HEIDI RAKELS

BIO

As a young girl I was passionate about gymnastics, but after a serious accident I switched to judo. At the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992 I won the bronze medal and I became Belgian champion 11 times.

Meanwhile, I also studied computer science. After my judo career, my passion went out to software programming. I worked as an independent software engineer for 10 years. In 2014, my partner, Eric Lafortune, and I founded the cybersecurity company Guardsquare. For 5 years I was CEO. We grew into a successful, international scale-up.

Now I am sculpting a lot. As an advisor, I also pass on my business experience to other, young companies.