Mr Ewald van Vliet

In the late 1980s, he started as a teacher in primary education before becoming director of several primary schools in The Hague. After attending the primary education teacher-training college (Pabo), he took the secondary education teacher-training programme (MO-opleiding) in Educational Theory and Educational Studies, specialising in management and policy. Afterwards, he became a school supervisor and team leader at the Hague School Counselling Centre.

In 2002, after serving on the city council for 8 years, he became alderman in the then municipality of Monster and joined the steering committee for the merger that led to the formation of the municipality of Westland. In that municipality, he became alderman and deputy mayor. He was also a member of the Executive Board of the Haaglanden urban region, with the economy portfolio, and chair of the Supervisory Boards of Westland Energie and cable company CAIW.

In 2007, he was appointed mayor of the merged municipality of Lansingerland (Bleiswijk, Bergschenhoek and Berkel en Rodenrijs) with approximately 60,000 inhabitants. Furthermore, he was a member of the Executive Board of the Rotterdam city region, with the portfolios economy and resources. In addition, he has held various executive and supervisory positions, including 9 years as chair of WorldSkills Netherlands.

In 2014, he returned from public administration to education as chair of the Executive Board of Lucas Onderwijs. Within this educational umbrella organisation, considerable attention is paid to the continuous development of students up to about 18 years of age. Cooperation between childcare, welfare and education and internationalisation are important themes in the strategic policy plan of Lucas Onderwijs.