Patrick van Haute, Executive Director of the OECD

Mr. Patrick van Haute has been appointed Executive Director of the OECD effective from 1 June 2007.

Mr. van Haute, a Belgium national, was born on 20 October 1951. From 1969 to 1974, he studied at the University of Notre-Dame de la Paix in Namur, where he obtained a Masters degree in economic and social sciences. In 1975, he graduated from the Catholic University of Leuven with an M.A. in international economic relations.

After serving three years at the Société Générale de Banque from 1976 to 1979, Mr. van Haute joined the Belgian diplomacy in 1979 and was successively posted in Prague (1980), Bonn (1981-1985), Washington D.C. (1992-1996), Singapore (1996-1999), the Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam (1996-1999) and the OECD (2004-2007).

During his stays in Belgium, he held positions such as spokesman for the Foreign Ministry (1985-1988), Economic adviser to the King of the Belgians (1988-1992), Director for Asia in the Foreign Ministry (1999-2002), Chief of Staff of the Foreign Trade Minister (2002-2003) and Chief of Staff of the Secretary of State for European Affairs (2003-2004).

As Executive Director of the OECD, Mr. van Haute manages the OECD’s assets and is responsible for the infrastructure and delivery of the main services of the organisation, including Human Resources management, Budget and financial management, Information and communications technologies, Operations and Conference, language and security services. During the last years, the OECD has been reforming the management of its resources, both human and financial, and updating and refining OECD rules and processes to better serve Member countries.