Gerardus Johannes "Hans" Wijers (born 11 January 1951) is a Dutch retired politician of the

Democrats 66 Democrats 66 (; abbreviated D66, ) is a Social liberalism, social liberal List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands, which positions itself in the Centrism, centre of the Left–right political spectrum, p ...

(D66) party, and businessman. He is the chairman of the

supervisory board In corporate governance, a governance board also known as council of delegates are chosen by the stockholders of a company to promote their interests through the governance of the company and to hire and fire the board of directors. In civil s ...

ING Group The ING Group ( nl, ING Groep) is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Amsterdam. Its primary businesses are retail banking, direct banking, commercial banking, investment banking, wholesale bankin ...

since 2018.

Early life

After secondary school at Hogere Burgerschool (HBS-B) level, Wijers studied Economics at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen in ...

, where he graduated ''cum laude'' in 1976. As assistant professor, he taught Economics at the

Erasmus University Erasmus University Rotterdam (abbreviated as ''EUR'', nl, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam ) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century humanist ...

, 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 Boston Consulting Group, Inc. (BCG) is an American global management consulting firm founded in 1963 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the Big Three (or MBB, the world’s three largest management consulting firms by rev ...

Politics

Wijers, a member of D66 since 1976, was asked in 1994 by his party colleague

Hans van Mierlo Henricus Antonius Franciscus Maria Oliva "Hans" van Mierlo (; 18 August 1931 – 11 March 2010) was a Dutch politician and journalist who co-founded Democrats 66 (D66). Van Mierlo studied Law at the Radboud University Nijmegen obtaining a Mas ...

to take up a ministerial post in the

First Kok cabinet First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

. 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 Fokker was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer named after its founder, Anthony Fokker. The company operated under several different names. It was founded in 1912 in Berlin, Germany, and became famous for its fighter aircraft in World War I. In 1919 ...

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

. In July 2002 he became a member of the Board of Directors of

Akzo Nobel NV Akzo Nobel N.V., stylized as AkzoNobel, is a Dutch multinational company which creates paints and performance coatings for both industry and consumers worldwide. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company has activities in more than 80 countrie ...

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 The ''Organon'' ( grc, Ὄργανον, meaning "instrument, tool, organ") is the standard collection of Aristotle's six works on logical analysis and dialectic. The name ''Organon'' was given by Aristotle's followers, the Peripatetics. The si ...

, (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 Heineken Lager Beer ( nl, Heineken Pilsener), or simply Heineken () is a pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star. History On 15 Febr ...

and supervisory director at HAL Holding NV. He is also chairman of the

Vereniging Natuurmonumenten Vereniging tot Behoud van Natuurmonumenten in Nederland ( en, Society for Preservation of Nature Monuments in the Netherlands), also known as Vereniging Natuurmonumenten, is a Dutch nature conservation organization founded in 1905 by Jacobus Piet ...

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 Willem-Alexander (; Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand; born ) is King of the Netherlands, having acceded to the throne following his mother's abdication in 2013. Willem-Alexander was born in Utrecht as the oldest child of Princess Beatr ...

of the Netherlands. From 2021 to 2022, Wijers was a member of the

Trilateral Commission The Trilateral Commission is a nongovernmental international organization aimed at fostering closer cooperation between Japan, Western Europe and North America. It was founded in July 1973 principally by American banker and philanthropist David ...

’s Task Force on Global Capitalism in Transition, chaired by

Carl Bildt Nils Daniel Carl Bildt (born 15 July 1949) is a Swedish politician and diplomat who was Prime Minister of Sweden from 1991 to 1994. He was the leader of the Moderate Party from 1986 to 1999. Bildt served as Sweden's Minister for Foreign Affairs ...

Kelly Grier Kelly may refer to: Art and entertainment * Kelly (Kelly Price album) * Kelly (Andrea Faustini album) * ''Kelly'' (musical), a 1965 musical by Mark Charlap * "Kelly" (song), a 2018 single by Kelly Rowland * ''Kelly'' (film), a 1981 Canadi ...

and

Takeshi Niinami Takeshi ( in hiragana or in katakana) is a masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings *武, "warrior" *毅, "strong" *猛, "fierce" *健, "healthy" *剛, "sturdy" *彪, "spotted" *威, "intimidate" *壮, "robust" *丈, "length" *雄, "mascu ...

.Task Force on Global Capitalism in Transition

Personal

Wijers lives with his partner, and has two children.

Decorations

References

External links

;Official *
Dr. G.J. (Hans) Wijers
Parlement & Politiek {{DEFAULTSORT:Wijers, Hans 1951 births Living people Boston Consulting Group people Democrats 66 politicians Directors of Shell plc Dutch academic administrators Dutch chief executives in the finance industry Dutch chief executives in the food industry Dutch chief executives in the manufacturing industry Dutch corporate directors Dutch expatriates in the United States Dutch management consultants Dutch nonprofit directors Dutch nonprofit executives Dutch sports executives and administrators Erasmus University Rotterdam alumni Erasmus University Rotterdam faculty Heineken people Ministers of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands Ministers of Finance of the Netherlands Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau Politicians from Amsterdam People from Sluis People from Veere University of Groningen alumni University of Groningen faculty 20th-century Dutch businesspeople 20th-century Dutch civil servants 20th-century Dutch economists 20th-century Dutch educators 20th-century Dutch politicians 21st-century Dutch businesspeople 21st-century Dutch economists 21st-century Dutch educators 21st-century Dutch politicians Businesspeople from Amsterdam