Keynote Speaker: Maria van der Hoeven

Maria van der Hoeven

• Senior Fellow Clingendael International Energy Programme
• Former Minister of the Netherlands & Former Executive Director International Energy Agency

Ms Maria van der Hoeven is a Dutch professional with broad political and managerial expertise.

Her political career started in 1974 when she was elected as member of the City Council of Maastricht, her home town. In 1991 she became Member of Parliament. In this capacity she fulfilled several functions within her caucus. She was vice-president of the House of Parliament for several years.

From 2002 to 2007 Ms van der Hoeven served as Minister of Education, Culture and Science of the Netherlands and from 2007 to 2010 as Minister of Economic Affairs and Energy. In both capacities she demonstrated leadership at national, regional and EU level.

Ms van der Hoeven took over as Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) on 1 September 2011 and led the IEA during a period of exceptional change in the global energy economy, as rapidly shifting supply/demand balances for oil and other major fuels transform the IEA’s traditional mandate. Her mandate ended on 31 August 2015.

She served on the Advisory Board for the UN Sustainable Energy for All initiative from 2013-2015. Since 2014 she has been a member of the UN Advisory Council for "Powering the Future We Want- Recognising Innovative Practices in Energy for Sustainable Development".

Since September 2015 Ms van der Hoeven has been a member of the Board of Trustees of Rocky Mountain Institute in Colorado (US) and senior fellow at Clingendael International Energy Program (CIEP).

Since spring 2016 Ms van der Hoeven has been a member of the Board of Directors of Total (France) and a member of the Supervisory Board of INNOGY (Germany).

Since October 2016 Ms van der Hoeven has been vice chairman of the High-Level Panel of the European Decarbonisation Pathways Initiative  (European Commission).