Jacqueline Vaessen is and will also remain general manager of Nexstep, a national platform for the reuse and dismantling of oil and gas infrastructure. She studied chemical technology and started her working life as a technologist at Shell in Moerdijk. In 1996 she switched to Syntens, the then innovation instrument of Economic Affairs. She started her own company in 2004 and was active for many years in the promotion of technology and improvements in vocational education. She was also associated with an engineering firm for a number of years that focused on making industry more sustainable. In 2015 she became a member of the State Secretary Mona Keijzer (EZK) has appointed Jacqueline Vaessen as the new figurehead of the Dutch Top Sector ChemistryNL. She succeeds Emmo Meijer, who has fulfilled this role for over four years.
Emmo Meijer, the outgoing figurehead, has done a great deal of work to promote a Top Sector that gives priority to increasing the sustainability of chemical activities. He will continue to work on this at EU level.
The Top Sector ChemistryNL is one of the ten Top Sectors in which Dutch industry, knowledge institutes, government and social initiatives contribute to solving global societal challenges and capitalising on the associated economic opportunities. ChemistryNL focuses on various missions within the mission themes set by the Cabinet Energy Transition & Sustainability, Agriculture, Water & Food and Health & Care.
Image: Hannah van der Blij/Top Sector ChemistryNL
