Jeroen van der Veer is Chief Executive of Royal Dutch Shell plc.
Until 3 March 2004 he was also Chief Executive Officer of Shell Chemicals Limited.
Career background The opportunity for overseas experience was a major factor in Jeroen van der Veer’s decision to join Shell after military service.
His first degree was in mechanical engineering. Later he studied economics. His first Shell appointment was in process design, followed by a period on the ’shop floor’ in maintenance at Pernis. His career has also included manufacturing operations in Curatao and Pernis in the Netherlands. Other postings were in Corporate Planning for Shell Nederland, and in marketing with Shell UK’s liquefied petroleum gas business, extending and restructuring it to achieve profitability.
Jeroen’s strong interest in people, and how different backgrounds can find consistent expression within Shell, came to the fore during his period as Area Co-ordinator for Africa and Liaison Officer for Canada. This enabled him to appreciate how Shell operating companies are exposed to very different circumstances.
The management of change has been a constant feature of his postings, especially at Shell Nederland, where he was Managing Director and oversaw the investment of USD 2,000 million in the ‘Per plus’ project at Pernis - one of the largest of Shell’s operations worldwide, including both refining and chemicals manufacture.
Jeroen joined the Committee of Managing Directors (CMD) from the Shell Chemical Company in the USA, where he was President and Chief Executive. In the USA he was very involved in the transformation of the Shell Chemical Company (a part of Shell Oil Company) and he sponsored the reward and recognition initiative. This reflects his strongly held view: it is important to allow people to contribute to Shell in their own way while the leadership helps them to focus their energy on what matters.
Jeroen is an Advisory Director of Unilever, serving as a member of the Nomination and Remuneration Committees. In July 2002, he took up the world presidency of the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI), a post he will hold for two years.
Personal life Jeroen is married to Mariette, and has three daughters. His interest in human development is reflected in a love for visiting museums on his travels. He keeps fit with golf playing off a 16 handicap. He has skated two of the Netherlands’ ‘eleven-cities’ tours, in 1986 and 1997.
