Love to Learn Spotlight: Roy de Vries

Some people follow a clear career path, knowing exactly where they’re headed. Roy de Vries didn’t. At least, not from the start. Learning and development wasn’t something he had in mind growing up.

“As a kid, I thought I might become a lawyer. Or maybe a psychologist,” he says with a grin. “Mostly because I liked talking to people, and let’s be honest, lawyers earn decent money.”

But while his early ambitions pointed in other directions, the steps he took after secondary school tell a different story. From studying educational sciences to exploring online learning, his path may have been more intentional than it seemed at the time.

After finishing secondary school, Roy packed his bags and became an au pair in Switzerland. For eight months, he looked after children, helped with schoolwork and got a taste of what it’s like to support someone’s learning up close.

“I didn’t go there with some big educational dream,” he admits. “But the one-on-one connection with the kids… I really enjoyed it. It felt meaningful and it stuck with me.”

It stuck long enough for him to start a degree in primary education, which he combined with educational sciences. But once he stepped into the classroom during his teaching placements, reality kicked in. “It just didn’t give me the energy I’d hoped for,” he says. “The system, the setting, it wasn’t for me.”

What did fascinate him was how people learn and how you can support that process in smarter, more human ways.

That curiosity led him to explore learning beyond the classroom. During his studies, Roy took on a side job as a community manager for an e-commerce platform, an experience that introduced him to the world of online community building. That’s when things started falling into place…

Finding his way to aNewSpring

During his Master’s degree Roy was an intern at an e-learning company and was given the task of entering multiple-choice questions into a learning platform. That platform? aNewSpring.

“It was a small task,” he says. “But I liked how the system worked, how it was built. And I noticed the company used it in clever ways with their customers. That stuck with me.”

After graduating, Roy spotted a job opening at aNewSpring with the ambitious title Next Generation Digital Learning Expert. The title alone was enough to pique his interest. He applied, made it to the final round, but being fresh out of university, he needed a bit more experience under his belt to land a role like that.

So he took a different path first. He started working as an Instructional Designer, where he spent about two and a half years gaining hands-on experience with online learning, learning management systems and collaborating with subject matter experts. It turned out to be the perfect environment to sharpen his skills and deepen his understanding of how to design meaningful digital learning.

By the time a new opportunity opened up at aNewSpring, he was ready. This time, for the role of Customer Success Manager. And this time, it clicked.

“I loved working directly with customers, helping them make the most of the platform. With my background in educational sciences, I could really add value.”

Stepping into innovation

After a few years, Roy felt ready for more. He noticed a new role being shaped internally: Learning Innovator. A chance to think more strategically about learning. To work closely with product, content and community. And to help define how aNewSpring talks about learning.

“It wasn’t a pre-made job. There was no one else doing exactly this. That was exciting,” he says. “I could help shape what it meant.”

His new role placed him at the intersection of learning theory and platform development. Part translator, part connector. From helping customers use aNewSpring effectively, he moved towards helping the company itself deepen its learning vision.

GROWTH: The penny drop - moment

And that’s exactly what he did. As a Learning Innovator, Roy tackled one big question: how can aNewSpring help improve training in a more focused way?

He wasn’t the only one asking that question. Within aNewSpring, there was already a growing conversation about how to better support learning designers, sparked in part by co-founder Martèn de Prez and then Learning Innovation Leader Ger Driesen (who, by the way, is someone Roy looks up to for his thought leadership and ability to connect people and ideas). Roy joined that movement with fresh energy and ideas, bringing his own practical experience from the field.

“We’d always been about helping others help people learn,” he says. “But we wanted to give that mission more structure.”

The initial idea was to create a maturity model: something that could tell training providers how far along they were in developing effective learning. But that approach didn’t feel quite right. “Learning isn’t one-size-fits-all. You can be ‘advanced’ in one area and still miss the basics in another. We needed something more flexible.”

The birth of GROWTH

So Roy and Martèn took a step back. They started exploring the central question: “how do people really learn?” and let the ideas flow. There were sticky notes on walls, plenty of back-and-forth, a few messy diagrams and a lot of thinking out loud. And slowly, patterns emerged, categories formed, and a model took shape. The GROWTH Training Improvement Model was born.

“We didn’t plan the name. But as the pieces came together, they spelled out something: GROWTH. And it just worked. That’s what learning is, right? Growth.”

The GROWTH model isn’t about ticking boxes or climbing levels. It’s about reflecting, rethinking, and continuously improving training based on how people actually learn. “It’s meant to open conversations. To give people new perspectives. Whether you’re designing your first course or leading a whole academy, it’s a tool to help you pause, reflect and level up".

The learner who learns

Roy applies the same mindset to himself. Whether it’s reading research, collaborating with experts or seeking feedback after every session, he keeps his own learning active. “I can’t tell others to improve if I don’t do the same,” he says simply.

Becoming a father gave that mindset even more depth. “You can spend your whole life chasing the next milestone: when your kid walks, talks, cycles. But then you miss the joy of what’s happening right now. Celebrate where you are. Reflect. And then keep going.”