Our team
We’d love to introduce you to the people who make things happen – our management team, board, medical advisors and investors.
Our team
We’d love to introduce you to the people who make things happen – our management team, board, medical advisors and investors.
Our team
Frans Cromme
CEO
Frans joined ViCentra in May 2019. He has over 20 years of experience in medtech, pharmaceuticals and in vitro diagnostics with roles in marketing, R&D and general management. He has a PhD in oncology as well as an MSc in molecular biology. Frans has lived in a number of countries in Europe and Latin America and loves to climb mountains. Frans’ favourite thing about Kaleido? That it is truly designed to make life easier for people with diabetes, without compromise.
Leo Toole
CFO
Leo joined ViCentra in January 2023, bringing more than 25 years’ experience in the medical technology, pharmaceutical, and FMCG sectors. His experience includes building finance teams, completing public & private financing and executing several mergers & acquisitions. From Ireland, he is a business graduate from Trinity College Dublin with an MBA from INSEAD. Leo is very motivated to deliver disruptive technology that improves lives. For fun, he helps coach his kids’ sports teams and goes hiking.
Tim Oakes
CTO and Co-founder
As co-founder, we wouldn’t be where we are today without Tim. Tim is an award-winning design engineer with over seven years of experience in the medical device field, mostly related to drug delivery systems. Having grown up with a father with Type 1 diabetes, Tim has first-hand knowledge of the challenges of trying to fit medical devices into daily life. Tim’s ultimate goal for Kaleido? To keep things simple so Kaleido can make life easier for people with diabetes.
Guido Mitchell
VP of Commercial
Guido brings 20+ years of commercial leadership experience in driving change in MedTech to ViCentra. Guido brings a proven track record in leading global and national organizations. After getting an MBA from the University of Mannheim, he acquired extensive knowledge and experience in various healthcare systems in both mature and emerging markets while living around the globe. In his spare time, Guido loves to travel and advises and coaches start-ups in healthcare. At ViCentra, Guido’s ambition is to let more people with diabetes worldwide experience the flexibility of Kaleido.
Danielle van Schaik
HR Lead
Danielle joined ViCentra in 2023 as a valued member of our Human Resources department.
With over 20 years of HR experience, she has a passion for employee engagement and a bulk of leadership experience, working in multicultural teams to set and achieve goals collaboratively. She has valueable knowledge of scale ups, specialising in the structuring and streamlining of HR departments.
Danielle understands the impact of living with diabetes, and relishes her role at ViCentra: “My colleagues are driven talents who dare to make a difference to the quality of life for people with diabetes”. Outside of work, Danielle loves spending time with her family and taking sailing trips.
Lourens Keers
Head of Digital & Customer Engagement
Lourens joined ViCentra in December 2022 and leads our Product Management and Communication activities. He has over 15 years of experience in driving innovation in various industries, focusing on customers to solve complex challenges. On the side, he founded the first escape room in Amsterdam and completed a MBA at Nyenrode. He is committed to make living with diabetes drastically easier, together with a great team of talented people. Outside ViCentra, Lourens spends most of his time with his family or on padel- and tenniscourt.
Pieter Van Hoof
VP of Operations
Pieter joined ViCentra in July 2021 and is responsible for ViCentra’s Operations. Since the start of his career, Pieter has predominantly developed his Operations expertise working in the pharmaceutical, chemical and medical device industry assuming various increasingly more responsible roles in manufacturing, supply Chain and general management always with a focus on developing an effective and efficient Operations organization. Outside work he enjoys spending time with his family and getting together with friends for a good ride on the gravel bike and supporting his local football team.
Patrick Broeksteeg
VP of Regulatory & Quality
Patrick has been active in medical technology for almost 25 years and joined ViCentra in October 2023. His experience lies in Quality and Regulatory Affairs, in development, manufacturing and post-market activities, and especially in class 3 medical devices. His work over the years has taken him to Switzerland and the United States, as well as the Netherlands. His goal is to create a department in harmony with the Quality and Regulatory teams, that helps ViCentra efficiently achieve its goals of making life better and easier for Kaleido users. Outside of work, he spends his time developing his at-home barista skills and spends as much time as possible with his family.
Our board
Jan Keltjens
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Jan joined our Board as Chairman in 2017. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of JenaValve Technologies Inc. and member of the Board of Directors of Welcony Inc.
Prior to this he served as Chairman of Nightbalance, Board member and CEO of Sapiens Steering Brain Stimulation, Chairman and CEO of Endosense SA, Executive Chairman of Surpass Medical, President and CEO of AngioDynamics Inc [NASDAQ:ANGO] and CEO of CryoCath Technologies Inc. [TSX:CYT]. In addition, he is associated with a number of venture capital funds. These include NextGen Ventures and Brightlands Venture Partner Funds.
Jan also served as Worldwide General Manager at Cordis Neurovascular, a Johnson & Johnson company, as well as various global and regional leadership roles in Operations, R&D and Marketing at Cordis, Johnson & Johnson. Prior to this, Jan led R&D departments at Unilever.
Thijs Cohen Tervaert
Non-executive Board Member
Thijs Cohen Tervaert is a Junior Partner at INKEF. Thijs currently also serves on the board of TargED BioPharmaceuticals, Calypso Biotech, iOnctura, Audion Therapeutics, Aidence and Castor. Prior to INKEF, Thijs was a strategy consultant at the Boston Consulting Group with a focus on health care and technology. He worked on projects for pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and insurers. During a one year secondment, Thijs helped to establish the Amsterdam Health and Technology Institute in 2014. Thijs is a medical doctor and graduated at Leiden University. He has also co-authored several scientific papers.
Anne Portwich
Non-executive Board Member
Anne Portwich is a Partner in the EQT Life Sciences team. Anne worked for LSP from 2001 until 2022, when LSP joined forces with EQT and was renamed EQT Life Sciences.
Prior to joining LSP, Anne worked as a Scientist and Project Leader at OctoPlus in Leiden, the Netherlands. Anne holds an MSc in Biochemistry from the University of Hanover and a PhD from the Max-Planck Institute of Marine Microbiology in Bremen.
Sonia Hallen
Non-executive Board Member
Sonia Hallen, PhD, is an Associate at EQT Life Sciences, having joined the firm in 2019. Prior to EQT Life Sciences, Sonia founded two companies: InfectDetect, a GSK-funded start-up focused in infectious disease diagnostics, and Digital Biosciences, an artificial intelligence-based clinical trial design platform. Prior to this, Sonia was a strategy consultant at Accenture UKI within the Life Sciences practice where she led operational and commercial strategy for major global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Before joining Accenture, Sonia was a Stem Cell Scientist with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, in Melbourne, Australia, where her research focused on rebuilding the heart with smart stem cell biomaterials. Sonia received a BEng in Chemical Engineering from McGill University (CA), an MSc in Biotechnology from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (CH), and her PhD in Regenerative Medicine from Imperial College London (UK).
Linze Dijkstra
Non-executive Board Member
Linze Dijkstra is a managing partner at Health Innovations and has 20 years of experience in healthcare. Linze sits on the board of ViCentra and is investor director at several of the portfolio companies of Health Innovations, including NovioSense (continuous glucose monitoring), NightBalance (a sleep position trainer for people with sleep apnea) and Stroke2prevent (preventing strokes during cardiac surgery). Prior to Health Innovations, Linze was Director Healthcare at ABN Amro, where he was responsible for the company’s healthcare activities in the Netherlands. Linze also worked as a healthcare-consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers and holds a Master of Science in Business Administration from the University of Twente.
Remmert Laan
Non-executive Board Member
Remmert (Rem) Laan, is President of Diabetes Insights, LLC, a consulting company specialising in marketing and business development for manufacturers of diabetes drugs, devices and apps and he brings expert knowledge of the diabetes market to ViCentra’s Board . Prior to launching Diabetes Insights in 2015, Rem served as Executive Director of the William Sansum Diabetes Center in Santa Barbara, California. He also holds more than 15 years’ experience in diabetes device commercialisation, including insulin pump products. From 2003 to 2013, Rem served in various capacities with Roche Diabetes Care, including Vice President, External Affairs, North America, and Vice President, Insulin Delivery Systems Global Marketing and Reimbursement.
Jan Paul van Geen
Non-executive Board Member
Jan Paul van Geen is Partner at Partners in Equity since 2020 and joined the board of ViCentra in January 2023. Next to ViCentra, Jan Paul currently holds several board positions at other portfolio companies and funds in the PiE portfolio. Prior to joining Partners in Equity Jan Paul had several management positions within ABN AMRO and Vodafone on the intersection of strategy and operations. Jan Paul is member of the advisory board of Bartimeus Fonds.
Our advisors
Dr. G. E. M. G. Storms
Medical Advisor
Dr. G. E. M. G. (Fred) Storms is one of the Netherlands’ leading authorities on the treatment of diabetes mellitus. Medical Director of the Diabetes Care team at St. Antonius Hospital, Utrecht until his retirement in 2016, Dr. Storms holds a special interest in the medical and technical advancements being made to improve diabetes treatment, and, as such, his work has long focussed on encouraging and supporting such advancements. He has participated in multiple international studies, including AT.LANTUS, PROactive, ONTARGET and EMPA-REG, and contributed to several trials of leading insulin pump therapies.
Anton Kittelberger
Innovation Advisor
Anton has devoted his professional life to improving the lives of people with diabetes. He is Co-Founder and Co-CEO of 9am.health, the first direct to consumer virtual diabetes clinic in the United States. It combines prescriptions, medication delivery, labs, and required specialists, making healthcare for people with (pre-)diabetes and related diseases incredibly convenient and affordable. Before 9am.health, Anton and his team built mySugr – a digital therapy management platform focused on people with diabetes. MySugr was acquired by Roche in 2017 and is now serving over 4 million users. Anton is also an active Startups investor in healthcare.
Our investors
INKEF
INKEF Capital is a leading venture capital firm based in Amsterdam with a proven history in backing promising early stage companies in Europe. INKEF takes pride in being a patient, long-term investor with the ability to support companies through several funding rounds all the way up to IPO. From the early stages of being a technology or life science venture, INKEF supports entrepreneurs building their ideas into successful international businesses. Inkef’s investments include Onward Medical, Castor, iOnctura, Cardior and GitLab, Remote among others.
EQT Life Science
EQT Life Sciences was formed in 2022 following the integration of LSP, a leading European life sciences venture capital firm, into the EQT platform. As LSP, the firm raised over EUR 3.0 billion and supported the growth of more than 150 companies since it started to invest over 30 years ago. With a dedicated team of highly experienced investment professionals coming from backgrounds in medicine, science, business, and finance, EQT Life Sciences backs the smartest inventors who have ideas that could truly make a difference for patients. The team combines deep sector knowledge, analytical skills, and investment experience to provide the added value that inventors seek.
Health Innovations
Since 2007, Health Innovations has been investing in technology-driven healthcare start-ups, with a focus on early stage investments in Dutch medical device and service companies. Shareholders in their funds include ABN AMRO, Mediq and healthcare insurers Achmea and VGZ. The Dutch government also supports Health Innovations via a seed capital arrangement.
Invest-NL
Invest-NL is the National Financing and Development Institution of the Netherlands that, as an impact investor, focuses on making financeable what doesn’t seem to be financeable. Together with other financiers, investors and development specialists – both private and public – Invest-NL’s primary attention is on the larger societal challenges like the transition to a carbon neutral and circular economy, affordable and accessible healthcare, and deep tech.
Partners in Equity
Partners in Equity is an Amsterdam based privately owned investment firm with a long term focus. The firm supports companies and funds active in Healthcare, Education an Agrifood, all with an impact and tech angle and significantly changing the playing field.