Jeroen van der Veer


Jeroen van der Veer is a Dutch businessman. He is the chairman of Philips, and the former chief executive officer of Royal Dutch Shell.

Education

Van der Veer graduated in 1971 from the Delft University of Technology with an engineer's degree in mechanical engineering under Jan in 't Veld, where he had been teaching assistant with prof Pierre Malotaux. He went on to earn an MSc degree in economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam. In 2005 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Port Harcourt in Nigeria.

Career

Van der Veer joined Shell in 1971 and worked in manufacturing and marketing in the Netherlands, Curaçao 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 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 and chairman of Platform Bèta Techniek.
In 2009, Van der Veer was appointed member of the supervisory board of Philips.
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. In 2010 Jeroen van der Veer was presented with Singapore’s Honorary Citizen Award by President S.R. Nathan 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.