Bert Melief

Bert Melief (1951) graduated as a biologist in 1981 and obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Amsterdam in 1985, based on research on the vegetation history in the Colombian Andes mountains. After a few years within the computer department of a Dutch subsidiary of the Hartford Insurance Company he became manager of the User Support department of the computer centre of the University of Maastricht in 1989. In 1996 he joined the SURF foundation (in which the universities in The Netherlands cooperate in ICT and networking facilities) as secretary of the Scientific Technical Council (WTR). In April 2001 he became principal consultant with M&I/Partners, an independent consultancy firm operating in the field of management and informatics. In 2003 he became partner at the same company.

He has been a member of the board of Dutch Informatics Society (NGI) from 1996 till 2001, associated with CEPIS and IFIP, since 1999 as president. He was also involved with the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) in the Netherlands, as project director from the start and secretary of the board of ECDL-NL since its foundation in 1998. He was member of the board of directors of the ECDL foundation, based in Dublin between 2000 and 2003. Since 2002, he is president of the board of EXIN, the examination board for Informatics exams in Holland. Since 2006, Bert is member of the board and treasurer of ISOC.NL, the Dutch Chapter of the Internet Society.