I’ve traded field boots for Board papers, but I still keep the map handy. Since last September, I’ve been Senior Advisor and (the most magical job title ever) temporary permanent alternate ED, in the Dutch Executive Director’s Office at the World Bank, where my portfolio spans the Committee on Development Effectiveness (CODE), trade, procurement, and a mix of regional and thematic files.

Before the Boardroom, my compass pointed firmly toward the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I built extensive field experience in the Western Balkans as regional security coordinator on counter‑terrorism issues, and in Kenya as Deputy Ambassador for Somalia, leading a cross‑ministerial team drawn from four ministries.

Back in The Hague, I led the SDG team in the Multilateral and Human Rights Division of the MFA, and did a brisk tour as Principal Private Secretary to the Minister for Trade and Development. An earlier stint at the Ministry of Defense sharpened my instincts for security, operations, and the kind of pragmatism that travels well from briefing room to border crossing.

Before becoming a MFA civil servant, I worked with the OSCE and the United Nations in Kosovo and Tanzania, and throughout my career, got to know the World Bank from the project side—useful context now that I see the institution from the Board bench. I hold a joint master’s spanning The Fletcher School, Columbia SIPA, and Harvard Kennedy School. Off the clock, I once laced up for a professional football club, and I come from a family with three adopted children—perspectives that keep me grounded and focused on inclusive, practical outcomes. I am the proud father of two beautiful and studious daughters who together with my better half remind me every day that love, respect, a sense of duty to making the world a tiny little bit better and a good sense of humor is what life is all about. I look forward to getting to know the intricacies of the Board, the WBG in general and all of you.