Gerrit Zalm

Gerrit Zalm
Gerrit Zalm in 2005
Minister of Economic Affairs
In office 3 July 2006 – 7 July 2006 Ad interim
Prime Minister	Jan Peter Balkenende
Preceded by	Laurens Jan Brinkhorst
Succeeded by	Joop Wijn
Deputy Prime Minister
In office 27 May 2003 – 22 February 2007 Serving with Thom de Graaf (2003–2005) Laurens Jan Brinkhorst (2005–2006)
Prime Minister	Jan Peter Balkenende
Preceded by	Johan Remkes Roelf de Boer
Succeeded by	Wouter Bos André Rouvoet
Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives
In office 23 May 2002 – 27 May 2003
Preceded by	Hans Dijkstal
Succeeded by	Jozias van Aartsen
Parliamentary group	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
In office 16 May 2002 – 27 November 2004
Deputy	See list Annemarie Jorritsma (2002–2003) Jozias van Aartsen (2002–2004)
Preceded by	Hans Dijkstal
Succeeded by	Jozias van Aartsen
Member of the House of Representatives
In office 23 May 2002 – 27 May 2003
In office 19 May 1998 – 3 August 1998
Parliamentary group	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
Minister of Finance
In office 27 May 2003 – 22 February 2007
Prime Minister	Jan Peter Balkenende
Preceded by	Hans Hoogervorst
Succeeded by	Wouter Bos
In office 20 June 1996 – 22 July 2002
Prime Minister	Wim Kok
Preceded by	Hans Wijers (Ad interim)
Succeeded by	Hans Hoogervorst
In office 22 August 1994 – 1 June 1996
Prime Minister	Wim Kok
Preceded by	Wim Kok
Succeeded by	Hans Wijers (Ad interim)
Director of the Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis
In office 1 January 1989 – 22 August 1994
Preceded by	Peter de Ridder
Succeeded by	Henk Don
Personal details
Born	Gerrit Zalm (1952-05-06) 6 May 1952 Enkhuizen, Netherlands
Political party	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (from 1982)
Other political affiliations	Labour Party (1971–1981)
Spouse(s)	First wife ​ ​ (m. 1971; div. 1978)​ Lydia Brouwer ​ (m. 1982)​
Children	3 sons and 2 daughters
Residence(s)	The Hague, Netherlands
Alma mater	Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Bachelor of Economics, Master of Economics)
Occupation	Politician · Civil servant · Economist · Financial analyst · Financial adviser · Businessman · Banker · Corporate director · Professor

Gerrit Zalm (born 6 May 1952) is a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and businessman.

Zalm a economist by occupation, worked as a civil servant for the Ministry of Finance from 1975 until 1983 and for the Ministry of Economic Affairs from 1983 until 1988. Zalm served as Deputy Director of the Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis from 1 January 1988 until 1 January 1989 when he became the Director of the Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, serving from 1 January 1989 until 22 August 1994.

After the election of 1994 Zalm was appointed as Minister of Finance in the Cabinet Kok I, serving from 22 August 1994 until 3 August 1998. After the election of 1998 Zalm was appointed as Informateur together with incumbent Prime Minister Wim Kok of the Labour Party (PvdA) and Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport Els Borst of the Democrats 66 (D66) to make a new coalition agreement that resulted in the formation of the Cabinet Kok II with Zalm continuing as Minister of Finance, serving from 3 August 1998 until 22 July 2002.

Following the election of 2002 the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy suffered a defeat in the election losing 14 seats and now had 24 seats in the House of Representatives. Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and Parliamentary leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy in the House of Representatives Hans Dijkstal accepted responsibility for the defeat and sequentially announced he was stepping down. Zalm as unofficial Deputy Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy was selected as the new Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy on 16 May 2002. Zalm who was elected to the House of Representatives after the election, returned as a Member of the House of Representatives on 23 May 2002 and became the Parliamentary leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy in the House of Representatives that same day. The following cabinet formation resulted in coalition agreement with the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) and the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy that formed the Cabinet Balkenende I, Zalm opted to remain in the House of Representatives instead of a ministerial post. On 16 October 2002 Zalm announced that the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy had lost confidence in the Pim Fortuyn List as a coalition partner, subsequently Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende announced the resignation of the Cabinet.

For the election of 2003 Zalm served as Lijsttrekker. The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy booked a small win in the election, gaining 4 seats and now had 28 seats in the House of Representatives. The following cabinet formation resulted in a coalition agreement with the Christian Democratic Appeal and the Democrats 66 (D66) which formed the Cabinet Balkenende II, with Zalm becoming Deputy Prime Minister and again Minister of Finance, serving from 27 May 2003 until 22 February 2007. Following the fall of the Cabinet on 3 July 2006 Zalm served as acting Minister of Economic Affairs until 7 July 2006 when the caretaker Cabinet Balkenende III was installed.

Shortly thereafter Zalm announced that his retirement from national politics and that he would not stand for the election of 2006. Following the end of his active political career, he became active in the finance industry. Zalm was a financial adviser for the DSB Bank from 1 July 2007 until 1 January 2008 and served as CFO of the DSB Bank from 1 January 2008 until 1 January 2009. Zalm became a corporate director for ABN AMRO serving from 23 December 2008 until 28 February 2008 when he was appointed as CEO and Chairman of ABN AMRO. On 1 April 2010 he became interim CEO and Chairman of Fortis Bank Nederland until it was integrated into the new ABN AMRO Group on 1 July 2010. Zalm served as CEO and Chairman of both ABN AMRO and the ABN AMRO Group until his retirement on 1 February 2017.

Zalm is known for his abilities as a manager and consensus builder. He holds the distinction of being the longest serving Minister of Finance.

Biography

Early life

Following his graduation from high school ("HBS-A" level) in Enkhuizen, Zalm began a study in economics at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, from which he graduated in 1975. In the same year he joined the Ministry of Finance. From 1983 he worked for the Ministry of Economic Affairs, where he eventually became a director. In 1988 he was appointed deputy director of the Centraal Planbureau, a state institution that, among other things, calculates the financial effects of government plans. In 1989 he became director of this institute. In that capacity Zalm had, although not formally a politician, a significant influence on politics. From 1990 he also gave lectures at the Vrije Universiteit.

Gerrit Zalm as the Director of the Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis in 1989.

Politics

Between 22 August 1994 and 22 July 2002, Zalm, member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, was Minister of Finance in the first and second Wim Kok administrations. The Dutch economy being very healthy during those years, he did not experience large difficulties. However, he did introduce certain standards that are in effect until now, among which the Zalmnorm (Zalm standard) which describes a state policy by which the state does not respond extremely to economic fluctuations but just counteracts them.During the first, short Balkenende administration, Zalm was the acting leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy group in parliament. On 27 May 2003 he started his third term as Minister of Finance, in the second Balkenende administration, also serving as Deputy Prime Minister. On 30 June 2006, he succeeded Laurens Jan Brinkhorst as Minister of Economic Affairs, ad interim, with most tasks delegated to Undersecretary Karien van Gennip. On 7 July 2006 Joop Wijn was appointed as the new Minister of Economic Affairs.

Banking

On 26 November 2006, Zalm announced in the Sunday morning talk show Buitenhof that he would step down from politics and would probably seek employment in the private sector. Three months after his 2007 retirement from politics, Zalm went to work for DSB Bank, a company that he had criticized in his earlier role as finance minister for what he considered misleading advertising for consumer credit. He initially held the position of chief economist, but quickly became CFO of the faltering bank after the Dutch central bank DNB had threatened to curtail DSB's financial autonomy.

On 21 November 2008 it was announced by Prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende that Zalm will be the new CEO of the bank resulting from the merger of ABN and Fortis Netherlands, two recently nationalized banks. This new position came under scrutiny after Zalm's previous employer DSB went bankrupt in 2009. The Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) and the central bank both investigated Zalm's role in DSB's final years, with AFM concluding that he was "not competent" and should be dismissed from ABN AMRO's board, while DNB decided to keep Zalm in his position.

Personal

Zalm is a fan of Pinball and during his second term as Minister of Finance he had a pinball machine in his department. He is an honorary member of the Dutch Pinball Association. In 2004 he had a cameo appearance in the movie Cool! by Theo van Gogh. In January 2019, in an episode of the Dutch version of Who Do You Think You Are?, it became known that Zalm is related to rebel leader and pirate Pier Gerlofs Donia, through his mother's family.

Decorations

Honours
Ribbon bar	Honour	Country	Date	Comment
	Commander of the Order of Orange-Nassau	Netherlands	11 April 2007	Elevated from Officer (10 December 2002)

Honorary degrees

Honorary degrees
University	Field	Country	Date	Comment
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam	Economics	Netherlands	20 October 2008

External links

Official

• Template:Nl icon Dr. G. (Gerrit) Zalm Parlement & Politiek