ERC is pleased to welcome Marlou Bergboer as Steering Committee member on behalf of Shell. Marlou is Programme Manager Energy Transition for Shell in The Netherlands. Shell will be co-host, together with Deloitte, of the next ERC event Decarbonisation pathways for transport in November.

Marlou joined Shell in 2003 and held various roles starting as Rotating Equipment Engineer. After several engineering roles Marlou moved on to project management, business development and transformation and digitalisation. Marlou holds degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Twente and in Petroleum Engineering from Curtin University (Western Australia).

We asked Marlou about her interest in energy transition, views on successful transformation and the upcoming event in November.

You started your career as an engineer on natural gas projects. When did you become interested in energy transition?

MB: “I have always had a real interest in nature and preserving it. I was raised with a deep respect for our environment and as a teenager I was already volunteering for nature organisations. Living in Borneo and seeing the scale of deforestation and plastic waste and the impact it has on biodiversity, enforced my belief that we all need to play our role in protecting our environment. When I moved back to the Netherlands in 2016, I quickly got involved in energy transition in my work for Shell to be able to contribute on a broader scale to solving this complex puzzle.”

You are a leader with experience in developing new opportunities, projects and managing transformations. In your view, what is important for transformation to be successful?

MB: “You need to be willing and able to see beyond today. You need to have a real belief in what can one day be and then start with small steps towards that vision meanwhile accepting that not everything might work and that that is ok. In this way you can build up trust and support, instead of trying to change everything all at once which would inevitably delay any transition.”

In November Shell is co-host of the event Decarbonisation pathways for transport. What development are you excited about when it comes to decarbonisation of transport?

MB: “The fact that so much is happening in all sectors at once and is being scaled up is mind-boggling and I am interested in how digital technology can accelerate this journey. You can see proof-points coming up throughout the sectors, which is very exciting. One example is what Shell has recently done with the launch of the first Mega Watt charger which can truly transform heavy duty road transport as well as shipping. I look forward to seeing how this could be developed further and applied more broadly in maritime, one of the harder sectors to decarbonise. 
But as a person with a transformation mindset and an engineering heart, I am most curious about the next thing, the thing we do not yet know and perhaps cannot even imagine yet.”

ERC thanks former Steering Committee member Martine Hoeksma who stepped down in December 2023 as well as Martine’s interim successor Eveline Otten for their contributions to our Energy Reinvented Community.