Neelie Kroes

Neelie Kroes, born on July nineteenth, nineteen forty-one, is a distinguished retired Dutch politician and businessperson, known for her significant contributions to the European Union as a European Commissioner from November twenty-second, two thousand four, to November first, two thousand fourteen. A graduate of the Rotterdam School of Economics, she earned a Master of Economics degree and began her career as a researcher at her alma mater before transitioning into various corporate roles.

Kroes entered the political arena shortly after the election of nineteen seventy-one, becoming a Member of the House of Representatives on August third, nineteen seventy-one. She quickly established herself as a frontbencher and spokesperson for Transport and Education. Her political journey saw her appointed as State Secretary for Transport and Water Management in the Cabinet Van Agt–Wiegel on December twenty-eighth, nineteen seventy-seven, and later as Minister of Transport and Water Management in the Cabinet Lubbers I on November fourth, nineteen eighty-two.

After a brief hiatus from active politics, Kroes returned to serve in the Cabinet Lubbers II and announced her semi-retirement in June nineteen eighty-nine. She then took on various roles in the private and public sectors, including serving as Rector Magnificus of the Nyenrode Business University from June nineteen ninety-one to January two thousand. In October two thousand four, she was nominated as the European Commissioner for Competition, later taking on the role of Vice-President for the Digital Agenda in the Second Barroso Commission.

Upon retiring from active politics at the age of seventy-three, Kroes continued her engagement in the corporate and non-profit sectors, advocating for startup companies and entrepreneurship. She is celebrated as the first female Minister of Transport in the Netherlands, a role that has inspired a tradition of women serving in this capacity since nineteen eighty-two, with only a few exceptions.