Medy Catharina van der Laan (born 14 August 1968) is a Dutch businesswoman, former civil servant and retired politician who served as State Secretary at the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science in charge of culture, media and art under Prime Minister

Jan Peter Balkenende Jan Pieter Balkenende Jr. ( ; born 7 May 1956), commonly known as Jan Peter Balkenende, is a Dutch jurist and politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 to 14 October 20 ...

's second cabinet (2003–2006). A member of the

Democrats 66 Democrats 66 (; D66) is a social liberal and progressive political party in the Netherlands, which is positioned on the centre to centre-left of the political spectrum. It is a member of the Liberal International (LI) and the Alliance of Li ...

(D66) party, which she joined in 1994, she previously was an assistant to State Secretary Jacob Kohnstamm at the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

. Van der Laan first joined the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

in 1991 as a civil servant.

Career

A native of

Spijkenisse Spijkenisse () is a large town in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. Following an administrative reform in 2015, it is part of the List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of Nissewaard, and ha ...

, Medy van der Laan studied Dutch law at

Radboud University Nijmegen Radboud University (abbreviated as RU, , formerly ) is a public university, public research university located in Nijmegen, Netherlands. RU has seven faculties and more than 24,000 students. Established in 1923, Radboud University has consistentl ...

(then Catholic University Nijmegen), where she graduated in 1990. She then worked as a civil servant for the government until her appointment as State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science under the Second Balkenende cabinet in 2003. She retained the office until she presented her resignation to Queen

Beatrix Beatrix is a Latin feminine given name, most likely derived from ''Viatrix'', a feminine form of the Late Latin name ''Viator'' which meant "voyager, traveller" and later influenced in spelling by association with the Latin word ''beatus'' or "ble ...

in 2006 alongside those of Alexander Pechtold and

Laurens Jan Brinkhorst Laurens Jan Brinkhorst (born 18 March 1937) is a retired Netherlands, Dutch politician and diplomat of the Democrats 66 (D66) party and jurist. Early life and education Laurens-Jan Brinkhorst was born in the city of Zwolle. His parents were ...

, which led to the fall of the cabinet. In 2015, Van der Laan became chairwoman of the trade association Energie-Nederland. In 2021, she became chairwoman of the Dutch Association of Banks (NVB) and entered the

Social and Economic Council The Social and Economic Council (Dutch language, Dutch: ''Sociaal-Economische Raad'', SER) is a major economic advisory council to the cabinet of the Netherlands. Formally it heads a Publiekrechtelijke Bedrijfsorganisatie, system of sector-based ...

(SER)."mr. M.C. (Medy) van der Laan"

(in Dutch).

References

External links

*
Parlement.com biography
1968 births Living people Radboud University Nijmegen alumni Democrats 66 politicians Dutch women in politics Dutch human resource management people People from Spijkenisse State Secretaries for Education of the Netherlands Members of the Social and Economic Council {{netherlands-politician-stub