Catharina Elisabeth Godefrida "Karien" van Gennip (born 3 October 1968) is a Dutch businesswoman and politician who has served as Minister of Social Affairs and Employment in the

Fourth Rutte cabinet The Fourth Rutte cabinet is the current Government of the Netherlands. It was inaugurated on 10 January 2022. The cabinet is a continuation of the previous third Rutte cabinet and is formed by the conservative-liberal People's Party for Free ...

since 10 January 2022. She is a member of the

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( nl, Christen-Democratisch Appèl, ; CDA) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolution ...

(CDA). A native of

Leidschendam Leidschendam () is a town and former municipality in the province of South Holland of the Netherlands. Along with Voorburg and Stompwijk, it is part of the municipality Leidschendam-Voorburg. History The town's name has been in use for centur ...

, Karien van Gennip worked at McKinsey & Company and the

Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets The Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets ( nl, Autoriteit Financiële Markten) is the financial services regulatory authority for the Netherlands. Its role is comparable to the role of the SEC in the United States. History The Netherl ...

until she entered politics when appointed State Secretary for

Economic Affairs An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

in 2003 under

Jan Peter Balkenende Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende Jr. (; born 7 May 1956) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 to 14 October 2010. Balkenende studied H ...

's second cabinet, a position she retained under his third cabinet until 2007. In the 2006 general election, she was elected to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

. She resigned in 2008 to continue her business career at

ING Ing, ING or ing may refer to: Art and media * '' ...ing'', a 2003 Korean film * i.n.g, a Taiwanese girl group * The Ing, a race of dark creatures in the 2004 video game '' Metroid Prime 2: Echoes'' * "Ing", the first song on The Roches' 1992 ...

up to her return to politics in 2022.

Early life and education

Karien van Gennip is the daughter of Jos van Gennip (born 1939), who was elected to the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

from 1991 to 2007 as a Christian Democrat. She studied

applied physics Applied physics is the application of physics to solve scientific or engineering problems. It is usually considered to be a bridge or a connection between physics and engineering. "Applied" is distinguished from "pure" by a subtle combination ...

Delft University of Technology Delft University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Delft), also known as TU Delft, is the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. As of 2022 it is ranked by QS World University Rankings among ...

and obtained an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

INSEAD INSEAD, a contraction of "Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires" () is a non-profit business school that maintains campuses in Europe ( Fontainebleau, France), Asia (Singapore), the Middle East (Abu Dhabi, UAE), and North America (San ...

Fontainebleau.

Early career

Van Gennip worked at McKinsey & Company in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, and as project leader reorganisation at the

Political career

From 2003 to 2007 Van Gennip was State Secretary of Economic Affairs in the

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

and

third Balkenende cabinet The third Balkenende cabinet was the executive branch of the Government of the Netherlands from 7 July 2006 until 22 February 2007. The cabinet was formed by the Christian-democratic Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and the conservative-liberal ...

, and from 2006 to 2008 she was a member of the

. About her

maternity leave Parental leave, or family leave, is an employee benefit available in almost all countries. The term "parental leave" may include maternity, Paternity (law), paternity, and adoption leave; or may be used distinctively from "maternity leave" an ...

during her position as a State Secretary, Van Gennip wrote a

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

in women's magazine '' Margriet''. Van Gennip is also a notable member of

Young Global Leaders Forum of Young Global Leaders, or Young Global Leaders (YGL), was created by Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum. The YGL, a non-profit organization managed from Geneva, Switzerland, is under the supervision of the Swiss government ...

, created by

Klaus Schwab Klaus Martin Schwab (; born 30 March 1938) is a German engineer, economist and founder of the World Economic Forum (WEF). He has acted as the WEF's chairman since founding the organisation in 1971. Life Schwab was born to Eugen Wilhelm Schw ...

, Founder and Executive Chairman of the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

Return to the private sector

In 2008 Van Gennip was appointed Director European & International Affairs for

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 ...

. She left ING in 2020. In 2017, Van Gennip was elected as Vice-Chair of the

International Chamber of Commerce The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC; French: ''Chambre de commerce internationale'') is the largest, most representative business organization in the world. Its over 45 million members in over 100 countries have interests spanning every sec ...

(ICC), the first time a woman has ever held this position. From 2020 to 2022, Van Gennip worked as CEO of Coöperatie VGZ, one of the largest health care insurance companies in the Netherlands.

Other activities

TomTom TomTom N.V. is a Dutch multinational developer and creator of location technology and consumer electronics. Founded in 1991 and headquartered in Amsterdam, TomTom released its first generation of satellite navigation devices to market in 2004. ...

, Member of the Supervisory Board (2021–2022)Karien van Gennip appointed as Supervisory Board Member of TomTom

, press release of 28 October 2021.

References

Sources

*
Parlement.com biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gennip, Karien Van 1968 births Living people Christian Democratic Appeal politicians Delft University of Technology alumni Dutch columnists Dutch management consultants ING Group INSEAD alumni Ministers of Social Affairs of the Netherlands Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) People from Leidschendam State Secretaries for Economic Affairs of the Netherlands Women government ministers of the Netherlands 21st-century Dutch politicians 21st-century Dutch women politicians Dutch women columnists