 | Teun Gautier was not a great student and finally flunked the exams at a Higher Commercial Education in the subject of Communications. He worked for Reed in the US and transferred back to The Netherlands for Reed, quickly assuming the role of MD at the Reed Exhibitions operations in Holland and Belgium. At 29 he became VP at Elsevier, leaving the company after three years as he felt that a strict orientation on the bottom line undermines the journalistic proposition in the long run. He started several publishing companies and did many interim assignments. In 2009 he became the director of the struggling but prominent Groene Amsterdammer with which he acquired De Gids, moved the offices and saw become a flourishing publishing company. Teun is also involved with the launch of De Correspondent, a new journalistic platform and was Chairman of the Democratic Party in Amsterdam as well as being involved in many other political initiatives. |
What have the ancient Greeks done for us lately?
"I was impressed by the intensity of the debate and the high level of intellectual engagement, not least by the audience. It was an invigorating, even exhilarating experience to be part of a festival based on the conviction that disagreement is good. The Battle of Ideas is a fantastic concept, may it spread epidemically to the rest of the world. I am already looking forward to next year's event."
Thomas Hylland Eriksen, professor of social anthropology, University of Oslo; novelist
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