Jeroen Van der Veer

Former CEO of Royal Dutch Shell. Director of Shell and Unilever.

Jeroen is currently a Non-Executive Director of Shell , Vice-Chairman of Unilever, Vice-Chairman of the Supervisory Board of ING, and a member of the Supervisory Board of Royal Philips Electronics. He was Chief Executive of Shell from 2004 to 2009.

Jeroen joined Shell in 1971 and worked in manufacturing and marketing in the Netherlands, Curaçao and the United Kingdom. In 1984, he returned to Shell Nederland as manager of Corporate Planning, and then of the Pernis refinery in Rotterdam. After an assignment coordinating Shell businesses in Africa and Canada, he became a Managing Director of Shell Nederland in 1992. He led major reorganisations and a $2 billion upgrade of the Pernis refinery.

In 1995, he moved to the United States as President and Chief Executive of the Shell Chemical Company. He was appointed a Group Managing Director in 1997. Chemicals remained one of his areas of responsibility and he oversaw the worldwide restructuring of the business.

Jeroen was named Chief Executive in 2004 and led Shell through major change, simplifying governance and organisation, while clarifying accountabilities.

In 2009 Jeroen was appointed Vice-Chairman of a group of experts who will draw up recommendations for a new Strategic Concept for NATO.