Stefan Op de Woerd (1981) began his career as a marine and later studied philosophy at Utrecht University. At his first employer, he noticed that conversations between managers and employees were often top-down, while trust tends to foster greater ownership. This insight inspired him and his then-director, Jochem Aubel, to found their own company, Dialog, in 2012. The company grew into a successful scale-up focused on employee and conversation development. In 2022, Dialog was acquired by HR software company Visma | Raet, with Op de Woerd continuing in his role as director. In September 2024, he transitioned into a leadership role at Visma | Raet itself, where he now serves as Managing Director.