2026 PROGRAMME TEAM
Programme Chairs
 | Luise Freese | MVP | Luise Freese | Germany
Luise has been awarded MVP in 2 categories: Microsoft 365 Development and Business Applications. Luise helps customers around the globe to improve their business processes and to get rid of everything that only keeps them busy without adding value in a meaningful way. She is a member of the Microsoft 365 platform community team (PnP) and supports developers in extending Microsoft 365. She loves all things community, open-source, stickers, and the number 42. |
 | Maarten Eekels | Microsoft RD & MVP | NetherlandsMaarten Eekels is Microsoft MVP and Microsoft Regional Director. Maarten is an experienced Microsoft Cloud and Security advocate and already since 2003 he is involved in implementing Microsoft technologies. Besides that, Maarten is mentoring start-ups and helping founders and leaders break through glass ceilings for growing their business and helping avoid certain pitfalls. Also, Maarten is a regular speaker on both national and international events, like conferences, community events and user group meetings. In his personal life, Maarten is a passionate cyclist and certified wine sommelier. |
Programme Team
 | Rik Hepworth | MVP | Zure | United KingdomRik helps organisations use Cloud better as CEO and co-founder of Zure UK. Whether that is a new adoption where governance and management are key, or an application modernisation project where technology choice and team knowledge are important factors in success. Through his public speaking and community involvement, Rik is a recipient of the Microsoft MVP Programme award for his work with Azure. He is also proud to be a member of the Microsoft Regional Director Programme. As an event organiser, speaker and lapsed blogger, Rik is keen to share his knowledge with the community, and encourage and support others as they do the same. His grey hair is an indication of how long he has worked in IT, and in that time he’s done most things you’d expect of an IT Pro: From crawling under floors pulling cables, to managing large scale automated OS rollouts, to architecting solutions for on-premises and cloud. Now he spends more time working with his customers’ management, sharing that breadth of experience and learning. |
 | Chris O’Brien | MVP | Advania | United KingdomChris has over 25 years’ experience with Microsoft technologies, with the last decade in leadership roles and the last 5 years as Products & Services Director for Advania UK, where he leads a big part of the group’s AI work. With a background as a deep hands-on technologist – managing development teams, leading Microsoft 365 implementations, and writing code – Chris has been awarded Microsoft ‘Most Valuable Professional’ (MVP) status for the last 17 consecutive years and is enjoying the Copilot and AI era more than ever. In his spare time, Chris mainly focuses on winning the battle at home with his 15 year old twins and their attempts to subvert his controls on their tech use. |
