Lounge & chill-out.

Photography:
Digital images, tricks, enhancement tutorials

Technology:
Mobile, portable, wireless, industrial, domotica, optical, virtual, future.

Movies:
Anything from classics as Casablanca to recent movies with a decent plot. With a weak for gangster stories, drugged road trips and zombies.

Social & Advertising:
Good campaigns, ideas, marketing stunts, exceptional integration or
creative achievements, new social initiatives and the interaction
between social networks and the advertising industry.

Impressive TV:
The Wire, Shameless, Battlestar Galactica, The Office, IT Crowd.

Room for improvement. But I manage. I'll compensate.
Eventually.

» Nickname: Coolz0r - XBox360 Gamer Tag: MicroMiel
» Founded the Marketing Thoughts blog in 2004, ranked global marketing top 20 for 76 weeks, pulled 20K daily uniques at peak.
» co-Blogged over at InsideGoogle (2005,2006) ; evidently stopped doing so when I signed up at Microsoft.
» Somehow stumbled onto PC World Magazine and CNN with a blog rant about a stupid browser toolbar (here or here).
» Graduated in 2006 with a web 2.0 internal semi-social network-alike-thingy. Won the Bachelor Of The Year Award with it.
» Pulled a small stunt when I was made redundant at Microsoft. That got in the national papers (here and here)
» ... and then it got on TV (VTM) in the news, at noon, at seven and latenight. And it got primetime on the radio too (here).
» Gave a keynote and shared a stage with Stormhoek's Hugh MacLeod at Netcamp Romania in 2007 (here)

Love. Regrets.