Rob van der Meide

Background

About Rob van der Meide

From a young age, I’ve always been passionate about creating and building things with my hands. This natural curiosity led me to pursue a degree in Industrial Design Engineering, allowing me to channel my creativity into designing products people love to use. I completed my master’s degree with a Masters Internship at Philips, where I designed a consumer product aimed at reducing dark circles under the eyes.Afterward, I joined Yakima, where I set up and led the design team for their European office. I was responsible for the design and manufacturing of vehicle-specific parts for Whispbar, a premium roof rack brand, in Europe.My next role took me to Streetlife in the Netherlands, where I designed and managed the manufacturing of products in my portfolio. I quickly became a leader of one of the design teams and became more involved in the running of the whole department. Later, when I made the decision to move to Australia, I was asked to set up Streetlife’s operations here, building a local manufacturing network to supply products across Australia and New Zealand.Each of these roles have allowed me to develop a broad skill set, from product design to team leadership and global expansion.