Staff
The Nicolaas G. Pierson Foundation has a small staff of paid employees, but is to a large extent dependent on the efforts of volunteers.
Karen Soeters MA, Director
Karen Soeters was appointed as director of the Nicolaas G. Pierson Foundation in August 2007. She is also the project manager for the much-discussed documentary Meat the Truth. In addition to these activities, she also works as a lecturer at the Institute for Media and Information Management, Hogeschool van Amsterdam and is a board member of the Dutch Vegetarian Society. She has also been active for the Party for the Animals in the province of North Holland. During her Communication Science studies at the University of Amsterdam, she followed courses in law and political science alongside those in policy and media studies. Karen Soeters has been interested in animal welfare and environmental issues for as long as she can remember. After graduation, Soeters also worked as a researcher for, amongst other employers, an international research agency in New York. In addition, she has been active as a consultant for a variety of organisations.
Monique van Dijk Armor BJ, International Events Manager
Monique started working at the Nicolaas G. Pierson Foundation in April 2009 as Project Manager International Events. She studied audio-visual journalism at Hogeschool Windesheim in Zwolle, where she graduated in 2003 and worked at, among others, MTV Networks, At It Productions, Endemol Netherlands and Alalena Mediaproductions. She worked as researcher and producer on the film ‘Meat the Truth’. Besides these activities she runs her own company as PR Manager for rock bands. She is also a board member and one of the founders of the film- and multi media crossover festival, Amsterdam Film eXperience.
Linda Broersen M Sc, Office Manager
Linda Broersen joined the Nicolaas G. Pierson Foundation in March 2009. She has cared for the welfare of humans, other animals and the earth since she was a child. She participated in several educational programmes promoting international understanding and environmental awareness. Linda studied cultural anthropology at the University of Amsterdam and is mainly interested in human-animal relations. Since 2006 she is a board member of the Amsterdam Society for the Protection of Animals and from 2006-2008 she worked as a volunteer and board member for the Amsterdam Stray Cat Foundation.
Niko Koffeman is the founder and chairman of the Nicolaas G. Pierson Foundation and also the elected member of the Dutch Senate for the Party for the Animals. In 1992, he already thought that there should be a Party for the Animals. When this idea was turned into reality by Lieke Keller, Marianne Thieme and Ton Dekker in 2002, he supported them with words and deeds from the very start. Niko Koffeman has been passionately involved in animal, nature and environmental protection since he was 18. He prevented the establishment of a landfill site in the Lickebaert area by planting a protest wood, he ran campaigns against bloodsports and the genetic manipulation of animals, he was the co-founder of the Wakker Dier Foundation (an organisation that campaigns against factory farming) and achieved national fame as the result of the protests against the Royal Family’s participation in wild boar hunting. As the external campaign adviser for the Socialist Party, he managed to help them go from 0 to 25 seats in the Dutch parliament within a thirteen year period. Koffeman is also the originator of the Adopt-a-Chicken and Adopt-an-Apple Tree schemes and the VegaPolis (a health insurance policy for vegetarians). The film Meat the Truth was also originally the brainchild of Niko Koffeman.