Rolf Veldman

Rolf (Roelof) Veldman (born May 5, 1987) is a Dutch entrepreneur who is currently the CEO of Voice123 — the world's first and foremost open marketplace for professional voice actors. He holds an MA in Modern History from the University of Groningen, writing his thesis on the subject of Communication between policy and implementation. Veldman is an MBA graduate of leadership programs from Harvard and Stanford. Based in Drenthe, he leads a 25+ remote tech team with the stated goal of crafting the future of the voice over industry.
Early life and education
Veldman was born in Emmen to Bertus and Iety Veldman. He grew up and went to school in Drenthe. He has three siblings: an older brother, an older sister, as well as a younger brother. On completion of his tertiary studies at the University of Groningen, he worked for the Provincial Government of Groningen as an information specialist. Driven by his desire to travel, Veldman left the Netherlands in 2015 to tour South America along with his future wife, Maika Hoekman.
Career
After traveling through Central America and Colombia for a year, Veldman and Hoekman decided to make Colombia an interim home. Hoekman joined BunnyStudio and Veldman began teaching English at a local school in Bogotá while volunteering for War Child.
Veldman was recruited by then BunnyStudio CEO, Alexander Torrenegra, in late 2016 to implement a series of management frameworks for the company and make them remote-friendly. He later joined BunnyStudio on a more permanent basis and was offered the chief executive officer position at Voice123 in 2018.
Since then, Veldman has become a frequent speaker at events such as VO Atlanta and the One Voice Conference on the topic of artificial intelligence, the gig-economy, digital media, working remotely, and the future of voice over. He has appeared as regular interviewee on podcasts, and radio shows discussing the development of text-to-speech and the increasing use of artificial intelligent voices in voice over.
In addition, Veldman is co-founder of Paramo Partners — an investment fund for startups as well as co-founder of BoardGameBio - an application that serves as a digital board game shelf.
Personal life
Veldman is an avid sportsman and soccer fan but was forced off the field by chronic psoriatic arthritis. He has coached local Groningen soccer club, G.V. Groen Geel, intermittently.
Veldman is also an impassioned boardgamer, winning the Bogotá championship of Settlers of Catan and Carcassonne while living there in 2019.
Veldman and Hoekman married in 2017 and returned to Drenthe in the Netherlands at the end of 2020. The couple now live and work remotely from their home bordering a provincial national park there.

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