A vibrant and inclusive research community is a great asset for any discipline. As IUSSP Secretary-General from 2005-2009 and 2017-2021 I enjoyed helping to build such a community. I like to work with colleagues from diverse backgrounds, including younger colleagues. I am also active in the European Association for Population Studies, where I had several roles and currently am Executive Director. I helped organize many international conferences and am fully engaged in the transition to hybrid/virtual. Trained as a sociologist and social demographer at Utrecht University, I spent most of my career at the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute. I led many national and international research projects and worked with the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the European Union. Since my retirement I am Honorary Fellow at NIDI. The richness of our field keeps inspiring me, and I happily combine my population work with being an involved grandfather of three.