Jacques Tichelaar

Jacques Tichelaar (born 2 January 1953 in Heerenveen) is a Dutch politician and former trade union leader and educator. He is a member of the Labour Party (Partij van de Arbeid). Since 1 May 2009 he has been the Queen's Commissioner (since 30 April 2013 named King's Commissioner) of the province of Drenthe. Previously he was an MP from 2002 to 2009 and Parliamentary group leader from 2007 to 2008.

Biography

In 1973 Tichelaar finished his havo and enrolled at the Academy for Pedagogy in Heerenveen. In 2002 he received an honorary doctorate in business administration from Kingston University.

Before he entered politics, Tichelaar was vice-director of a grammar school, general secretary of the education labour union ABOP and chair of its successor AOB, which is affiliated with the FNV, the major Dutch federation of labour unions. Since the 2002 election he was a member of the House of Representatives. He focused on education and agriculture. He was also chair of the committee for finance.

During the 2006–2007 Dutch cabinet formation, Tichelaar was secondant of Wouter Bos during the confidential negotiations. He was unexpectedly chosen over MPs like Nebahat Albayrak, the PvdA's second candidate on the list, because of his experience with negotiations from his union years. Tichelaar had also spent years talking with CDA leader Maxime Verhagen about why the 2003 information talks between the two parties had failed, and understood the CDA best among MPs.^[1]

See also

• List of Dutch politicians

References

• (Dutch) Parlement.com biography

King's Commissioners
Jacques Tichelaar (Drenthe) Leen Verbeek (Flevoland) John Jorritsma (Friesland) Clemens Cornielje (Gelderland) René Paas (Groningen) Theo Bovens (Limburg) Wim van de Donk (North Brabant) Johan Remkes (North Holland) Ank Bijleveld (Overijssel) Jaap Smit (South Holland) Willibrord van Beek (Utrecht) Han Polman (Zeeland)