Lisa van Gerven

Founder and board member

Lisa is the founder of the Vialisa Foundation. As a 2 year-old girl she was adopted by a Dutch family and grew up in Baarlo, Limburg. During her Welfare Management studies at the Arnhem and Nijmegen University she did an internship at BRAC, the biggest NGO in Bangladesh (and the world). In addition, she gained work experience in Vietnam during her studies in Development Studies at Radboud University Nijmegen. Since February 2004 she is employed and a resident in Dhaka on behalf of Vialisa. In this way, she takes up the communicative role between the Dutch board and the executive activities in Bangladesh.

Shila de Vries

Secretary

Shila is born in Bangladesh, just like Lisa and Christian, and came to the Netherlands at a young age. She grew up in Bilthoven and studied Technology and Innovation Policy for Developing Countries at University of Technology in Eindhoven, with a final project in Bangladesh. At the moment she is working as a legal adviser for research organisations in the field of technology. Shila’s strength lies in structuring promising initiatives and creating conditions in which they can be implemented. Shila is secretary on the board of Vialisa since September 2017. Shila is sinds september 2017 secretaris in het bestuur van Vialisa.