- The University
- 11/09/2025
Corry Wouters new director of LIS
Corry Wouters has been the new director of Library and Information Services at TU/e since August 15. She has extensive experience in the industry and healthcare sectors and strongly believes in the power of diversity, especially in terms of backgrounds and work experience. As an ambassador for agile working, she wants to inspire LIS employees to take ownership and responsibility for their work.
Wouters will lead approximately 325 people and over 250 FTEs. She certainly doesn't lack confidence in her role: "I'm an experienced IT manager, it will all be fine." She sees no disadvantage in her lack of academic career experience. "I bring a fresh perspective. And it's important to have a healthy mix of people in your business operations."
She was immediately interested when she heard that the position of LIS director would become vacant. "I was informed about it. It seemed like a great challenge with added societal impact, something I value in my work." At the same time, it felt ambiguous, because I was still working on the IZA-PGO program at my previous employer, the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport.
The agile elephant
During the coronavirus pandemic, Wouters started working as CIO at the VieCuri Medical Center in Venlo. "I had a wonderful time there and was inspired by a pink elephant that I received as a farewell gift." For Wouters, it symbolized “the elephant in the room”; an uncomfortable topic everyone feels present but no one dares to talk about.
For the giver, this elephant was agile working. Back then, this method still had to be implemented at the hospital. "With agile working, it's important that large projects are broken down into manageable pieces and that people take ownership and responsibility." Wouters named the elephant Eva@. The letters stand for equivalents of the Dutch words for ownership, responsibility, agile and completion. The @-sign she added as a wink to the online world.
"A cuddly toy might be soft, but the idea behind it is fundamental: if you don't take responsibility, your idea won't be successful. And that also applies to your service. Something I'll also be promoting here." Wouters joins a service where a lot of strategic thinking has already been done, which has resulted in, among other things, the Big Bets strategy. "I'm going to thoroughly review the digitalization strategy so I understand the priorities. Regardless of those, it's essential to work agilely."
Hack
Wouters deliberately chose TU/e because of its social impact. “I really love innovation and it gives me a huge amount of energy. Last week I was at the HPC lab, where they're working on innovations in areas like lung cancer. I think that's fantastic, especially since I had breast cancer myself. Through science and education, you can make the world a better place.”
The hack at TU/e this year made it clear to Wouters that a higher level of security is necessary. “You can never completely secure everything, but the goal is to close off as many vulnerabilities as possible. Criminals always take the easiest route, like an employee clicking on a dangerous link. LIS wants to work with the rest of the university to improve security.”
Who is Wouters?
Wouters earned a degree in Business Economics from Tilburg University and subsequently worked at companies such as Exact, Akzo Nobel, SAP, and Atos. In her current position at TU/e, she is also active in the Dutch CIO Platform, where she focuses on diversity and innovation.
Since 1996, she has lived in Roermond with her blended family, two dogs, and a cat. In her free time, she enjoys going for a walk, gardening, cycling, and skiing. She also practices mindfulness and does yoga and body pump whenever possible.
Wouters takes the train to work. "I love being on the train in the mornings among all those young people." She tries to share her life experience with these younger people to encourage them to reflect on their choices. "I've always worked full-time and found it quite challenging to combine that with a balanced family life. My career may have skyrocketed, but the work-life balance wasn't always ideal."
She wants to make young people realize: it's good to consider how many balls are the max I can juggle with? "With three balls, I can easily get on stage; if I add a fourth, they all fall to the floor. A metaphor for the pressures in life that inevitably become too much at some point. The moral of the story: know your limits, maintain balance, and do it together.”
Making choices and seizing opportunities
Wouters isn't afraid to make choices. "The good, the bad, and the ugly," she calls them. "What we do well, we should definitely keep doing. What we don't do so well, we try to optimize. And the ugly? You might consider stopping that, or find someone who can do it better and more efficiently. You can't say yes to everything. And even if you can afford to, you have to ask yourself if it's wise. I think it's better to keep some reserves for opportunities that arise."
The LIS director sees these opportunities in, among other things, changing priorities, AI, and high-performance computing. "I think the next five years will bring some truly wonderful developments, things we can't even imagine now. I'd love to see the future through a crystal ball..."
This article was translated using AI-assisted tools and reviewed by an editor
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