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Henri van Eeghen, former CEO of Synergos

Henri van Eeghen, former CEO of Synergos, on working with networks of philanthropists and social entrepreneurs – connecting to purpose and building trust and collaboration.


If you are keen on exploring the collaborative space within philanthropy and the broader sustainability agenda, this episode is for you.


We explore collaborative networks, new voices from next generation philanthropists, identifying local leaders, building trust and the importance of listening.


Synergos was founded in 1986 by Peggy Dulany and has staff and representatives in Africa, Asia, the Arab World, Europe, Latin America, and the United States.


In 2001, Peggy Dulany co-founded Synergos’ Global Philanthropists Circle with her father, David Rockefeller, to support philanthropic families.


Synergos identifies and incubates collaborations that shift power and resources to proximate leaders, enabling the solutions to our greatest human challenges to reach scale.


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About Henri van Eeghen


Henri van Eeghen joined Synergos - a global organization building trust and collaboration to dismantle systems that create the most urgent problems of our time: poverty, social injustice, and climate change - in 2018. He served as CEO and then Co-Executive Director through August 2022.


Henri’s roots are in Tanzania, where his family has lived for more than 15 years. Henri has worked on three continents in a wide range of capacities. Most recently, he has been with Mercy Corps, a US-based international development organization with offices in 45 locations, where his portfolio includes both private sector partnerships and new financial models. Prior to that, he was chief operating officer of Cordaid, the Netherlands’ largest NGO, and helped to transform it into a social enterprise with a greater focus on transparency and financial sustainability.


He has also been CEO of the Van Eeghen Group, the oldest family-run business in the Netherlands, which is an international producer and distributor of food ingredients. Henri has also worked in the printing, communications, and paper industries.


The family business has two philanthropic foundations, and Henri has been an active member of Synergos’ Global Philanthropists Circle since 2014, with he and his wife Carolien playing roles in the GPC’s collaborative communities including Spiritual Civilization.



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