Fons Trompenaars

Principal CEO at Trompenaars Hampden-Turner Consulting

Speaker

Fons is a Dutch organisational theorist and founder and director of intercultural management consultancy Trompenaars Hampden-Turner.

He is recognised around the world for his work as a consultant, trainer, motivational speaker and author of various books on all subjects of culture and business.

Fons Trompenaars received his MA in Economics at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 1979 and his PhD from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1983 for the thesis The Organisation of Meaning and the Meaning of Organisation.

In October 2023, The World Federation of People Management Associations (WFPMA) awarded its prestigious George Petitpas Award to Fons Trompenaars - one of the world’s most influential management thinkers in a ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal. In 2024, Thinkers50 announced that Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Cultural Diversity in Business int their top ten Management Classic Booklist. In April 2025, Fons Trompenaars was appointed as an Honorary Member of SIETAR Global, acknowledging his lifelong dedication to advancing intercultural dialogue and learning.

Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Cultural Diversity in Business was announced by Thinkers50 in its 2024 top ten Management Classics Booklist.

He has spent over 30 years helping Fortune 500 leaders build meaningful connections to manage and solve their business and cultural dilemmas to increase global effectiveness and performance, particularly in the areas of leadership, innovation, globalisation, intercultural understanding and managing culture change by reconciling differences (ethnic, gender or generation based, professional, organisational etc).

Fons has translated his approach into innovative, practical and profitable results in all areas of international business.

In the academic space, he serves as Co-Director at the Servant-Leadership Centre for Research and Education (SERVUS) at the VU Amsterdam.