Juni 2019 bij het concert van Muse hebben we het onwijs gaaf gehad. Heel triest dat dit niet meer kan. Had heel graag nog wat concerten met je willen bezoeken.
Mooie herinnering die ik nooit ga vergeten.

Attaching a photo of Ruud’s last office door. I never saw any other door like that in the building!
It started after the team’s EA pinned a funny picture of Ruud after one of his trip, probably in Florida. He never removed it – so she made it a habit to add a new one after each of his trip – Florida, ski, US, Mexico, Formula 1…
It shows how liked he was.

Remembering a team meeting with Ruud a few years ago.
I had reviewed some documentation and was providing a debrief to the team along the lines of “I think it could be improved by doing this… It would be better if that was included… That part is missing but it might not be so bad if … etc etc”.
Ruud was listening, and when I finished, he dropped: “Basically, it’s all shit, isn’t it?
- ??!!? I wouldn’t go that far, it’s not THAT bad…
- ok, but it’s not good enough?
- no, it’s not good enough…
- so why don’t you just say that? With all the “ ‘if’s’ and ‘might’ and ‘maybe’ and ‘I think’, we are losing the message. Try and be a little bit more Dutch and say things like they are!” :)
And that was Ruud’s at work. He would say exactly what he meant, he was transparent, open, but he also had the best interest of the company and team at heart, and was personal and fun and warm, so everyone liked him and respected him for it. I learnt a lot from you as I’m sure many others did.
Attaching a photo of a team workshop back in 2018.

Hey Ruud,
I remember a lunch with you in the BAT offices of Harbour Exchange, at the end of 2012. We didn’t know each other very well at that time, other than bumping into each other in some meetings from time to time. You had just started a new role on the TaO programme and were looking for resources to join your team, and I was looking for my next role. I’m so glad I joined your team, I couldn’t have done a better move.
Over the years since then, you have been a great boss, coach, friend. Moving from one role to the next, even when we weren’t working together, you were the first one I would call when something was bothering me at work - thank you for always being available and for all the chats…
I enjoyed joining you, Chris, Andy at the pub from time to time when you were putting the world to rights (or just having a beer and a sausage roll…), and all the banter on the fantasy football league…
I will miss you, it feels impossible to think we won’t be talking again.
Attaching some photos of fun evenings with the team, in 2017 and 2018.