Royal Honour for Martin Pol

On Saturday 11 September 2010, Martin Pol received the decorations of an order of knighthood as part of the Companion of the Order of Orange-Nassau offered to him. The award was presented by Mr R.T. Metz, deputy mayor of the City of Apeldoorn. This presentation took place during a gathering in celebration of the tenth anniversary of Polteq, the company established by Martin Pol.

Mr R. Metz presenting the Royal Honour to Martin Pol

The prestigious award was offered to Martin Pol for various reasons, one of which being his important role in the development of the structured testing of IT systems in the Netherlands.

Milestones in his career are the test method TMap^® (Test Management Approach) and the method for improving test processes TPI^® (Test Process Improvement), both developed under his leadership. Both methods have been published in various languages, including Dutch, English, German, Japanese and Chinese. These test methods have since become professional standards in the IT industry, TMap^® being applied in more than 400 organizations worldwide.

Both nationally and internationally, Martin Pol is seen as one of the global experts in the field of testing, and he is a frequent and much appreciated speaker at conferences. On account of his special contribution to the European testing industry, Martin Pol was the first to receive the European Testing Excellence Award in Munich, Germany, in 1998.

In 1997, he founded the Dutch association for IT testing professionals, TestNet, which he presided for 5 years. In 2002, he was appointed Honorary Member of TestNet.

In 2000, Martin Pol established Polteq IT Services, a company providing international services in the area of testing. Under his management and also due to his vast knowledge of the testing industry and his view on future developmental issues, the firm has grown from 2 to 100 employees within ten years' time.