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Steven is one of the most sought-after experts in customer experience and the impact of technology on customer behaviour. As a bestselling author, entrepreneur and keynote speaker, he helps organisations understand how customer expectations are evolving in a world where AI increasingly shapes the choices people make.

His books, including When Digital Becomes Human, The Offer You Can't Refuse and A Diamond in the Rough, are widely read by business leaders, marketers and innovators worldwide. Forbes named A Diamond in the Rough the number one business book to read in 2024.

With more than 750 keynotes delivered across 40+ countries to audiences totalling over 200,000 professionals, Steven has worked with leading brands including Disney, Mastercard, Mercedes-Benz, Heineken and Salesforce. He is also co-founder of an inspiration agency and a part-time professor of marketing at Vlerick Business School.

With more than 13,000 marketing technologies on the market, most organisations are facing the same question: which tools actually make a difference? Frans has spent years helping businesses find the answer.

As a marketing technologist, researcher and adviser, he brings a rare combination of marketing expertise and software development experience. Over more than twenty years in consulting, research and marketing, he has designed MarTech stacks for international brands including HP, Adidas, Audi, Unilever, IKEA, Volvo and Carlsberg.

In 2019, he founded MarTechTribe, an organisation that helps businesses select, implement and realise value from their marketing technology. His research draws on a proprietary database of well over a thousand real-world company stacks and more than 13,000 MarTech solutions, giving him a unique perspective on how organisations are building and evolving their MarTech ecosystems.

Frans is also co-publisher of MarTechMap.com and co-author of the annual The State of MarTech report alongside Scott Brinker. The report is one of the most cited studies in the industry, tracking how marketing technology is evolving and what trends like generative AI mean for organisations worldwide.

As Head of Digital Products, Bjorn is responsible for VRT's entire digital product landscape. Since 2023, he has led a team of more than 100 digital experts working across platforms including VRT MAX and VRT NWS.

Under his leadership, VRT moved from a fragmented landscape of brands and applications to a single, integrated digital ecosystem. VRT MAX became the central environment where content comes together, giving users a more consistent digital experience across the board.

That transformation demanded more than technological renewal. It required clear governance, strong cross-team collaboration and a shared digital vision. Today, VRT MAX serves approximately 1.5 million monthly users and continues to grow year on year.

In 2025, Bjorn was recognised as CDO of the Year for these achievements, recognition he attributes to strong collaboration and a shared commitment to making digital innovation accessible to a broad audience.

Nhu started her career as a strategist at Bake & Company, one of the agencies that later became part of iO. It was there that she first saw how decisive data can be in shaping a strong strategy. That insight became the driving force behind everything she has done since.

Over more than six years at iO, she grew into her current role as Head of Data at iO Belgium. Along the way, as Teamlead Data & Intelligence, she helped build the data practice and vision at campus level and shaped a team of data experts. Today, she works with brands and organisations across various sectors and countries.

Her strength lies in activating data: translating data sources into concrete value, whether that means better decisions, stronger customer experiences, or accelerated growth. Always from the same starting point: data that goes unused is an opportunity missed.