Tall Dutchman Patrick van Hoof is the Director of Product Strategy at Huge, and an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship and Design Thinking at Parsons in New York. Building on more than a decade of innovation and venture capital experience, he helps clients translate their corporate strategy into visions, concepts and ideas – and leads the strategic approach, definition, design and release of breakthrough products. He has extensive knowledge of media, entertainment and technology, and is passionate about integrating the digital and physical worlds.

He previously worked in innovation at IDEO, Walt Disney Studios and MIT, where he completed the MBA program and published on the future of human-computer interaction at the Media Lab. Prior to that he co-founded a startup that developed new digital and physical consumer products, services and brands. Patrick also served as an innovation-related policy and investment advisor to senior government leaders, and assisted in the development of startup ecosystems in the Netherlands, Estonia, China, and Tanzania.

During the financial crisis, Patrick worked at the Dutch Ministry of Finance (Treasury Department), where he was responsible for various large equity investments and public-private partnerships. He worked directly with the board of directors of multi-billion dollar companies in a variety of industries, including transportation, healthcare and defense. In 2005, at age 24, he designed and co-founded one of the first startups accelerator programs in the world, offering public and private capital to support young, multidisciplinary founding teams.

In addition to his MIT MBA, Patrick has a BS and MS in Business Science from the VU University in Amsterdam, with Industrial Design electives completed at the Eindhoven University of Technology. While working for the Dutch Ministry of Finance he also completed the official Foreign Service training as a member of the Diplomat Class of 2009 ("Diplomatenklasje").