Roel de Vries (born April 1968) is a

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

born engineer and businessman. He is Chief Operating Officer at City Football Group.

Biography

Early life

Roel de Vries was born in April 1968 in the Netherlands. He received a bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering from Hogeschool Eindhoven, and a master's degree in Business Administration from the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; , abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen, Netherlands. Founded in 1614, th ...

Career

His first employer was the family's pastry and bakery business. In 1994 de Vries joined Nissan at the European head-office in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

. In 1998, he relocated to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, where he became Director of Marketing and Sales. In South Africa, de Vries "had a chance to meet

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...

a few times. His approach to leadership and getting things done despite circumstances just blew me away." In 2008, de Vries moved to Nissan's Global Headquarters in

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Through 2009, he was General Manager Product Planning General Overseas Markets. From 2009 to 2010, he was Program Director for Nissan's all rear wheel drive vehicles. In November 2010, he was named Corporate Vice President, Global Head of Marketing and Brand Strategy. Under de Vries, Nissan was named one of the best global brands of 2014.

Hobbies

His hobbies include running, golf and skiing.

Cars

In Japan, de Vries drives a

Nissan Elgrand The is a minivan manufactured by Nissan Shatai for Nissan since 1997, available in three generations, with model codes E50 (1997–2002), E51 (2002–2010), and E52 (2010–present). The E50 Elgrand was also configured and produced as a ligh ...

. The first car he bought was a white

Autobianchi A112 The Autobianchi A112 is a supermini car, supermini produced by the Italy, Italian automaker Autobianchi. It was developed using a shrunken version of the contemporary Fiat 128's platform. The mechanicals of the A112 subsequently underpinned the Fi ...

References