Mieke van Heesewijk

Mieke van Heesewijk is deputy director at the SIDN Fund, which provides financial support for ideas and projects that enhance the internet or use it in innovative ways to increase social impact in the Netherlands. SIDN Fund is an independent foundation established by SIDN, the manager of internet domain registration in the Netherlands.

Mieke studied Russian Language and Literature, but her internet roots are with XS4ALL, the first internet provider in the Netherlands, founded in 1993 by internet pioneers. After that, Mieke worked at the Dutch Ministry of the Interior as a policy advisor for internet participation. Mieke was co-founder and co-director of Netwerk Democratie, a platform for democratic innovation, and has been a member of the Dutch Internet Society for more than a decade. She is initiator and later chairman of the board of the Dutch whistleblowing platform Publeaks and member of the Supervisory Board of WPG Publishers. She is also a member of the Advisory Board of Limelight Foundation.