Biography Gerard van Harten

Gerard van Harten was appointed President and Chairman of the Board of Dow Benelux, responsible for all Dow locations in the Benelux, in March 2002.

From 2002 until 2006 Gerard also held the position of Site Leader for the Terneuzen site. In February 2004, he added the role of Vice-President Manufacturing & Engineering for Hydrocarbons and Energy, responsible for the global operations of the HC&E Business Group.

Gerard started his career with Dow in 1977 as a Process Engineer in Terneuzen. After several positions in Process Engineering, Process Control and Maintenance, he relocated to Freeport, Texas, in 1988 to lead the design of the LHC-8 project. Returning to Terneuzen in 1991, he became responsible for the Aromatics/Butadiene-2/3 operations. In 1995 he assumed the role of Production Manager for LHC operations in Terneuzen.
In 1998 he again moved to Freeport, Texas, to lead the Hydrocarbons and Energy Manufacturing Group. Gerard assumed the role of Production Manager Polyolefins in Terneuzen in 2001.

Gerard is a Member of the Supervisory Board of Total refinery Nederland. He is a Board Member of the VNCI and of VNO-NCW.  Gerard is the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of SSCM.

He is a graduate in Chemical Engineering from the Technical University Twente.

Gerard is married to Kitty and has three daughters: Sanne, Lieke and Maayke.