About us

Vahhab is a technology enthusiast who has the know-how to take an idea all the way to the production line. He enjoys working in international teams with a spirit of innovation. Vahhab enjoys being part of a team that focuses on solving existing problems with innovative ideas, a team that wants to grow and create a better and brighter future for all of us.

Anne works with much dedication and enthusiasm at Seaborough. She has a hands-on mentality and is the linking pin within Seaborough. She uses her organizational skills and smile, to make the operation run smoothly. Being part of such a diverse and passionate team is giving her energy and makes working at Seaborough enjoyable.

Jernej is pursuing studies in Business Economics. In recent years, he has studied at the Faculty of Public Administration at the University of Ljubljana and Economics and Business at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. He has experience in international business, marketing, trade, communication, organizing events, and sales. During his time at Seaborough, Jernej will focus on business development for SunLED.

Atul is a materials scientist with expertise on optical and luminescent materials. He did master’s in physics and holds PhD (Science) from CSIR-CGCRI in collaboration with Jadavpur University, India. Before joining Seaborough, Atul did post-doctoral research at Kyoto University (Japan), Chimie-ParisTech (France), Ghent University (Belgium) and Utrecht University (Netherlands). Atul has extensive experience on synthesis, spectroscopy, and quantitative analysis of functional luminescent materials. At Seaborough, Atul is working on development of phosphor materials for solid state lighting.

Vasilii is a Master in experimental nuclear physics with a focus on scintillation and engineering of nuclear spectrometers. He obtained his PhD in solid-state physics while working at Philips Research Eindhoven on development of scintillators for medical tomography. Afterwards he held Post-Doc positions in Utrecht University and TU Delft researching luminescence (solar) concentrators. Areas of expertise include luminescence spectroscopy, and energy and charge transfer in solids. He joined Seaborough in 2021 and works on optical equipment development and optimization of novel phosphors.

Rob is a seasoned veteran with more than 30 years of experience in the design and manufacture of electronics. Having designed various circuits, both analogue and digital, he has specialized in LED drivers over the past 15 years. A problem solver by nature, he seeks to find system level solutions while keeping an eye on the all-important details.

Willie Steyn is an Electronics design engineer with 15 years’ experience in intelligent industrial systems. He has extensive experience in system integration, monitoring, design, software engineering and applied his knowledge in different fields ranging from commercial to military projects. He is the founder of a South African company focusing on electromagnet emission measurements in the rail industry and electronic designs.

On his time off he enjoys exploring the outdoors, extreme sports and enduro motocross especially in mountain areas.

Willie also has a passion for sustainability especially in the lighting industry and likes to work on innovative projects that will make a positive impact on the world. He moved to Seaborough in 2022 with a focus on the new Sunled Technology making your indoor live a superb outdoor experience.

Federico is an expert in the synthesis and optical characterization of luminescent (nano)materials. He obtained a Master cum laude in Materials Science and Engineering from the Universita’ degli studi di Genova (Italy) in 2015. He also holds a PhD, obtained in 2019, from the University of Utrecht (the Netherlands), researching quantum dots and their luminescent assemblies. After obtaining the prestigious ETH Postdoctoral Fellowship, he spent two years at ETH Zürich (Switzerland), studying the formation and functionalization of perovskite nanocrystals. In 2021 Federico joined Seaborough as a Materials Scientist, where he works on the development of novel phosphors for solid state lighting.

Sandra started her internship at Seaborough in September 2022. She is currently pursuing a master’s in molecular sciences at University of Amsterdam. With her specialization in organic and inorganic chemistry, she would like to apply all the knowledge she gained during her chemistry degree to her newfound interest in nanomaterials. Sandra is very excited to be involved in Seaborough’s innovative projects, she will be working on the development of nano-YAG phosphors.

Sandra studied Human Resources Management at the Hogeschool Utrecht. She previously worked as HR expert for Funda.nl, the largest real estate platform in The Netherlands. Next to Seaborough she works as HR manager for Momentum Capital and Perpetual Next. She ensures that people work in the right place, have fun and that the work environment meets all requirements, so that everyone has fun, feels safe and can perform optima forma.

Mike is a recognized world authority on visible-spectrum LEDs and their applications for lighting and displays, with more than 20 years of experience in both startups and large companies in the LED industry. He is currently President and Founder of Arkesso, LLC, based in Silicon Valley, California.  Previously, he was Chief Technology Officer at Soraa, Inc., an LED product company founded by Nobel Prize winner Shuji Nakamura.  Prior to that, he was Executive Vice President at Philips Lumileds, where he ran the Advanced Laboratories and pioneered programs in LEDs and luminescence, focusing on materials, devices, and systems for applications to lighting and displays. He has served on numerous roundtables and panels for the U.S. Department of Energy and Basic Energy Sciences. He is an IEEE Fellow, IES Fellow and Chair of the SPIE Photonics West Conference on Light-Emitting Diodes.

He has been an advisor to Seaborough since 2015, where he is supporting technical and intellectual property development, project management, business development and the establishment of new partnerships.

Karsten Schwennesen (LLM) served as general counsel and executive committee member at Philips Lighting until 2010. He was responsible for leading the team that globally managed contracting, litigation, IP management and M&A transactions.

During his tenure as General Counsel, Karsten was responsible for executing the $ 800 million acquisition by Philips of US-based Color Kinetics, a key innovator of LED lighting systems and technologies. This transaction remains Philips’ single largest IP-driven acquisition to date.

Karsten acquired a Master of Law degree from Aarhus University in 1981 and started his career as general counsel at Bang & Olufsen, Denmark, before moving to Philips in The Netherlands in 1997.

Sukru is trained in aircraft engineering at VTOC Fokker and PART-147. He has worked for Turkish Airlines, KLM, Bombardier and the military base Woensdrecht. At Seaborough he works as an electronics technician. His tasks include testing Seaborough technologies, making reports, assembly work and lab management.

Mohamed holds a Bachelor’s degree in physics from the Haagse Hogeschool (university of applied sciences). He has worked at the physics research institute AMOLF as lab technician, before moving to Seaborough in 2015. At Seaborough he is responsible for the optical characterization and prototyping of both LEDs and materials.

Joost is a Dutch Chartered Accountant (RA). He is educated at Nyenrode Business University (Post Master RA) and University of Groningen (MSc Accountancy & Controlling). In his career he has worked as a Business Controller and Financial Auditor at various multinationals.
Joost has a double function: he is Finance Director and financially responsible for Seaborough and also works as Finance Manager at Momentum Capital.

Lisette is a senior legal officer who studied Dutch and business law at the VU University in Amsterdam, she also studied at the University of Amsterdam (international and European law – UvA), University of Leiden (energy law), Università di Bologna (international law) amongst others. She works for Seaborough for many years and knows the company’s technologies like no other.

Marie Anne obtained her Masters in nanomaterials sciences cum-laude from Utrecht University and holds a PhD in Nanophotonics from the physics research institute AMOLF. She joined Seaborough as Materials Scientist and Project Manager in 2015. Currently she is the Program Director Materials, where she is the technical program lead and responsible for running the current EuroLED program, including external partnerships and internal R&D Materials Team. She has been selected as ‘Technical Talent 2020’ by the Dutch engineering journal De Ingenieur, and is member of the program committee for the SPIE Photonics West Conference on Light-Emitting Diodes.

Anne likes to work in a dynamic and multidisciplinary team and that is exactly what she found in the Life Science program at Seaborough. Translating fundamental scientific insights to products that improve human wellbeing and health, require skills and insights from so many viewing angles that true teamwork is a must. Being challenged and achieving ambitious goals with a team is where Anne gets her energy from, both at work and outside, at a rowing course.

Valerio obtained his master from Sapienza Università di Roma. He joined Seaborough in 2019 as chemical research assistant and is responsible for nano-phosphor synthesis, integration, and further optimizing the chemical synthesis procedures. In addition, he is responsible for the health and safety at Seaborough.

Highly qualified, dedicated and project focused electrician. With 2 years of testing developing circuits and 2 years of installations. Skilled technician with in-depth analyzing and graphical programming skills. Self-motivated with the ability to work independently. Thrive on challenge with proven ability to successfully execute plans and complete tasks in a timely , efficient and safe manner.

Pieter Six is a seasoned professional with a breadth of experience in Marketing, Communication and Sales at Corporate Institutions and Start-ups. He has strong management experience in Europe and Asia and is passionate about innovative and disrupting technologies.

Pieter Six is well versed in the world of LED. Before joining Seaborough, he worked as Chief Commercial Officer for Ellipz Smart Solutions, a company that enables data communication via light. Pieter Six will further shift the scope of Seaborough towards market introductions.