Team
Management
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David Niemeijer
David is founder and CEO. He has a PhD in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, but turned to developing assistive technology after a friend of his became paralyzed in a car accident and needed an on-screen keyboard for his Mac. Founded in 2000, AssistiveWare has grown to be the world-wide leader in Universal Access and communication solutions for Mac and iOS.
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Martijn Leopold
Martijn is CTO. He met David in high school many years ago. After studying Cognitive Sciences he developed exhibits at Science Center Nemo in Amsterdam. Later he founded his own business “Hoofdwerk”. In 2010 he joined AssistiveWare as a partner bringing to the table a wealth of experience in web development and product design.
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Rosa Lehmann
Rosa is one of the three AssistiveWare partners, together with David and Martijn. She is in charge of Sales and also manages the daily routines in our Amsterdam-based office. She has a PhD in Social Anthropology and continues to write about interethnic relations with a focus on Eastern Europe.
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Jennifer Marden
Jennifer is VP of Clinical Development. She became a Speech-Language Pathologist in 1999, after 14 years as a software engineer at Hewlett-Packard. Jennifer specializes in AAC for children and adults with a wide variety of communication disorders, and has provided AAC services in school, hospital, clinic, home, and adult day program settings.
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Cathy Kingeter
Cathy is VP of International Marketing and Communications. She has worked with users around the world in the areas of computer and device access since 1996 and has enjoyed leading global Marketing organizations for both private and public companies for many years. She and her family reside in Texas.
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Núria Aloy
Núria leads the web development team leveraging her broad software development experience. Over the years she has gained insight into the complexity of team dynamics and process improvement, and has become a strong advocate of collaborative working approaches. Núria comes from Barcelona (Spain) and lives in Amsterdam.
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Enrique Ballesteros
Enrique is a member of the Support Team, offering customer support for both French and Spanish. He loves to help others, and truly believes that education is the only way to grow. Enrique is also a musician, playing guitar, drums and many other instruments. He was born and raised in Madrid (Spain).
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Joe Barnick
Joe leads our Support Team and lives in the state of New York. Having Spinal Muscular Atrophy, Joe uses AssistiveWare's virtual on-screen keyboard, KeyStrokes, to access his Mac and has been involved with several AssistiveWare projects over the years. With his remarkable eye for detail and instinct for helping others, he supports the entire Team in their daily work.
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Andrea Berentschot
Andrea lives in Amsterdam and is our Office Manager, who also takes on the challenge of doing AssistiveWare's finances and Human Resource Management. After studying Sociology, she worked for several years in the cultural field. She enjoys working for AssistiveWare because of the variety of her job and meaningful goals of the company.
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Pam Harris
Pam is a member of the Support Team. She brings more than two decades of experience as mother, caregiver and advocate for her adult son with significant disabilities, including complex communication challenges. Pam has completed the Assistive Technology Application Certificate Program (ATACP).
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Joop Laan
Joop is a web developer with a passion for usability and accessibilty. He created his first website in 1998 and has been working in various roles for internet companies ever since. As a web developer, Joop works on improving and maintaining the websites of AssistiveWare.
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Marcel de Laat
Marcel is a designer who studied graphic design at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. As an independent graphic designer he recently joined the AssistiveWare team to restyle and take care of all our publicity expressions. If he is not busy behind his Mac, he is probably beating Marco in the squash-arena or roaming the roads on his Beemer motorcycle.
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Sylwia Malinowska
Sylwia is a senior developer. Originally from Poland, she lived in Spain for 12 years before moving to the Netherlands. Sylwia treats developing as a craft so she always tries to write clean, smart code, which sometimes leads to forgetting there is life outside. Sylwia loves coding, Mac computers, learning new things and her cats.
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Marco Niemeijer
Marco is an independent videographer and the author of AssistiveWare's video productions. Marco visits families and schools around the world to capture the stories and experiences of assistive technology users to inspire others in similar situations. Marco studied fine arts at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. He is also an independent recording artist.
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José Antonio Pérez
José is originally from Valencia in Spain, where he worked in assistive technology research at Universidad de València for five years. He joined the AssistiveWare team as a developer and system administrator. José loves Indie movies and photography.
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Aileen Ryan
Aileen is member of the Support Team, living in Australia. She teaches sign language and has a certificate in Language (Auslan). Aileen is also the author of a number of sign language books and resources. Aileen's daughter has Down Syndrome and a hearing impairment. She uses sign language together with Proloquo2Go to communicate.
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Laura Sussley-Pope
Laura focuses on Social Media and networking. Prior to joining us, Laura practiced Law for over 20 years, ran political campaigns and was Social Media Director and Community Manager for various companies. Laura considers her experience working with and advocating for her special needs son to be one of her greatest assets. Born in Mexico City, she is fluent in Spanish.
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Nathan Swett
Nate is a trainer, AV specialist and is a Support Team member. He ensures our webinars run smoothly and post-processes them for iTunes. Nate has a MEd in Special Education from the University of San Diego. His intent is to expose and train individuals at the youngest age possible utilizing all available assistive technology.
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Anne Verhulp
Anne is a member of both the Marketing and Support Teams. She loves languages, which led to a study in International Business & Languages. Anne enjoys traveling around the world providing training and supporting our international customers. The versatility of work is exactly why she appreciates working at AssistiveWare.
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Carol Villars
Carol’s youngest child is a beautiful young woman with Down syndrome who uses Proloquo2Go for communication. Carol has spent years advocating for her daughter’s communication needs. Carol likes helping others, which is what lead her to working with us as one of our Support Team members.
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Hilde de Wit
Hilde is an Interaction Designer living in Amsterdam. She has a Masters in Creative Design for Digital Cultures and is fascinated by all the wonderful possibilities technology can provide to people with disabilities. Hilde’s focus is on making the user experience of the applications intuitive and easy to use.