Rien van Gendt

Rien van Gendt is the retired Executive Director of the Van Leer Group Foundation in Amstelveen, Netherlands. Previously, he worked at the University of Amsterdam, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, and served in the Netherlands as Deputy Secretary of the Scientific Council for Government Policy in the Cabinet of the Prime Minister and as Deputy Director of the State Administration Limburg. After his retirement in October 2007, he started Van Gendt Philanthropy Services.

Rien serves on the supervisory/advisory boards of several foundations, non-profit organizations and corporations in the Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland and the United States, including the European Cultural Foundation, Edli Foundation, IMC Weekend School, GSRD Foundation, and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. He is a Member of the Scientific Committee of the Think Tank Long Term Investing of the Collegio Carlo Alberto in Turin (Italy), is teaching at the International Training Center of the ILO in Turin (Italy) and is an advisor to the Compagnia di San Paolo in Italy. In 2005, Rien received the Distinguished Grantmaker Award in the United States and, in 2013, the European Philanthropy Compass Prize.

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