Mr. Aart JAN DE GEUS

Aart Jan de Geus was born in Doorn on 28 July 1955.

After first studying accountancy, he studied law at the Erasmus University, Rotterdam, graduating in 1980. In 1981 he completed a postgraduate course in labour law at Nijmegen University.

From 1974 to 1975, Mr De Geus worked as an assistant accountant and project leader for Pelser Hamelburg, Van Til and Co., Accountants. He then worked for three years as a part-time bookkeeper for Wijers, a firm specialising in consultancy, financial, tax and bookkeeping services for doctors.

From 1980 he worked for the Industrial Sector of the Christian Trade Union Federation (CNV). He started out as an assistant administrative officer, and went on to become a legal policy officer and then a member of the executive board.

In 1988, he moved to the CNV Federation, becoming its vice-chairman in 1993, with social security, pensions, health and manpower services in his portfolio. In this capacity, he was a member of the board of both the Labour Foundation and the Social and Economic Council.

In 1998 he was made a partner at Boer & Croon Strategy & Management Group in Amsterdam. Many of the projects he was involved in centred on problems associated with the welfare state, and his clients were both public sector organisations and private parties.

Mr De Geus has also been a member of the supervisory board of Maastricht Teaching Hospital, of the advisory board of the Association of Dutch Health Insurance and of the social issues committee of the Council of Churches, as well as chairman of the board of the Dutch Refugee Council.

From 22 July 2002, Mr De Geus was Minister of Social Affairs and Employment in the first Balkenende government and from 16 October 2002 he was also responsible for managing the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. A member of the Christian Democratic Alliance (CDA), he was re-appointed Minister of Social Affairs and Employment in the second Balkenende government on 27 May 2003.