Sonja Brouwer (pictured) will take over from Dave van den Akker as VViN chairperson on 1 February 2021. Dave has been chairperson since October 2016 and previously held the position of secretary for four years.
As well as maintaining contacts in the sector – with other sector associations, the Tax and Customs Administration, the Ministry of Justice and Security, EUATC, the Personal Data Authority and the EU – Dave contributed to the creation of model agreements in connection with the DBA Act (Deregulation Assessment Employment Relations) and standard documents for members in relation to the General Data Protection Regulation.
Speaking about his time in office Dave, pictured left, said: “I am pleased to have been at the forefront of the industrywide Interpreting and Translation Congress, which is organised every two years. I could not be happier that Sonja has been elected unanimously to take over from me. I have every confidence that she will maintain the contacts VViN has built up, expand them and use her knowledge and skills to take the association further.”
Sonja Brouwer’s background is in translation. She graduated from the Institute for Translation Studies at the University of Amsterdam in 1978. In the mid-1980s she started her own company, S. Brouwer Vertalingen, now sbv anderetaal, which currently employs five people.
Within the sector association, Sonja was active in the development and implementation of the quality mark for translation agencies – the Language Mark – and represented the VViN on the NEN Committee for the creation of the European standard for translation services. She is a member of the Supervisory Board of training institute ITV.
Sonja was involved in the establishment of the VViN and held a board position in the early stages of the association. It feels good to help the association move forward again now, so many years later, as chairperson.
