Name: Han Bekke
Date of Birth: 6 July 1949
Position within IAF: Secretary General

Han Bekke graduated in 1971 as Textile Engineer at the Textile Polytechnic (HTexS). After that he applied himself to textile and clothing marketing, trade policy and public relations. In 1971 Han started working for the Dutch National Economic Employers Association of the Clothing Industry  (NEVEC) as staff member for market information, export promotion and trade policy. In 1984 NEVEC merged with the two other existing employers associations in the clothing and knitting industry into one national association: FENECON, the Dutch Clothing and Knitting Industry Association. In 1986 Han was appointed director for economic affairs of FENECON and became its director general in 1992. In 2000 FENECON merged with Nederlandse Kleding Conventie into MODINT, trade association for fashion, interior, carpets and textiles. Han was appointed as first director general of this new national trade association, which holds at this time 850 members with a total turnover of € 8 billion, of which € 3,5 billion is exported.

Other functions Han Bekke served or still serves on are:
* vice-president of ECLA (European Clothing Association) from 1986 till 1994
* member of the board of Mailleurop (European Knitting Industry Association) from 1986-1999
* secretary/treasurer of the Dutch Fashion Institute (1983-1992) and member of the board till 2000
* chairman of the Advisory Board of Amsterdam Fashion Institute, the polytechnic college for fashion management and design in Amsterdam (since 1992)
* member of the Board of Funds Mr. Koetsier, a private funding institute for education programmes in the Dutch apparel chain (since 1996)
* secretary general a.i. of the International Apparel Federation (since 2006).

At the occasion of his silver jubilee Han Bekke was awarded in May 1996 with the golden FENECON Award for great service to the clothing and knitting industry.
Since 1991 he is a member of Rotaryclub Amsterdam-Zuid and since 2000 also  member of the Worshipful Company of Framework Knitters and Freeman of the City of London.

Name: Ilse Wiegman
Date of Birth: 8 November 1978
Position within IAF: Senior PR & Communication Officer

Ilse graduated in August 2000 with a Bachelors degree in Tourism and Leisure and in 2002 she graduated with a Bachelor degree in Marketing Management. She has been active within communications for 8 years now. Working for individual companies and government she has build up quit some experience in this profession.

In July 2008 Ilse started working for MODINT, the Dutch Trade Association, which is incubator for the IAF. Since June 2010 she is responsible for PR & Communications for the IAF.

Name: Erik Nep
Date of Birth: 5 September 1978
Position within IAF: PR & Communication Officer

Erik graduated in August 2006 with a Bachelors degree in Communications, Media and Art at the University of Amsterdam. Also in 2006 he graduated for his Bachelor degree in Eventmanagement. During his Bachelors courses, Erik refined his studies in corporate communication, public relations, event planning, advertising and marketing skills.

Erik starting working for MODINT, The Dutch Trade Association, and at the same time for IAF in August 2009. Before starting in his position at IAF, Erik worked as Sales manager in direct sales and after that as B2B Marketeer where he was responsible for leading small projects.

Name: Konstantina Papachristopoulou
Date of Birth: 12 August 1977
Position within IAF: Web administrator

Konstantina’s involvement in IAF’s activities started with the organisation of the 22nd World Apparel Congress of IAF held in Thessaloniki, June 2006. She was actively involved in the conference organisation and management, being primarily responsible for administering the conference web site  ( www.iaf2006.com ). Konstantina helped develop a state of the art web-based conference registration and delegate information management system with a fully secure credit card transaction handling module. She currently works for the Hellenic Clothing Industy Association (HCIA), member of IAF, holding the position of Project Manager since 1999.

The Association is active in the field of European and national projects for the textile and clothing sector, as well as the application of new technologies. Moreover it has a close cooperation with the Somatometric Institute and the Greek Electronic Commerce Centre – EDIGRAC, especially in R&D and other projects. In this context Konstantina has worked in various RTD projects including inter alia RETEX, Cluster, IST, ASIA IT&C, ESF, etc. Other professional activities include her part-time occupation in the Vocational Training Center AKMON, as manager of educational programs, as well as in AKMON EXXYP S.A where she was responsible for the dissemination of health anbd safety information to the clothing companies.. She has also worked as event manager for IFORCE S.A. in the context of DAIDALOS project for the presentation and awards to students who've manufactured prototypes.

She currently follows a postgraduate educational program that leads to a MSc in ‘Information Technology-Web Development, while she holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Computing and Management , as well as a degree in Textile /Clothing Technologies from the Technological Educational Institution (TEI) of Piraeus.

Name: Mariet Solle
Date of Birth: 27 February 1955
Position within IAF: Secretary

Mariet Solle was born on 27 February 1955 in Lutjegast, a very small village in the north of the Netherlands. Since 1995, she has been living in the centre of the Netherlands: Zeist. Every morning she travels to work on her bicycle!
Before starting at MODINT, she worked as a secretary in different organizations. Many years ago, before she moved to Zeist, she graduated as an occupational therapist and worked in a hospital for 8 years. 

Since January 2006, she has been working at MODINT for the Social Department and the board of MODINT. Since her colleague Karin van Dijk left MODINT and the IAF, she has taken over all secretarial tasks for the IAF.