Following his graduation in international law at Leiden in 1994, Ray van den Bel began his career as a corporate lawyer. In 1997 he switched to exploring the world of strategic management consultancy and began a new Chapter in his career at Credit Suisse, Ernst & Young and Unisys. Meanwhile, 'internet' as a strategic communication tool became popular. 'Open' communication through the emerging online social networks intrigued van den Bel so much that he began to analyze this online behavior. He quickly became known as a 'Top-networker' on social networks like LinkedIn, Facebook, Xing, Twitter and Hyves.

This activity was not in itself. In particular, the 'effectiveness' and' Return on Investment "of social networks as LinkedIn, Facebook, Xing, Twitter and Hyves fascinated him so much that he has worked years on a working communication model for social and corporate networks, the OpenNetworkers Network Model © and the OpenNetworkers Book which can be read online.

He founded his own social network, OpenNetworkers.info in 2007. By 2009, the influential online magazine web 2.0 Mashable.com named this network as one of the 10 major social networks for 'Professionals and Job Search'. Quickly he became known worldwide as one of the leading strategists and speakers in the field of social media, web 2.0 resources, strategy and communication.

Ray van den Bel's translated his personal experiences and vision in his the social networks het created, based upon the real value of Web 2.0 In his words:

'... Online tools & resources should always serve genuine, real life business, based on a solid ROI. They should never be based on theory and enthusiasm only ..’