Anneke Van Den Broek

About Anneke

Anneke van den Broek is the founder and CEO of Rufus & Coco, a pet care brand she has built over nearly two decades into an internationally recognised company operating across nine countries and collecting more than 15 national and international awards for innovation, sustainability, and business excellence. Her portfolio now includes Rufus & Coco, Wee Kitty, The Fur Salon, and The Fur Dental. Recognition includes a Gold Stevie Award for Women in Business, the 2025 Sydney Business Awards Excellence in Business prize, a 2025 Global Recognition Award for Outstanding CEO, and induction into the NSW Business Women's Hall of Fame.

What makes van den Broek a distinctive speaker is that her business story is inseparable from a philosophy — one she has developed under the name The Pet Humanist. Her proposition is that in a world that is more connected than ever yet lonelier than ever, pets are not companions but catalysts for human wellbeing. She is building a movement for pet-inclusive communities and argues that the science of the human-animal bond has direct implications for how we think about connection, leadership, brand loyalty, and the kind of organisations people actually want to work for and buy from.

Van den Broek suits business conferences, female leadership events, sustainability summits, and brand and marketing forums where audiences want a founder story that carries genuine commercial weight alongside a fresh perspective on human connection and loyalty. Her keynotes range from practical lessons in building a global brand with heart, to pack leadership principles for business, to the future of female leadership. She is a credible voice on entrepreneurship, sustainability, and the unexpected ways that a strong point of view can drive extraordinary growth.