Jan van Zanen
Mayor of The Hague
Jan van Zanen was born in 1961 and spent his youth in Edam-Volendam. After high school, he completed his law studies at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam and at Cornell Law School in Ithaca, New York, USA in 1985. He completed his military service as a reserve officer in the Royal Netherlands Air Force. After that, he worked as a board and executive secretary at a national business association until 1998.
From 1990, Van Zanen was a municipal councillor in Utrecht, after which he became alderman for finance, economic affairs, public space and monuments in 1998. In the period 2003-2008 he was national chairman of the VVD.
From July 2005 to December 2013, Van Zanen was mayor of Amstelveen. On January 1, 2014, he became mayor of Utrecht. From June 2015 to June 2023, Jan van Zanen was chairman of the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG). On July 1, 2020, Jan van Zanen became mayor of The Hague.
Furthermore, Jan van Zanen is, among other things:
- Chair of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), from October 2024
- Member of the VNG Committee on Europe and International, from 14 June 2023
- co-chair Strong Cities Network, from June 14, 2023
