Industry & Services >> CEO Interviews >> May 15, 2000
Born in Amsterdam in 1940, HANS ZWARTS began his career as Deputy
Secretary of an employers' organisation in the printing & allied
industries from 1963 to 1970. He was subsequently appointed Head of the
personnel department of Eindhovense Drukkerij, a subsidiary of Philips,
and in 1972 he joined publishing house Kluwer as Head of the personnel
department of the division of Printing Companies and Newspapers. In
1977, Zwarts was appointed Director of Personnel and Social Affairs of
Vredestein, where he was instrumental in the far-reaching restructuring
and turnaround of that company. Zwarts was also responsible for managing
two product lines as well as several projects focusing on the renewal of
the production organisation. In 1984 Zwarts was made Director of Group
Staff, Personnel and Organisation of ING Bank. In 1988 he was appointed
to the position of Director of ING Bank Nederland's Domestic Business
Relations division, a position that gave him control of the branch
network. He continued to hold this responsibility when in 1991 he
became Chairman of the Board of Management of ING Bank Nederland. His
most recent post with the ING Group was that of member of the Executive
Committee of ING Nederland, a position to which he was appointed in
1995. In this capacity, he was responsible for ING Bank Nederland, ING
Lease and RVS (an insurance company) in the Netherlands. As a strategic
account manager, Zwarts had commercial responsibility for approximately
eighty Dutch corporate relationships. His responsibilities also included
policy coordination in the field of marketing, synergy and small to
medium-sized companies. Zwarts remains a member of the supervisory
boards of several Dutch companies and chairs the VNO-NCW Committee for
'Grotestedenbeleid'. On September 1, 1997, Mr. Zwarts joined the Group
Executive Board of the Randstad Group as Executive Vice President. In
May of 1998, Zwarts succeeded Frits Goldschmeding, founder of the
Randstad Group, as President and Chief Executive Officer. Profile
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Mr. Zwarts: Today, the Randstad Group is the third largest
