Meet the team at your service

Our diverse team members all have years of experience in providing editing and proofreading services in various capacities and bring with them specialist knowledge of a host of industries and fields.

Ilse Evertse

After teaching English as a second language at various high schools in South Africa (Ilse’s home country) for many years, she started writing novels – a slow and lonely process! Then she accepted an administrative position at Stellenbosch University, the town where she was born. Having witnessed professors losing their temper due to the poor language of their students’ papers, she offered to do a first edit after office hours and at a “friendly” rate. A year or two later, when editing visiting German students’ theses, Ilse realised that she liked editing far more than writing and that there was obviously a market for her services. She (at last) had a purpose for the German she had spent eight years learning at school and university. A business was born! In the interim, the family relocated to The Netherlands, the business became very successful, and she is now a semi-retired editor, having handed over the business to Refine.

Amelia Burger

Amelia has an entrepreneurial spirit and is a strategic communication specialist with an eye for detail. With a background in journalism and industrial psychology, she has run her own communication and training business for 20-odd years. As a business owner, she has honed her skills as a project manager, a strategy-orientated thinker, an innovative problem-solver and a quick decision-maker. Amelia is task-orientated as well as relationship-focused. She honours deadlines, values attention to detail and regards quality and overall excellence as non-negotiables. Amelia now leads the Refine team, building on the business Ilse built over the past three decades. She completed a master’s degree in industrial psychology and honours degrees in journalism and industrial psychology, after a BA focusing on political science, English and African studies. Refine keeps her editing and proofreading skills sharp and she enjoys the added value of gaining knowledge of the different fields our clients work in.

André Crous

Based in Stockholm, André is a seasoned editor and language specialist with an academic background in film studies. He’s honed his proofreading skills on everything from marketing to Chinese society and has recently started tackling AI-generated content to ensure it still manages to convey a recognisably human voice. An adept translator from French into English, he is detail-orientated and can’t help but get ruffled by typos on public signs or on menus at restaurants. In his spare time, he enjoys diving into genealogy.

Wilhelm Retief

Wilhelm loves language, law … and good curries. As a language-loving attorney, he has an eye for detail, which is a significant advantage in editing. Nowadays, he devotes his time exclusively to editing and edits all types of academic manuscripts and reports covering a wide range of topics including, but not restricted to, business management, IT, artificial intelligence, blockchain, marketing statistics, social science and law. He gladly goes the extra mile for clients, because they are so important to him.

Christine Anthonissen

Christine is a language specialist with more than 20 years of experience editing, proofreading and translating academic work, such as articles for scholarly journals and theses/dissertations of candidates who do not have English as their first language. Formerly, she was a professor in linguistics at Stellenbosch University. Christine now lives in Hermanus – one of the most beautiful coastal towns you can imagine. If she doesn’t immediately answer an email during the spring months, it could be because she is out on the cliff path watching whales!

Francois Tredoux

Francois is an accomplished language specialist. He has a wide variety of interests and an equally diverse skill set. As part of the Refine team, he believes that your words, ideas and hard work should receive the spotlight they deserve. The team is dedicated to let that spotlight shine by enhancing your English academic journal articles and conference papers to attain the highest standards expected by academic publications and institutions. With language-related qualifications including a BA Hons in English Literature and an MPhil in Hypermedia for Language Learning, Francois offers comprehensive editing expertise and meticulous attention to detail. His grasp of language nuances ensures correct grammar, appropriate syntax and a polished narrative flow.

Stephanie Kuhn

Stephanie has applied her love for words in various capacities – writing, editing and proofreading – and across industries, from the creative world of advertising to technical corporate communication. With a BA degree in economics, political science and philosophy and a postgraduate degree in translation and editing, she has knowledge of a wide range of subjects and is always keen to learn something new. Stephanie has a strong interest in and eye for the visual aspect of effective communication. She therefore also plays the role of information architect in the Refine team, ensuring content is structured and presented in a way that makes it easy for readers to get the message.

“The Refine team is an invaluable resource when it comes to improving my English texts.

Christian Ringle, Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Germany