The Members of our Foundation-Board are:
Bobby Dekeyser
President of the Board
Bobby spent his childhood in Austria, Belgium and Germany. At the age of 15, he got up and left school in the middle of an English lesson after having decided to become a professional soccer player. By the age of 19 he was goalkeeper at FC Bayern Munich. Having married his high school sweetheart Ann-Kathrin, he was forced to quit his soccer career at the age of 26 after a severe face injury.
In 1990, while still in the hospital, he founded the design company DEDON with a business plan that had little more to it than the idea of working with family and friends to produce beautiful and creative handicraft products. Inventing the outdoor fiber, DEDON soon revolutionized the outdoor furniture market and is today the market leader in the outdoor luxury segment in over 80 countries, employing more than 3,000 people. In 2009, Bobby handed over the operative part of the business to his friends and founded the Dekeyser & Friends Foundation. Bobby lives with his wife Ann-Kathrin and his three children Carolin, Yannick and Marie in Geneva.
Hervé Lampert
Vice-President of the Board
Hervé Lampert grew up on a farm close to Strasbourg, France. In his youth he was a very successful Judoka.
Hervé began working in the Marketing Division of the US company CASE in Paris whilst still finishing his business degree from the Graduate School for International Business Administration in Strasbourg.
In 1997 he met Bobby and moved to Lüneburg, Germany to help build DEDON.
In 2000, at the age of 24, he made a big leap into unknown territory, and moved to Cebu, Philippines to set up DEDON’s manufacturing facility, which would address the recurring problems with the company’s quality. Starting with 7 employees, Hervé grew DEDON Cebu within a span of 8 years, providing fair and gainful employment to 3,600 employees in a part of the world where such ethical practice is an exception rather than the rule. Today, Hervé is considered by Cebuanos to be one of their own. He is currently Chief Technical Officer of DEDON Group and President of DEDON Cebu. Herve lives with his wife Tess, his daughters Véïa and Maori and his brother Vincent in Cebu.
Oya Ogurcu
Member of the Board
Oya Ogurcu was born and grew up in Istanbul, Tukey. She studied Interior Design at London Metropolitan University in the UK. During her studies, she intensely travelled the world. After graduating she worked in different London based design offices before reutrning to istanbul in 1982 as one of the first female Harley Davidson drivers.
In 1984 she opened one of Istanbul’s biggest Interior design showrooms and started to import indoor and outdoor furniture from all over the world. This is how in 1990 Bobby and Oya started working together. Since then they have been sharing common inspiration and visions as well as a growing friendship. Oya opened an Interior Design office in 1997 in downtown Istanbul and since then has been designing houses, restaurants, hotels, offices and customized furniture together with her team from “O Design”.
Oya lives with her husband Faruk and their lovecat Princess in Istanbul.
Ann-Kathrin Dekeyser
Board Member
The half German half Norwegian Ann-Kathrin grew up in the Southwest of Germany. After finshing high-school she completed an education as a nurse and began working in a hospital as nurse in the emergency room.
When she was 20 she went to Paris and began working as a model. Her work took her all across Europe and the US. In Frankfurt she met Bobby and she followed him to Munich. Soon they got married and today have three children together. Ann-Kathrin was also part of Dedon from the very beginning, where she managed the accounting. Today she calls herself a badly paid - but highly rewarded - family manager. Ann-Kathrin lives with her family in Geneva.