Leendert "Leen" Verbeek (born 5 March 1954) is a Dutch politician, who was serving as the King's Commissioner of Flevoland from 2008 to 2023. A member of the Labour Party (PvdA), he previously served as

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Purmerend Purmerend () is a city and municipality in the west of the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. The city is surrounded by polders, such as the Purmer, Beemster and the Wormer. Purmerend's population grew relatively slowly until the 1960s ...

from 2003 to 2008. Verbeek spent his early years in

Eindhoven Eindhoven ( ; ) is a city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, located in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant, of which it is the largest municipality, and is also locat ...

. After the MULO (current-day VMBO) and a year of

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, he attended the Academy for Educational Labour in Baarn. He then started to work as a youth worker in

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

. Ten years later, Verbeek started his political career through political institutions, ending up as an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

in Houten (1989–96). He was appointed Mayor of

seven years after he left the political sphere. In between, he was director of a self-created company. On 18 December 2007, it was announced that Verbeek was a candidate for Mayor of

along with Rob van Gijzel. A

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

was held on 23 January 2008, in which Verbeek scored 33% of the votes, but because the required number of voters was not met, the referendum was nullified and the decision was made in-house, which resulted in Van Gijzel being appointed Mayor of Eindhoven.De heer Van Gijzel voorgedragen als burgemeester van Eindhoven
, Nederlands Genootschap van Burgemeesters, 25 January 2008. Verbeek was replaced by Fons Hertog as Mayor of Purmerend in November 2008, as Verbeek was appointed the Queen's Commissioner (in 2013 the title changed to King's Commissioner) for the province of Flevoland.

References

*
Parlement.com biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Verbeek, Leen 1954 births Living people Aldermen in Utrecht (province) Dutch civil servants Dutch social workers King's and Queen's Commissioners of Flevoland Labour Party (Netherlands) politicians Mayors in North Holland People from Eindhoven People from Houten People from Leiderdorp People from Purmerend