Rien van Gendt
was Executive Director of the Van Leer Group Foundation from 2002 until October 2007. He graduated as an economist from the University of Amsterdam in 1967 and received his doctorate in Economic Studies in 1980. He worked as Head of Program in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris and subsequently in the public sector (Deputy Secretary of the Scientific Council for Government Policy and Deputy Director of the State Administration Limburg) and the private sector (Executive Director of Wilma Vastgoed B.V.) before joining the Bernard Van Leer Foundation in 1988 as Executive Director. He serves on the Boards of several foundations, not for-profit organizations and corporations like BoardSource (USA), Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (USA) and the Jewish Humanitarian Fund (the Netherlands).