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Neelie Kroes
Neelie Kroes was born in Rotterdam in 1941. She is a Dutch politician and businesswoman, who earned a master of science in economics from Erasmus University in 1965. Ms. Kroes has served as the European commissioner for competition since 2004. She has had an impressive career in both business and politics: she became a member of parliament in the Netherlands for the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) in 1971, and served as the Dutch state secretary of Transport and Water Management (from 1977–1981) and minister of Transport and Water Management (from 1982–1989). During her time as a minister, she was responsible for the privatization of the postal and telephone services as well as for commissioning the Betuwe Railway.
After leaving her post as minister, Ms. Kroes served as a member of the Rotterdam Chamber of Commerce, as well as a board member at various Dutch companies such as Ballast Nedam (a shipping company), ABP-PGGM (a pension fund), NIB (an investment bank), McDonald’s Netherlands, Nedlloyd, Nederlandse Spoorwegen (the privatized Dutch railroad company), and Lucent Technologies (an information and communication technologies company). In 1991, Ms. Kroes became chairwoman of Nyenrode University, a prestigious private Dutch business school. Parallel to her main business and political activities, Ms. Kroes is active in cultural and social organizations. She is chairwoman of Poets of All Nations, Delta Psychiatric Hospital, and the board of Rembrandt House Museum.
Ms. Kroes has been on Forbes’ list of the World’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women since 2005, with the 2007 list placing her at number 59. She was named a knight of the order of the Dutch Lion in 1981, and a grand officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau in 1989. In 1993, she was named Woman of the Year in Infrastructure by the International Road Federation.