IN MEMORIUM
It is with great sadness that SCTE announces the death of SCTE Benelux committee member, Aart Verbree. Aart was one of the founders of the Benelux Group of the UK SCTE and was its Chairman until 2010. In 2005 he was made a Knight in The Order of Orange-Nassau for his services to the industry. In 2011, as Chairman of CAIW, Aart Verbree received the SCTE 2011 Technological Achievement Award.
“Aart was pivotal in the formation of the SCTE Benelux Group; his enthusiasm, technical skills and management ability helped the Society grow the membership during its early years” said SCTE President, Dr. Roger Blakeway. “Both the Society and the Cable Industry in general owe a great deal to Aart and we have all lost a great friend and colleague.”
“His death is a personal loss of a good friend and colleague. I have known him for over 35 years and his vision and open mind for new ideas has been a great support for our industry and the people who had the pleasure of working with him,” added Rien Baan, SCTE Benelux secretary.
Born in 1952, Aart began his professional career in 1976 with DeltaKabel BV, a company then renowned for its pioneering spirit and innovative engineering in the world of cable TV. As manager of the planning department he attended to the design, planning and actual construction of several municipal cable networks. In 1981, the collective Westland municipalities appointed him Managing Director of CAI Westland (presently CAIW), for which he managed the design, construction and operation of a cable network for the Westland area.
From 1991 to 1993 he was hired, from within CAIW, by DeltaKabel again to become interim-director on a part-time basis. In that capacity, he set up a successful project for interactive television in Rotterdam-Hoogvliet. For DeltaKabel, he also laid the foundations of DEMOS cable internet technology. In 1994, he founded Kabelfoon BV as a subsidiary company of CAI Westland. It was the first commercial provider of cable internet. He also worked as a lecturer at the Polytechnic in the Hague.
He then became CEO of private company CAIW Holding BV and, as such, was entrusted with the supply and operation of rtv services to over 150,000 homes connected as well as internet to 70,000 and VoIP services to 25,000 subscribers. From 2007 - 2011, he also presided over the Association of Cable Operators in The Netherlands (NLKabel).
From April 2013 this year, Aart had also been chairman of the supervisory board for Vocaal Talent Nederland (an educational institution in the music industry).
He will be sadly missed.