We are very excited to have Sophie join Safar’s Scientific Advisory Board! We are confident Sophie will be a strong asset for our growing portfolio of cleantech and material science, as well as AI and IT companies. 

Sophie Vandebroek is founder and owner of Strategic Vision Ventures LLC, a strategic advisory firm working with clients worldwide. Most recently, Sophie served as the Chief Operating Officer of IBM Research where she was instrumental in creating the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab. Previously, Sophie was Xerox’s Chief Technology Officer and led Xerox’s global laboratories, including PARC, Inc., an innovation services company for over a decade.   

In 2019, Sophie became the Inaugural School of Engineering Visiting Scholar at MIT. She has been a member of the Advisory Council of the Dean of Engineering at MIT for the past decade. She is also a trustee at the Boston Museum of Sciences and a member of the International Advisory Board of the Flanders AI Research Program. Sophie is a member of the Board of Directors of IDEXX Laboratories, the global leader in veterinary diagnostics, and on the Supervisory Board of Wolters Kluwer, a global provider of professional information, software solutions, and services.  

Sophie is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers, an inductee into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame and elected member of the Royal Flemish Academy for Arts & Sciences. Sophie’s passion for creating inclusive organizations where innovation thrives has earned her many awards among which is Xerox’s Inaugural Lifetime Diversity Leadership Award of Distinction.   

Sophie grew up in Belgium and earned a master’s degree in Engineering Magna from KU Leuven, Belgium and a Ph.D. in Engineering from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.