Gerardus Johannes Wijers (born 11 January 1951) is the current CEO of AkzoNobel. From 1994 until 1998 he was a minister of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 for the liberal democrats party D66

Democrats 66

Democrats 66 is a progressive and social-liberal political party in the Netherlands. D66 was formed in 1966 by a group of politically unaligned, young intellectuals, led by journalist Hans van Mierlo. The party's main objective was to democratise the political system; it proposed to create an...

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Personal

Hans Wijers was born in Oostburg

Oostburg

Oostburg is a town in the south-western Netherlands. It is the largest town in the municipality of Sluis, in the province of Zeeland. As of 1 January 2005, its population is 5,008. It received city rights in 1237....

, the Netherlands, on 11 January 1951.

After secondary school at Hogere burgerschool

Hogere burgerschool

The Hogere burgerschool or HBS was a secondary school type in the Netherlands, existing between 1863 and 1974. The school, with a five or sometimes six year program, was continued in 1968 as havo and vwo. The last hbs diplomas were given out in 1974.-External links:*...

 (HBS-B) level, Wijers studied Economics at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, where he graduated in 1976. As assistant professor, he taught Economics at the Erasmus University

Erasmus University

Erasmus University Rotterdam is a university in the Netherlands, located in Rotterdam. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th century humanist and theologian...

, and in 1982 received a doctorate

Doctorate

A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...

 for his research in "Industrial politics: the design of governmental policy for industrial sectors".

Hans Wijers lives together with Dr Edith A. Sijmons, gynaecologist. They have a daughter (1992) and son (1994), and live in Utrecht

Utrecht (city)

Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...

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Career

From 1982 till 1984, Wijers worked as a civil servant at the ministry of Social Affairs and Labour and later at the ministry of Economic Affairs. Subsequently, he became a management consultant at The Boston Consulting Group for, among others, Bakkenist, Spits & Co.

As minister of Economic affairs from 1994 onward, he was responsible for the law change regarding the extending of shop opening hours, and the coined the Competition Regulation law. A short period he was interim minister of Finance, during illness of Gerrit Zalm

Gerrit Zalm

Gerrit Zalm is a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy . He served as Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister from May 27, 2003 until February 22, 2007 in the Cabinets Balkenende II and III. He served earlier as Minister of Finance in the Cabinets Kok I and...

, the minister at the time. Wijers completed one full four-year period of the Dutch ministerial cabinet until 1998. Then he chose to continue his career in consultancy, where he became senior vice president of the Boston Consulting Group

Boston Consulting Group

The Boston Consulting Group is a global management consulting firm with offices in 42 countries. It is recognized as one of the most prestigious management consulting firms in the world. It is one of only three companies to appear in the top 15 of Fortunes "Best Companies to Work For" report for...

. As a secondary job from 1999 until 2003, Wijers also was president of the Dutch tributary of the World Wildlife Fund.

Since May 2003, he has been the president of the Board of Management

Board of directors

A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...

 of AkzoNobel; Sulzer AG

Sulzer (manufacturer)

Sulzer Ltd. is a Swiss industrial engineering and manufacturing firm, founded by Salomon Sulzer-Bernet in 1775 and established as Sulzer Brothers Ltd. in 1834 in Winterthur, Switzerland. Today it is a publicly owned company with international subsidiaries...

 CEO Ton Büchner has been selected to replace him when Wijers exits AkzoNobel in 2012. Additional to his work for AkzoNobel, Wijers is non-executive director at Royal Dutch Shell

Royal Dutch Shell

Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...

, Chairman of the Oranje Fonds and the Ubbo Emmius

Ubbo Emmius

Ubbo Emmius was a German historian and geographer.-Early life:Ubbo Emmius was born on 5 December 1557 in Greetsiel, East Frisia, Germany. From the ages of 9 to 18 Emmius studied in a Latin school, before having to leave on the death of his father, a Lutheran preacher...

 Fund Foundation at the University of Groningen

University of Groningen

The University of Groningen , located in the city of Groningen, was founded in 1614. It is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands as well as one of its largest. Since its inception more than 100,000 students have graduated...

. He is also active for the Concertgebouw

Concertgebouw

The Concertgebouw is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" literally translates into English as "concert building"...

, the Young Pianist Foundation and the European Round Table of Industrialists

European Round Table of Industrialists

The European Round Table of Industrialists was born out of a growing preoccupation with thestate of the European economy in the early 1980s. Frequently diagnosed as “eurosclerosis”, the...

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