Speakers

Maria van der Hoeven took over as Executive Director of the IEA on 1 September 2011. Previously, Ms. Van der Hoeven served as Minister of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands from February 2007 to October 2010, during which time she demonstrated leadership on energy policy at the national, regional and global levels.

Ms. Van der Hoeven is a fierce supporter of market principles, and it is her personal conviction that policy and business should work together to render energy production comprehensively more efficient and cleaner by improving energy efficiency, developing and using renewables, and producing and using energy otherwise generated in the cleanest possible and most cost-effective ways. At the same time, she is committed to the original and overarching mission of the IEA: promoting energy security.

Prior to becoming Minister of Economic Affairs, Ms. Van der Hoeven was Minister of Education, Culture and Science from 2002 to 2007. She was an elected member of the Netherlands House of Representatives of the States-General from 1991 to 2002. Until 1987 she was head of the Adult Commercial Vocational Training Centre in Maastricht, after which she served as head of the Limburg Technology Centre until 1991. A native Dutch speaker, Ms. Van der Hoeven is fluent in English and speaks French and German.