Executive Board

Meet the Executive Board of 2021/2022!

ESN Utrecht is run by approximately 100 committee members and an Executive Board consisting of six full-time members. The board runs ESN Utrecht on a daily basis and you can find us during office hours at Princetonplein 9, Utrecht. You can also call us during office hours on +31 30 253 8781, or get in touch with us via either email or Facebook.

The Executive Board of ESN Utrecht 2020-2021 has been constituted as follows:

President – Esmeé van Thuijl

Secretary – Laura Müllejans

Treasurer – Fons Röttgering

Partnership Manager – Esther Loef

Communication Manager – Ilona Gacic

Integration Coordinator – Sonja van de Wetering

President

Esmeé van Thuijl

Esmeé is the president of ESN Utrecht this year. As president, she is responsible for the organization of the board, contact with the higher education institutes and representing ESN Utrecht on behalf of the board. She is also responsible for this board’s policy plan and is coordinating the president’s council. Furthermore she is the local representative for this section on a national level for ESN the Netherlands.

Esmeé studied in Groningen, where she did the bachelor Middle Eastern studies. During her time as a student she had the chance to live in Cairo for 4 months. This was an amazing experience for her in which she experienced what it’s like if you don’t fully understand the language that is spoken. Last year she moved to Utrecht for the master Intercultural Communication. She loves to contribute and help out internationals in Utrecht and therefore decided to do a board year for ESN Utrecht.

In her spare time she really enjoys couchsurfing and hitchhiking in which she met a lot of kind people from all over the world. Moreover she loves going to second hand stores, playing board games and playing football.

Feel free to contact her if you have any questions! Her email is president@esn-utrecht.nl

Secretary

Laura Müllejans

The secretary of this year is Laura. She is the one responsible for the organization flow and is in charge of all internal and external communication. She furthermore coordinates the Activities Committee, the Archive Committee and the Internal Events Committee.

Laura is 22 years old and is originally from Germany and Italy, but she is actually born in the Netherlands. She speaks many other languages as well so make sure to try a few when you meet her! Laura moved to Utrecht in September 2020 to do the master Intercultural Communication at Utrecht University. She liked living in Utrecht so much that she decided to stay one year longer and to apply for the Board Year.

In her free time she likes to sing and play the guitar, furthermore she loves to journal and loves to paint. You can make her happy by cooking a (vegan) meal because she is too lazy to cook herself!

For questions, feel free to email her at secretary@esn-utrecht.nl!

Treasurer

Fons Röttgering

Fons is the treasurer of ESN Utrecht for this year. As the treasurer he is responsible for the financial side of ESN Utrecht by keeping the bookkeeping up to date, regulating the ticket sale and making sure all payments and invoices are sent and received in time. Next to that, he is also responsible for the annual budget that needs to be prepared at the start of the year. Apart from these financial matters he also coordinates two great committees: the Career Committee and the Pub Quiz committee.

Fons got a first taste of international life when he went on exchange to Sydney in 2020, which unfortunately had to end after 6 weeks due to Covid-19. After he returned to Utrecht, he joined ESN Utrecht as a member of the activities committee. This sparked his enthusiasm for ESN which led to his decision to join the board. Prior to joining the board, he finished his bachelor degree in Biology, in which he specialized in marine biology and ecology.

If you have any questions about financial matters, about plants or animal species or if you just want to see pictures of his pet axolotl Teun, send an email to treasurer@esn-utrecht.nl.

Partnership Manager

Esther Loef

Esther is the Partnership Manager of the 32nd Board of ESN Utrecht. The main task of the Partnership Manager is to coordinate partnerships. This includes maintaining relationships with current partners and acquiring new partners. Next to this, the Partnership Manager coordinates both the Introduction Committee and the Party Committee.

Two years ago, Esther went on exchange herself to Ljubljana, Slovenia. Because she had an amazing time there and was warmly welcomed by ESN Ljubljana, she joined ESN Utrecht when she came back with the internal motivation to give the internationals in Utrecht the same experience she had in Ljubljana. She joined the Career Committee of 2020-2021, which suits her background since she studied a bachelor Human Resource Management. After finishing her Bachelor she successfully completed a Premaster Management of Cultural Diversity. Because Esther wanted to get more involved in ESN Utrecht and therefore also in the ESN Network, she applied to join the Board.

If you love horses, are addicted to cheese and therefore want a city tour through Gouda or if you are desperate to find someone to join you for a run, you can contact Esther via partnership@esn-utrecht.nl. Furthermore, you can always contact her if you have any questions or anything to discuss pertaining to our partners!

Communication Manager

Ilona Gacic

This year’s Communication Manager is Ilona. She is responsible for all social media and promotional materials, brand managing and marketing. Apart from that, she is also the coordinator of the Promo Committee and the Journalism Committee.

Ilona is 23 years old and she is from the Netherlands. Before joining the board, she finished her Bachelor’s degree in Law at Utrecht University. She is planning to continue her studies after her board year, by starting her Master’s degree in Intellectual Property, Innovation and Technology. During her Bachelor’s, she went on exchange to London for one semester. This is where she got in touch with ESN for the first time and experienced what it is like to be an international student. After she returned, she joined the Culture Committee at ESN Utrecht, to help international students have the same amazing experience in Utrecht like she had in London. And what better way to do that than to join the board this year?

In her spare time, she enjoys painting, cooking and working out from time to time. She is also specialized in making loads of cheese boards (and making sure everyone sees them on her instagram stories!!), and loves to spend time with her friends and family!

Feel free to contact her if you have any questions, if you’d like to chat all about instagram and marketing strategy or if you’d like to hear some tips on creating amazing cheese boards! Her email is: communication@esn-utrecht.nl.

Integration Coordinator

Sonja van de Wetering

Hii sweet reader,

Congratulations! You’ve come to the most important page of ESN Utrecht, the introduction of me, Sonja van De Wetering. Now you might wonder, what makes me so superduper important? Well, I am this years’ Integration Coordinator.

If you are interested in Katy Perry’s music and why I personally think it is so bad, if you want to be convinced that Bollywood movies are amazing and really worth watching every second of the 3 ½ hours running time, or if you have any other topic you love to talk about, do not hesitate to come to me! I love random conversations 🙂

In my free time I don’t like but do watch Katy Perry funny moments because they make me feel very funny in comparison. What I do like to do is doing yoga, playing football and skating around (no tricks because I want to please stay alive, thank you).

And finally, some basic, non Katy Perry related information about me; I studied Artificial Intelligence, I originally come from Amersfoort and I didn’t go on exchange because it was cancelled because of the C word that must not be named.

Supervisory Board

ESN Utrecht also has two supervisory bodies: the Finance Committee and the Supervisory Board. The Supervisory Board keeps an eye on the overall progress of ESN Utrecht as an organization and checks if the Executive Board is functioning well. The Supervisory Board consists of former board members of ESN Utrecht and meets with the president and vice-president on a monthly basis.

During the academic year of 2021/2022 the Supervisory Board consists of:

Janna Colen (President)

Frank Barten

Lindy Beuk

Annelot Bulten

Jos van den End

Evi Rongen

Joris de Rooij

Lucie Šanderová

Finance Committee

The Finance Committee is the second supervisory body of ESN Utrecht. Every income and expense of ESN Utrecht is checked by the Finance Committee. Additionally, this committee provides support for the Treasurer whenever something is unclear regarding finances. They meet once a month to check everything finance-related and receive an update from the Treasurer on the financial status of ESN Utrecht.

In the academic year 2021/2022 the Finance Committee consists of:

Fabian Koolstra (President)

Cecilia Catanzano

Jos van den End

Theresa Fleitz

Tom Hartgers

Marco Koevoets

Maarten Visser

Previous Executive Boards

Learn more about the 31 previous Executive Boards of ESN Utrecht!