A Dutch citizen, I
moved to New York City in 1983, after my high school graduation, and started my
career in the mail room of The Garth Group, Inc., a world-renowned strategic
communications firm specializing in political campaigns and corporate
communications.
I worked my way up
through the research and production departments while earning a Bachelors
Degree in Political Science from Columbia University, and was ultimately
promoted to President of The Garth Group in 1993 after playing an key
role in the election campaign of Rudy Giuliani for Mayor of New York.
Throughout my
seventeen-year career in the United States, I worked on the political campaigns
of Walter Mondale (NYS Presidential Primary 1984), Al Gore (NYS Presidential
Primary 1988), John Heinz (Pennsylvania Senate 1988) Ed Koch (NYC Mayor 1985,
1989), Rudy Giuliani (NYC Mayor 1993), Mario Cuomo (NYS Governor 1994), Irene
Saez (Venezuela President 1998), Arlen Specter (Pennsylvania Senate 1986, 1992,
1998), and the PPD Party of Puerto Rico (Plebiscite 1998; Primaries 1999).
In addition, I worked
on a number of corporate strategy and marketing projects for various companies,
including General Foods, the Anti Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, the
National League for Nursing, Planned Parenthood, the Health Insurance Plan of
New York, American Media, and the Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Sons of
Bermuda.
I returned to Europe
in 2001 and became campaign strategist for “Leefbaar Nederland”, the Dutch
political party that launched the career of the late Pim Fortuyn and shook up
the Dutch political establishment. I worked closely with Mr. Fortuyn until
February of 2002, when Mr. Fortuyn left to form his own party.
In 2006 I became a
partner at HVR Communications in the Hague, a subsidiary of TBWA Worldwide. In
2008 I launched my current firm, Press Strategies, specializing in press
strategy and crisis communications. During the past ten years, my clients in
Europe have included Arbo Unie, Boehringer Ingelheim,
Casema, Curaçao, Ditzo, Deloitte, Fortis, Kamer van Koophandel Nederland, Ministry of OC&W, Vodafone and Ziggo.
If you want to know more, please don't hesitate to contact me.
