Jeroen van der Veer (born 27 October 1947) is a Dutch businessman. He is the chairman of

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters is ...

, and a former chief executive officer (CEO) of

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New ...

Education

Van der Veer graduated in 1971 from the

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 ...

with an

engineer's degree An engineer's degree is an advanced academic degree in engineering which is conferred in Europe, some countries of Latin America, North Africa and a few institutions in the United States. The degree may require a thesis but always requires a non-a ...

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, ...

under

Jan in 't Veld Jan in 't Veld (16 December 1925 – 27 January 2005) was a Dutch aerospace engineer and professor of industrial organization at the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Technical University of Delft. In the Netherlands he was one of the pione ...

, where he had been teaching assistant with prof

Pierre Malotaux Pierre Charles-André Malotaux (28 April 1923 – 14 February 2016) was a Dutch organizational theorist, business consultant, and Professor of Business Administration at the Delft University of Technology. His is known with Jan in 't Veld for deve ...

. He went on to earn a master's degree in economics from

Erasmus University Rotterdam 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 humani ...

. In 2005, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the

University of Port Harcourt The University of Port Harcourt is located in Choba in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, Nigeria. It was established in 1975 as University College, Port Harcourt and was given university status in 1977. The University of Port Harcourt was ran ...

in Nigeria.

Career

Van der Veer joined Shell in 1971 and worked in manufacturing and marketing in the Netherlands,

Curaçao Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coa ...

and the United Kingdom. In March 2007 it was announced that Mr. van der Veer's contract as CEO would be extended to June 2009 some twenty months beyond his normal retirement date of October 2007. He was the first

executive director Executive director is commonly the title of the chief executive officer of a non-profit organization, government agency or international organization. The title is widely used in North American and European not-for-profit organizations, though ...

of Shell to stay in office beyond the age of 60. He retired as chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell June 2009, and remains on the board of directors. He also is a non-executive director of

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy dri ...

and chairman of ''Platform Bèta Techniek'' (which organized the 2010 Science & Technology Summit in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

, which had

Neil Armstrong Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and aeronautical engineer who became the first person to walk on the Moon in 1969. He was also a naval aviator, test pilot, and university professor. ...

and

Steve Wozniak Stephen Gary Wozniak (; born August 11, 1950), also known by his nickname "Woz", is an American electronics engineer, computer programmer, philanthropist, inventor, and entrepreneur, technology entrepreneur. In 1976, with business partner Steve ...

as keynote speakers, an event which Van der Veer headlined). In 2009, Van der Veer was appointed a member of the supervisory board of

. In October 2015, van der Veer was appointed honorary global chairman of London Speaker Bureau, with whom he is also a speaker. In May 2019, van der Veer was appointed as a member in the board of directors of Prorsum, a Swiss sustainable investment advisor.

Personal life

van der Veer is married to Mariette and has three daughters.

Honours

A Royal honour was conferred upon van der Veer to mark his retirement in 2009. He has been appointed by the Queen of the Netherlands as a Commander in the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has ...

. In 2010 Jeroen van der Veer was presented with Singapore's Honorary Citizen Award by President

S.R. Nathan Sellapan Ramanathan (; 3 July 1924 – 22 August 2016),. often known as S. R. Nathan, was a Singaporean politician who served as the sixth president of Singapore between 1999 and 2011. He was also the longest-serving president in Singapore's hi ...

at a ceremony held in Singapore on 25 February 2010. The Honorary Citizen Award is the highest form of recognition for outstanding contributions to the country's growth and development.

References

External links

World Energy Magazine - The Future Is Gas?
Article at worldenergysource.com
World Energy Magazine - Delivering Technology: The Key Role of International Energy Companies
Article at worldenergysource.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Veer, Jeroen van der 1947 births Living people Businesspeople from Utrecht (city) Delft University of Technology alumni Erasmus University Rotterdam alumni Dutch chief executives in the oil industry Chairmen of Philips Unilever people Shell plc people University of Port Harcourt people Chief Executive Officers of Shell plc Equinor people Honorary Citizens of Singapore