The board
Hans Blankvoort
Chairman
Hans Blankvoort (1948) was born in Medan, Sumatra where his father started his banking career in 1938. After a stay in Jakarta he moved to Hong Kong and later the Netherlands. He finished high school in Amersfoort and studied Law at Leyden University and Business Administration at the Interfaculty in Delft.
It were the years at Delft that Blankvoort revisited Indonesia and travelled through Java and ultimately to Bali. The very first memory after landing and driving into Jakarta was the smell of Sateh mixed with the odor of Kretek.
His career started at Bank Mees & Hope, where he got to know Marinus Plantema, who was the General Manager of the bank in Hamburg, Germany. After Mr Plantema retired, Blankvoort was transferred to Hamburg for the bank and took over the General Manager position.
Just before the Fall of the Berlin Wall (9-11-1989) Blankvoort became the General Manager of the bank in London. In 1991 Blankvoort visited Indonesia again; this time with his father for a sentimental journey. This time also Medan, Lake Toba and various other places on Sumatra were visited and the places in Java where the youth were spent, like Kebon Sirih and Megamendung. From 1994 till 1997 and after the merger of the bank into MeesPierson Blankvoort took the helm of the Corporate banking side of the newly merged bank.
After having spent 5 years in the Dutch Antilles, till 2002, Blankvoort returned to the Netherlands where he spent the last 8 years of his career as Director of Fortis Lease/ BNP Paribas Lease.
Nowadays he is retired, enjoying life with his wife, 3 children and five grandchildren. He plays on a regular basis golf, bridge and visits his daughter and family who enjoy a life in the Middle East after having spent 10 years in Africa.
Robert Quarles van Ufford
Secretary Board member
Robert Quarles van Ufford (1967) is a heritage professional and director in the cultural sector. During his diplomatic career, he worked for four years at the Dutch embassy in Jakarta. His love for Indonesian culture and language has been nurtured since early childhood, when he started learning Bahasa Indonesia at the age of 14. During his studies in history and linguistics at Leiden University, Quarles studied at the Universitas Padjadjaran in Bandung and he was associated with the Royal Institute of Language, Land and Ethnology in Leiden.
After his diplomatic career (in Thailand, Suriname and Indonesia) he was Secretary-General of UNESCO Netherlands, director of the National Monuments Organization (NMo) and chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Monuments Property Foundation (SMB). As chairman of the independent expert group World Heritage, he advised the Minister of Education, Culture and Science on World Heritage. And as chairman of ICOMOS Netherlands, he was active in the Dutch and international heritage world for many years.
Quarles is currently working for the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague and president of the Dutch Castles Foundation (Nederlandse Kastelen Stichting). He is also active in a European context as National Coordinator of Europa Nostra, where he is the voice of the Dutch cultural heritage sector. Furthermore he is a member of the Supervisory Board of the Cultural Participation Fund (Fonds voor Cultuurparticipatie).
Quarles has a broad network in politics, civil society, business and cultural funds and institutions. He was trained as a historian, linguist and diplomat at Leiden University, Oxford University (UK), Cornell University (USA), School for Oriental and African Studies (UK) and the Clingendael Institute. He is married and has three children.
Han van der Veen
Treasurer
After graduating in Law and Business Administration, I left for Africa to work for the United Nations in the field of Development Co-operation. I lived in Zaire (now Congo) and The Gambia. Thereafter I joined the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO).
In 1988 I was appointed Head of the Indonesia Representative Office of FMO in Jakarta. My wife Maaike, myself and our 3 kids moved to Indonesia, where we lived for more than 10 years. Our fourth child was born in Jakarta. After finishing my term for FMO, I switched jobs and became Direktur Keuangan dan Administrasi of PT Delta Djakarta, the Jakarta based beer brewery known for its Anker Bir brand.
At the time of joining, the Board was genuinely multi-cultural, the President-Director being Javanese, the Commercial Director being from Sumatra, the Production Director from the Moluccans and the Finance Director from Holland. Looking back on our stay in Indonesia, it was probably the best time of my life. The brewery flourished, a new brewery was built in Bekasi, east of Jakarta. I got the chance to travel throughout the archipelago and saw many marvellous places.
I fell in love with the country and its people. As the only “Belanda” in the brewery, I had to converse in Bahasa, which actually was a great advantage.
In late 1998 my family went back to the Netherlands. I was appointed in the Board of Directors of Bavaria NV, the number two brewery in the Netherlands. This is where I worked till my retirement in 2015. Meanwhile I kept visiting Indonesia. I still take great interest in Indonesia, in its culture and particularly in the new generations, to see how they develop and how they do it in their own way. And to see how new relations are being forged between Indonesians and Dutch. I see it as an honour to may contribute a tiny little bit towards this development.