BIO
JUDO
As a young girl I was a passionate gymnast, but at the age of fifteen I had a serious accident, which made gymnastics impossible.
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That's why I started judo when I was seventeen. In 1992, at the age of twenty-four, I qualified for the Olympic Games in Barcelona. I became vice-European Champion that year and won the bronze medal at the Games.
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After 1992 I had several difficult years with shoulder and knee injuries and six operations. Slowly I fought back. I won medals at European Championships again and fought the semi-final at the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000. At the age of thirty-six I finally hung up my kimono to work as a software engineer.
Heidi
"The Olympics are like a lottery, but by training hard I try to collect as many tickets as possible."
All-in: the trilogy
GUARDSQUARE
In 2014, my partner, Eric Lafortune, and I founded the cybersecurity company Guardsquare. We developed software to optimize mobile apps and protect them against reverse engineering and tampering. Thanks to the solid history of our open-source project ProGuard, we became the global leader in this field, selling our software to 75 countries and protecting more than 4 billion users.
AWARDS
As a start-up and scale-up, we won various awards, for example the fastest growing Belgian technology company in 2018. We were also invited to visit King Filip I and participated in royal state visits in India and South Korea.
EY SCALE-UP OF THE YEAR
Brussels, 2019
DATANEWS ICT WOMEN OF THE YEAR
Brussels, 2019
DELOITTE FAST 50
Brussels, 2018
BVA AWARD
Brussels, 2019
INNOVATE FINANCE PITCH 360 AWARD
London, 2017
DELOITTE RISING STAR AWARD
Brussels, 2016
Steve Jobs
"Quality is the best business plan"
WORK
I am passionate about sculpting in clay, alabaster and limestone. It makes me happy that I turned again my hobby into a profession. Until the end of 2019, I worked as CEO and founder of Guardsquare. Now I also enjoy sharing my experience with some young start-ups and scale-ups to prevent them from making too many beginner mistakes and to help them grow faster.
January 2024 - Now
SCULPTOR, INDEPENDENT
October 2020 - Now
ADVISOR FOR START-UPS AND SCALE-UPS, INDEPENDENT
November 2020 - Now
MEMBER OF THE BOARD, XYZT.AI
September 2020 - Now
MEMBER OF THE TOPSPORT COMMISSION, JUDO VLAANDEREN
April 2014Â - December 2019
FOUNDER & CEO / PRESIDENT, GUARDSQUARE
September 2004 - March 2014
SOFTWARE ENGINEER, INDEPENDENT
July 1990 - May 2004
PROFESSIONAL OLYMPIC ATHLETE JUDO, BELGIAN OLYMPIC TEAM
Unknown
"Een criticus is een kip die kakelt terwijl anderen eieren leggen."
STUDIES
1987-1992
BURGERLIJK INGENIEUR COMPUTERWETENSCHAPPEN, K.U.LEUVEN
1980 - 1986
LATIJN-WISKUNDE, O.-L.-VROUWLYCEUM GENK
2012-2013 (niet voltooid)
TUIN- EN LANDSCHAPSARCHITECTUUR, ERASMUSHOGESCHOOL JETTE
2011Â - 2012
TUINONTWERP, CVO HEUSDEN-ZOLDER
SPEAKER
I regularly give presentations in which I share the challenges I encountered as a top athlete and (female) entrepreneur and the lessons I have learned . If you are interested in a presentation, you can email my contact person Kurt Gheysen:  kurt@topatleten.be. He will be happy to help you. See you soon!
LESSONS LEARNEDÂ AS TOP ATHLETEÂ AND (FEMALE) ENTREPRENEUR
MENTAL CHALLENGES FOR ATHLETES AND (FEMALE) ENTREPRENEURS
MY GARDEN
I have always loved nature and especially flowers.
My gardens combine life, wildness and beauty. A mass of long-blooming flowers between undulating hedges attract bees, bumblebees and butterflies. There is a lot of water and a small forest with narrow, winding paths and cozy corners where nature can take its course. Birds, salamanders, dragonflies and a frog have a good time between the greenery and in the pond, with many hiding places and feeding spots. A number of self-made statues are scattered throughout the garden.
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I have also designed several gardens.
Mahatma Gandhi
"Wanneer we vergeten hoe we moeten graven in de aarde en zorgen voor de akker, vergeten we onszelf."
