Amsterdam, 9 november 2018 – On 29 November 2018 Transparency International Nederland will host the international seminar & webinar Blowing the Whistle – Pride, Prejudice & Protection, addressing the reputation of blowing the whistle. Register now and join us in protecting those that contribute to a more transparent world.

Transparency International is committed worldwide to the protection of whistleblowers and journalists’ sources. Many recent scandals would have never been revealed without the courage of people reporting it. Revelations such as the LuxLeaks, Panama Papers, the diesel fraud of car manufacturers and the abuse of data by Cambridge Analytica are just a few exemplifying this. In each case, an individual blew the whistle, putting their own reputation and career at stake.

Transparency through courage

Recent scandals increase the pressure on organisations to be transparent and to put things in order. People who dare to address wrongdoing, such as whistleblowers and sources, need to be protected. To date, this is often poorly arranged. But why is the latter actually the case? You would say that addressing wrongdoing is a good thing. Preventing (further) damage, including the reputation of those involved, improving processes, serving a broader interest than just self-interest. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. Many companies and its employers, the government and the general public still too often see whistleblowers as offenders or traitors. That image must change.

Transparency International Nederland (TI-NL) wants to improve the position of whistleblowers and sources. After all, those are the people that contribute to a more transparent world, in which wrongdoing can be resolved, instead of concealed. Therefore, on 29 November 2018 TI-NL will host the seminar & webinar Blowing the Whistle – Pride, Prejudice & Protection. The seminar & webinar will focus on the reputation of blowing the whistle and addresses questions such as: How can we – outside legislation- better protect whistleblowers? How can we see whistleblowers as positive forces in our society? What contributes to the imaging of blowing the whistle? How can we influence this?

Agenda Seminar & Webinar

• 14:00 – 14:15  Welcome & Introduction – Hannah de Jong (board member TI-NL)
• 14.15 – 14: 45 A corporate perspective: letting the outsider in – Paul Tijnagel (Risk & Compliance Officer)
• 14:45 – 15:45 Double Act: Whistleblower VS FCPA-violator – Wendy Addison & Richard Bistrong
• 15:45 – 16:15 Break
• 16:15 – 17:00 Building a psychologically safe work place – Prof. dr. Michaela Schippers (end of webinar)
• 17:00 – 17:45 Dreamteam: whistleblowing and the media? – Frits Veerman & Frans Bromet (in Dutch)
• 17:45 – 18:00 Concluding remarks – Teun Gautier (moderator, founder of PubLeaks)
• 18:00 – 19:00 Drinks & bites

Meet the speakers of our seminar & webinar and register today to join us!

Meet our speakers

The seminar & webinar is moderated by Teun Gautier, a publisher, formerly with the Amsterdam based Groene Amsterdammer and many other media. He co-founded De Correspondent and Publeaks, a safe and secure tool for communication between whistleblowers and media. Teun is chairman of the Board of Zamaneh Media, boardmember with the Veronica Foundation and founder of De Cooperatie, a cooperative media compagnie, run and owned by 700 freelance journalists.

Paul Tijnagel is Risk & Compliance Officer, specialized in managing full comprehensive compliance programs in an international business context. Starting his carrier at HBG, Paul worked for Siemens in various (inter)national mangement functions. Until June 2018, he was a member of the Siemens Global Compliance organisation, heading Compliance for The Netherlands and Ukraine.

Paul is an active member of various non-governmental institutes for anti-corruption & bribery and has ample experience and has ample experience with the implementation of whistleblowing mechanisms in the private sector. During his speakers contribution he will address the value of opening up an internal whistleblowing mechanism to outsiders.

Wendy Addison is CEO of SpeakOut SpeakUp and whistleblower, bringing a unique perspective, rooted in her own personal experience of having secured justice in an eleven-year battle against corporate corruption in the case known as South Africa’s Enron, the biggest corporate disaster in South Africa’s history. Since then, Wendy has maximised her experience through studying the Social psychology and Neuroscience of Decision making at Stanford University.

Through her company SpeakOut SpeakUp Ltd Wendy provides training for organisations to empower individuals to engage in Courageous Conversations, speaking and listening up, before the need to blow the whistle. Wendy also lectures at Surrey University and Warwick Business School and sits on the advisory board of the International Whistleblowing Research Unit at Middlesex University in the United Kingdom.

Richard Bistrong is the CEO of Front-Line Anti-Bribery LLC, and spent much of his career as an international sales executive in the Law Enforcement and Defense sector. He pleaded guilty and sentenced to one count of Conspiracy to violate the FCPA, including books and records as well as exporting goods without authorization. Richard currently consults and speaks on foreign bribery, ethics and compliance issues from that front-line perspective.

In 2018, Richard was named by Thomson Reuters as one of the top 50 social influencers in risk and compliance. In 2017, he was named by Compliance Week as a Top Mind in the field of Governance, Risk and Compliance, and in 2016 he was named one of Ethisphere’s 100 Most Influential in Business Ethics. Richard is a Contributing Editor of the FCPA Blog. Richard presents to diverse groups such as the World Bank, the International Anti-Corruption Academy, as well as to multinationals and conferences on a global basis.

Prof. dr. Michaéla Schippers is Endowed Professor of Behaviour and Performance Management at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She received her Ph.D from the Psychology Department at the Free University in Amsterdam. Current research concentrates on team reflexivity, team diversity and team leadership, as well as goal-setting, academic performance (study success) and the use of team charters to improve student team performance. Other current projects concern knowledge sharing within teams and networks, virtual teams, new ways of working, behavioral operations management, and social exclusion/inclusion.

Her work has been published in journals such as Annual Review of Psychology, Administrative Science Quarterly, Journal of Management, Journal of Management Studies, Academy of Management Learning & Education, Journal of Organizational Behavior, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, and Human Relations. Dr. Schippers is co-founder of the Reflexivity Network and scientific director of the Erasmus Center of Behavioral Operations Management. During her presentation Michaéla will address the topic of creating a psychologically safe workplace in which people feel encouraged to speak up.

In the 1960s, Frits Veerman worked at VMF-Stork’s Physical Dynamic Research Laboratory (FDO), also seen as the cradle of uranium enrichment using the ultracentrifuge process. In the 1970s Veerman revealed the great nuclear espionage around the Pakistani nuclear scientist, Abdul Kahn. Veerman found out that Khan stole essential knowledge for uranium enrichment and passed it on to the Pakistani government. Pakistan had a great interest in this: the country wanted to become a nuclear power.

Veerman was one of the first to bring his case to the newly founded House for Whistleblowers in 2016. He wants reparation and compensation because he feels that the Dutch government treated him unjustly at the time. Transparency International Nederland had the honour to interview Frits Veerman on his case. Veerman will share his story (in Dutch) during the seminar Blowing the Whistle: Pride, Prejudice & Protection.

Specs Seminar

• Date: 29 November 2018
• Venue: Kinepolis Utrecht, the Netherlands
• Time: 14:00 to 18:00 o’clock
• Theme: reputation of blowing the whistle

Cannot be there physically but do want to join this inspiring event? Not a problem! You can simply check-in online and attend our webinar on blowing the whistle. The webinar will take place from 14:00 to 17:00. After registration you receive further info and a link to login to our platform. We already have participants from all over the world joining us, including Brazil, the Maldives, Ireland, Madagascar, Bangladesh, Kosovo, Palestine, Estonia, Portugal and Italy.

Be there and register here today!