Martin van der Meulen(1964) studied industrial engineering and management science and has fulfilled various management positions in different organizations. Living in Brazil for 2.5 years, he was touched by NVC and since then has spent most of his time learning, living, and sharing NVC. He helped set up NVC-Brazil, co-founded the Dutch-speaking NVC circle, started the yearly NVC festival in the Netherlands, organized Marshall’s last visit to the Netherlands in 2006, and trained about 150 people to share NVC as a trainer.

In 2004, Martin became a certified trainer and, in that same year, started Ai-opener. Ai-opener is a NVC training institute offering a wide range of NVC training to individuals and designing in-company programs for organizations. With Ai-opener, his dream is to humanize the workplace by teaching NVC skills and consciousness to 1% of the Dutch labor force (70,000 people).
Since 2023, Ai-opener has had its own training space in the center of Rotterdam.

Together with five other certified trainers, it is offering NVC to a variety of organizations. Because of their positive impact on society, they prioritize training for NGOs (like Aidsfund and Climate Defence), healthcare (e.g., hospitals), education, and government institutions (ministries, police, and municipalities). Martin’s personal focus is on NVC-based leadership.

With his wife and their two youngest children (age 15), they live close to The Hague near the sea. The connection with the beach and year-round dives in the sea support him in balancing the variety of needs he wants to fulfill in life.