Wouter is the first neuro-economist of the Netherlands. He holds a master’s degree in Business Economics and in Neuroscience (both cum laude). During his PhD and Postdoc, he has been actively bridging the fields of behavioral economics, marketing, sales, neuroscience, endocrinology and (molecular) psychiatry in his research projects. 

His work is a combination of fundamental and translational research. He has studied the development of social status hierarchies in mice, discovering a key difference between male and female social strategies. In the field, he has used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the brain and genetic screening to get to the biology of sales and leadership behaviors. His work has been awarded the Sheth Foundation Best Paper Award.

After his academic career, Wouter founded BrainCompass. BrainCompass builds assessment tooling by leveraging the latest neuroscientific insights on how nature and nurture influence professional development. BrainCompass assessments are used for talent and leadership development by a growing number of clients around the globe.

Wouter is Adjunct Professor at IE University, TEDx speaker and is regularly invited to give keynotes at universities, governmental and for-profit organizations.