Hans Wijers

Hans Wijers   (businessman, politician)
Born	11 January 1951
Nationality	Dutch
Alma mater	University of Groningen, Erasmus University Rotterdam
Member of	Dutch Round Table, European Round Table of Industrialists, GlaxoSmithKline/Board, Trilateral Commission, Trilateral Commission Task Force on Global Capitalism in Transition
Party	Democrats 66
Dutch very centrally placed business executive. Bilderberg/2004 and Bilderberg/2009. Member of the Trilateral Commission’s Task Force on Global Capitalism in Transition  Chairman of the Supervisory board In office 2018 - Present Employer ING Group  Chairman In office 2012 - 2019 Employer Heineken  Chairman In office 2002 - 2011 Employer Orange Foundation Preceded by Michel Bon, Tinius Nagell-Erichsen, Carl Johan Åberg  Vice Chairman In office 2009 - 2018 Employer Royal Dutch Shell  CEO and Chairman In office 2003 - 2012 Employer AkzoNobel  CEO and Chairman for Netherlands In office 1999 - 2001 Employer Boston Consulting Group Also worked from them in the 1980s  Chairman In office 2018 - Present Employer ING  Netherlands/Minister/Finance  In office 4 June 1996 - 26 June 1996  Netherlands/Minister/Economic Affairs In office I22 August 1994 - 3 August 1998 Preceded by Laurens Jan Brinkhorst, Ruud Lubbers, Roelof Nelissen, Hans Wijers, Johan Witteveen, Gerrit Zalm, Jelle Zijlstra"strong class="error">Error: Invalid time." contains an extrinsic dash or other characters that are invalid for a date interpretation.

Gerardus Johannes "Hans" Wijers is a Dutch retired politician of the Democrats 66 (D66) party, and businessman. He is the chairman of the supervisory board of ING Group since 2018. He attended the 2004 Bilderberg meeting as CEO of AkzoNobel and the 2009 Bilderberg meeting as Vice Chairman of Royal Dutch Shell.

He is also a member of the Dutch Round Table and the European Round Table of Industrialists. From 2021 to 2022, Wijers was a member of the Trilateral Commission’s Task Force on Global Capitalism in Transition.

Early life

After secondary school at Hogere Burgerschool (HBS-B) level, Wijers studied Economics at the University of Groningen, where he graduated cum laude in 1976. As assistant professor, he taught Economics at the Erasmus University, and in 1982 received a doctorate for his research in "Industrial politics: the design of governmental policy for industrial sectors".

Civil service

From 1982 till 1984, Wijers worked as a civil servant at the ministry of Social Affairs and Labour and later at the ministry of Economic Affairs. Subsequently, he became a management consultant at, amongst others, Horringa & De Koning, which later became part of Boston Consulting Group.

Politics

Wijers, a member of D66 since 1976, was asked in 1994 by his party colleague Hans van Mierlo to take up a ministerial post in the First Kok cabinet. As Minister of Economic Affairs he was responsible for the law change regarding the extending of shop opening hours, and he formulated the Competition Regulation law which triggered the foundation of the Dutch Competition Authority. An important event in his ministry was the bankruptcy of the Fokker aircraft factory in March 1996. When Wijers refused further state aid due to a lack of a clear future perspective, German company DASA withdrew as parent company.

By the end of the cabinet period, Hans van Mierlo had decided not to stand for re-election. The party leaders exercised strong pressure on the popular Wijers to take on the party leadership. When the second purple cabinet was formed after the election in 1998, Wijers expressed that he had no interest in a second term as minister.

Life after politics

In 1999 Wijers picked up his old career as a consultant: he became senior partner and chairman of the Dutch branch of the consulting firm The Boston Consulting Group. In July 2002 he became a member of the Board of Directors of Akzo Nobel NV and on 1 May 2003 he became Chairman of the Board of Directors. He succeeded Kees van Lede. Under his leadership the pharmacy branch of Organon, (Organon BioSciences), was sold in 2007 and the British ICI was acquired. AkzoNobel focused more to paint and chemistry. At the end of April 2012 he decided to resign as chairman of the board. He was succeeded by Ton Büchner.

Wijers has been non-executive director at Royal Dutch Shell since January 2009; he later became vice-chairman. He is President of Heineken and supervisory director at HAL Holding NV. He is also chairman of the Vereniging Natuurmonumenten and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Royal Concertgebouw NV. In 2010 he was chairman of the jury of the Libris Literature Prize. In 2013 he was chairman of the National Committee inauguration for King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands.

 

Events Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Bilderberg/2004	3 June 2004	6 June 2004	Italy Stresa	The 52nd such meeting. 126 recorded guests
Bilderberg/2009	14 May 2009	17 May 2009	Greece Vouliagmeni	The 57th Bilderberg
WEF/Annual Meeting/2007	24 January 2007	28 January 2007	Switzerland	Only the 449 public figures listed of ~2200 participants

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References

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