About Ferry

Ferry Hoes is an entrepreneur, investor and the Co-Founder of the Brand Humanizing Institute. With the latter, Ferry, as one of the very few in the world, exclusively focuses on research on the intersection of humans and technology within organizations (in particular the role of Automation and Artificial Intelligence).

During his big-corp years in Sales and Marketing, he specialized in Social Psychology and (Online) Marketing through different studies. This brought him to a point in 2016 where he started his first company as a Growth Hacker, which was a field that back then was still in its infancy in Europe. During these years working as a Growth Hacker, Ferry gained a different perspective of how companies should deal with technology, employees and customers. He particularly noticed how humans and machines were placed in the wrong positions. Humans were often asked to work like robots and robots were placed in positions where they had to pose as if they were human beings, a situation clearly disadvantageous for customers.

In 2017 Ferry started to express concerns about the wrong usage of technologies such as automation and Artificial Intelligence within organizations, and the negative impact it was having on consumers, employees and eventually the health and growth of those same organizations.

This revelation was quickly followed by an in-depth research of over a year, in which Ferry and his co-founder spoke to many different experts from a variety of countries and markets. This was all in an effort to create a better methodology that would both benefit humans (employees and customers) as well as the company, without having to use technology that could negatively influence both of these groups. This research resulted in the creation of the term “Brand Humanzing”: a vision and method that helps organizations become more human(e) by using technology the right way, and by doing that: secure long-term growth and organizational resilience against rapid market changes and innovating competition. It is a vision that has been acknowledged by experts such as Steven Kotler (multiple NY Times best selling author) and Neil Sahota (United Nations (UN) Artificial Intelligence (AI) subject matter expert).

Moreover, Ferry has been accepted – on behalf of the Brand Humanizing Institute – to both the Dutch AI Coalition and the European AI Alliance, in which he takes part as an active member. These government institutions are both working towards a framework for Human-Centered AI, and Ferry is contributing to that goal from within different task forces in those coalitions.

Additionally, In November 2020, Ferry and his team won the Dutch Government’s “Anti-Discrimination in Algorithms” Hackathon. Besides Ferry’s unique expertise, he also sets himself apart as a public speaker by telling a compelling story that gently forces you to look differently at ways of using both technology as
well as Human Capital, and its effects on your organization.

Born in Delft in 1987, I was a very average student but a not-so-average kid. Growing up, I have always loved playing sports. First started with Tennis and switching to Judo a couple of years later. Eventually, I picked up Basketball and was hooked straight away. I’ve played for many years, switched clubs twice only to return to the one in my hometown of Delft. It was 98’ when my team won that years’ regional championship. It wasn’t until I started working out in the gym to become a bit stronger that got me addicted to the gym and its lifestyle.

As a young teen, I was always trying to turn everything I thought of into a business. From selling old toys and school supplies, displayed on an old rug to selling video games in my classroom. Business has always been something that really intrigued me.

I’ve always been keen on learning new skills and developing the ones I poses even further. Not so much in the form of college, as I never was a high-grade student. However, after finishing college I took on more than a handful of courses and educations to further broaden my skill set. I’ve managed to complete education in Business English, Marketing, Life Coaching, Fitness Coaching, Personal Training, and Growth Hacking. All of them were started and completed while working a 40+ hours per week corporate career. I’m a firm believer of self-development and personal growth, that’s why I’ll never stop learning.