Draft:Arie van Bennekum

Arie van Bennekum is a Dutch programmer and one of the co-authors of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development (2001), the foundational document of the agile methodology for project management and cross-border agile transformations.

He implemented Agile in small and large organizations. Van Bennekum is credited with the idea that Agile has a place outside of software development. He advocated changing the word "software" to "solutions" to open the Agile methodology to everyone, even in companies' human resources or marketing departments. It is applicable everywhere in the company or even in life.

Agile is a project development methodology that requires speed and flexibility. Until a few years ago, Agile was a specific framework for software development. However, starting in 2016, Agile began to expand among a wide range of organizations.

Background
Van Bennekum was born in Hardinxveld-Giessendam, Netherlands on 2 April 1964. He studied Business Informatics (1988) at the Hogeschool Rotterdam. He holds a degree in Information Technology from the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences (1989-1993) and obtained a degree from DSDM International, Netherlands, in 1997.

He started his IT career as a software developer in 1987 in Rotterdam. After a while, he joined a computer consulting company as a developer then technical designer and project manager. In 1995, he landed in a Rapid Application Development (RAD) project, where he started as a developer working for clients who needed experts in Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM). This agile method focuses on the complete project lifecycle.

Since the late 1990s, as a consultant, he has led international agile transformations across organizations.

Recognitions
In 2021, the Project Management Institute (PMI) awarded Van Bennekum the "Lifetime Achievement Award" for his significant work in spreading the agile mindset.

In 2017, he was distinguished by Champagnat University (Mendoza, Argentina) with the academic recognition of Honorary Professor Emeritus (Res. no. 61/17).