Convex End to End Employee Interviews: Mark van Zanden

I head up Strategy for Convex Group and joined back in January 2019. Stephen and Paul’s vision to do things differently at an operational level, and the highly talented people at Convex were part of the reason why I joined; Convex is a unique and special organisation that I’m proud to be a part of. 

“It’s a wonderful, community-spirited event for Bermuda”

I’ve taken part in the Bermuda End to End plenty of times in the past and this year the Convex End to End (ETE) takes place on Saturday 7 May this year and is Bermuda’s biggest fundraising event – with around 10% of the population taking part. It’s a fun, charity fundraising event in which locals walk, cycle, or swim the length of the island from end to end (22 miles) and it’s a wonderful, community-spirited event for Bermuda and a real cultural tradition for the island as we’re a tight knit community as a country.

“The Convex End to End is a fantastic way for us to reach the Bermuda community and show our appreciation for our home.”

I usually swim the ETE but this year I’m helping coordinate the swim rather than partaking myself. Part of my role will be to try to get as many people as possible from Convex in Bermuda to participate or volunteer in the Convex ETE. The swimming course is 3.5 kilometres long and it’s located at the end of the island where the land gets quite narrow and points to the northeast, so you can swim on one side or the other depending on how windy it is at the time. 

I do open water swimming three times a week in Bermuda, and it has various challenges – wind, waves, making sure you know where you’re going! You also see some interesting things in the water – barracudas are probably the most exciting thing I’ve seen while open water swimming. They’re long and slender but they look vicious because they hold their mouths open and they have very sharp, jagged teeth and they’re also very curious, so they’ll follow you around. I’ve also seen all kinds of different fish, jellyfish and sea hare (like a spotted snail without a shell) in the ocean! 

The Convex End to End is a great way for us to reach the Bermuda community more broadly and show our appreciation for our home and I think it’s fantastic that Convex will be sponsoring it for the next three years. It’s also a great event for the friends and families of employees to see the Convex branding and reinforce the connection: it’s good all round.