Speakers Webinar: The Status of Subsea Cable Landings in the Netherlands Now and Looking Ahead
Justin Hawkins – Pelagian
Justin is a Hydrographic Surveyor with 35 years of industry experience specialising in planning, route design, survey and installation of submarine cables.
Justin is a specialist in spatial data management using GIS to design cable routes for telecoms, offshore renewables and subsea power cables. He is a respected expert in subsea cable engineering, cable burial assessment and decommissioning providing technical expertise to industry bodies including ICPC and ESCA. He has presented at numerous subsea cable conferences.
Justin’s career began in the offshore survey industry. After graduating from the University of East London with a BSc (Hons) in Surveying and Mapping Sciences in 1990; Justin worked offshore as a Hydrographic Surveyor for various companies specialising in multibeam echo sounder acquisition and data processing.
From 1999 to 2007, Justin worked for Alcatel Submarine Networks as a Senior Cable Engineer working offshore on numerous global telecom cable projects; specialising in offshore survey and proactive cable landing selection. After joining Pelagian in 2008, Justin was assigned to Subcom in New Jersey to work in their cable route engineering and permit acquisition departments. He has also worked with Global Marine and Orange Telecom on cable engineering projects.
Justin is the General Manager at Pelagian Limited, a UK based expert subsea cable consultancy. His career has covered a diverse array of business and consultancy tasks including management, tendering, bid adjudication, GAP analysis and project risk assessment alongside cable route engineering and cable burial assessment. In recent years he has specialised in telecom cable decommissioning and recycling.
Nico Buytendijk – RVO
Nico Buytendijk is Programme Manager at the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), responsible for the Blue Economy and Sustainable Fisheries mission under the national transition on agriculture and food systems. His work focuses on resilient coastal systems, spatial and multi-use planning at sea, nature restoration, and sustainable food production from the sea.
He co-founded the North Sea Community of Practice together with the Dutch Ministries of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality and of Infrastructure and Water Management, connecting governments, research institutes, NGOs and businesses to jointly advance a sustainable blue economy. Nico also coordinated the eMSP NBSR Project, which strengthened cross-basin cooperation in marine spatial planning across European seas.
Previously, he led the Objective-Driven Approach pilot within RVO’s organisational change agenda, developing theories of change for the agency’s three transition domains. Earlier in his career, he worked as a programme manager and change leader at the Government Service for Land and Water Management (DLG).
Nico bridges policy, innovation and implementation. He is passionate about driving systemic transitions that integrate ecological resilience with economic opportunity in marine and coastal environments.
Michiel Eielts – Equinix
Michiel Eielts, Equinix https://www.linkedin.com/in/michieleielts/
Michiel is an experienced business leader in the High Tech Industry, has held pivotal roles in diverse corporations, ranging from small to large, within the IT and Telecoms sector.
He has navigated rapid growth and restructuring in highly dynamic markets, demonstrating adaptability and strategic acumen throughout his career.
Martin Prins – Dutch Subsea Cable Coalition
Martin Prins is associated with The Flow Advisors as a Senior Partner. He is involved in developing business strategies for leading telecommunications and data center companies worldwide. With a pragmatic approach and in-depth industry knowledge, Martin has become a trusted advisor for publicly listed companies and large-scale enterprises.
At the beginning of his career, he became the youngest IT manager ever at a NASDAQ-listed enterprise, Compaq Computer Corporation, where he progressed to senior management positions. His career then took him to Worldport as CIO and later to Energis plc, where he helped establish data center operations in Amsterdam and Frankfurt. As COO, he was responsible for sales and operations and led projects that significantly contributed to the expansion of the network infrastructure in the Netherlands. His leadership qualities were evident in his role at Enertel N.V., where he achieved a crucial turnaround, followed by a successful management buy-out. As advisor of the board of Telfort, he collaborated with Alcatel Lucent on the development of a Mobile Data Company and was involved in strategic technology investments.
As Managing Director of a start-up called CentrIP, Martin played a key role in the development and market introduction of a VOIP solution. The company was sold to Detron ICT & Telecom Group and merged into EspritXB, where he completed the integration as COO.
Between 2009 and 2011, Martin served as CEO of The Datacenter Group BV, where he contributed to growth strategy and the establishment of a new data center in Delft. He was co-founder and COO of UkkoMobile, a EU-wide MVNO, and played a significant role in the rollout of mobile broadband partnerships in 11 countries.
At Reasonnet BV, Martin joined as COO in 2013, where he led operational excellence programs. After the merger with Sentia in 2015, the company grew into a leading organization in the Benelux and Denmark.
After a short sabbatical, Martin was approached to lead strategic initiatives in South Holland, such as positioning the province as a secondary data center hub and facilitating the landing of submarine cables.
Martin holds a bachelor’s degree in Technical Computer Science and Business Administration. He lives in Rotterdam with his family and combines his role at The Flow Advisors with serving as Ambassador for the Submarine Cable Coalition in the Netherlands, always focusing on large digital infrastructures such as data centers and submarine cables.
