Martijn van der Woude suddenly passed away on Monday after a heart attack at the age of just 55. The PPDS manager was the face of Philips in the global digital signage market. Just last week, he was at Touch Taiwan to announce the new Philips e-paper generation with E Ink.
As Vice President of Global Business Development and Marketing at PPDS, Martijn van der Woude had been the face of the Taiwanese display manufacturer for six years. At countless invidis conferences in Europe, North America, and Asia, Martijn was always an extremely honest analyst and unafraid to address industry challenges.
In his six years at PPDS – for many years, together with Franck Racape – he built PPDS into the number three of the digital signage market. Before that, Martijn lived in China for over ten years and built his own LED company there, which he sold to investors before joining PPDS.
Martijn leaves behind a wife and a young daughter.
For me, Martijn was more than just a long-time consulting client and highly respected industry manager; he was a friend with whom I regularly and passionately discussed and argued about products, solutions, and strategies. We shared many fireside chats and panel discussions on conference stages in America, Europe, and Asia.
I will especially miss the private moments on the sidelines of events, at dinners, and in airport lounges, where, alongside work, there was also a little time for personal matters. We passionately discussed global and trade politics, his time in the Dutch army with several deployments to Afghanistan, the fascination of Formula 1, and how difficult it can sometimes be to balance business travel and personal life.
Martijn, we will miss you very much.
Florian
