History of the Awards
Ambassador J. William Middendorf Il Award
1991 The Honorable Guy Vander Jagt
U.S. Congressmon
1992 Dr. H. Onno Ruding
Vice Chairman, Citicorp/Citibonk
Wim Dik
Chairmon, Royal PTT Nederlond N.V.
1993 Maestro Leo Driehuys
Conductor, The Charlotte Symphony
1994 Guy F. Jonckheer
Member of the Executive Board, ING Group
1995 Dr. Ruud F.M. Lubbers
Former Prime Minister of the Netherlands
1996 Pleter Bouw
President & CEO, KLM Royal Dutch
1997 Kees Storm
Chairman of the Executive Board, AEGON N.V.
2003 Ewold Kist
Chairman of the Executive Board, ING Group
2004 Donald J. Shepard
Chairman of the Executive Board & CEO, AEGON N.V.
2005 Peter C. Sutton
Executive Director & CEO, Bruce Museum of Arts and Science
2006 Peter A. Benoliel
Chairman Emeritus, Quaker Chemical Corporation
2007 P. Jan Kalff
Former Chairman, ABNAMRO Holding N.V.
2008 Steve Van Andel & Doug De Vos
Co-Chief Executive Officers, Amway Corporation
2009 Albert P.L. Strouden
Chairman & CEO, Owens-lilinois, Inc.
2010 Dr. Henri A. Termeer
Chairman & CEO, Genzyme Corporation
2011 Rose-Marie & Eji von Otterloo
Art Patrons
2012 Prof. Dr. Jan Peter Balkenende
Former Prime Minister of the Netherlands
2013 U.S. Representative Bill Huizenga (R-MI)
Co-Chair, Congressional Caucus on the Kingdom of the Netherlands
2014 Doug and Hank Meijer
Co-Chairmen, Mejer, Inc
2015 Paul Polman
Chief Executive, Unilever
2016 Willam McDonough
Founder, William McDonough + Partners
2017 Loek de Viles
Member, Supervisory Board, Royal Ten Cate
2018 Marilyn A. Hewson
Chairman, President, & CEO, Lockheed Martin Corporation
2019 Alexander R. Wynaendts
CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board, Aegon N.V.
2020 Almar Latour
CEO, Dow Jones and Publisher, The Wall Street Journal
2021 Marguerite Soeteman-Reinen
Chairman. Execulive Board, Aon Holdings
Global Chief Marketing Officer, Aon Inpoint
2022 Richard R. DeLuca, Jr.
Executive Vice President, Merck
President, Merck Animal Health
2023 Petri Hofsté
Non Executive Director, Rabobank, Fugro, Pon Holdings
Ambassador C. Howard Wilkins, Jr. Award
1996 Frederik J. Duparc
Director, Royal Cabinet of Paintings,
Mauritshuis
Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr.
Curator of Northern Baroque Painting,
National Gallery of Art
1997 Paul J. Klaassen
Founder, Chairman & CEO,
Sunrise Senior Living
1998 Toon Woltman
Vice President, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
2003 Jay van Andel
Chairman Emeritus, Alticor Inc.
2004 Gualtherus Baron Kraijenhoff
Former Chairman/Supervisory Council
AKZO N.V.
2005 Nancy McKinstry
Chairman, Executive Board
Wolters Kluwer N.V.
2006 U.S. Representative Pete Hoekstra (R-MI)
Chair, House Permanent Select
Committee on Intelligence
2007 Jeroen van der Veer
Chief Executive, Royal Dutch Shell plc
2008 Brenda C. Barnes
Chairman & CEO, Sara Lee Corporation
2009 Arkadi Kuhlmann
Chairman & CEO, ING DIRECT USA
2010 Herman Dijkhuizen
Chair, Board of Management, KPMG
The Netherlands
2011 Buford C. Alexander
Director Emeritus, McKinsey & Company
2012 Mary Vermeer Andringa
President & CEO, Vermeer Corporation
2013 Wim Elfrink
EVP, Industry Solutions & Chief
Globalization Officer, Cisco
2014 Peter F. Hartman
Vice Chairman, Air France KLM
2015 U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ)
Chair, House Defense Appropriations
Subcommittee
2016 Victoria B. Mars
Chairman, Mars, Incorporated
2017 Gabrielle de Kuyper Bekink
Founder, President & CEO
Sheshunoff Consulting + Solutions
2018 Stein Kruse
Group CEO, Holland America Group and Carnival UK
2019 Rachel Brand
Executive Vice President of Global
Governance, Chief Legal Officer and
Corporate Secretary, Walmart
2020 Michelle H. Browdy
Senior Vice President, Legal and
Regulatory Affairs, and General Counsel,
IBM
2021 Peter Oosterveer
CEO & Chairman, Executive Board
Arcadis
2022 Dick Benschop
President & CEO, Royal Schiphol Group
Chair, Orange Foundation
2023 Klaas van Lookeren Campagne
Chief Executive Officer, citizenM
Ambassador K. Terry Dornbush Award
2003 Maarten van Hengel
Limited Partner, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.
2004 John M. Palms
Distinguished President Emeritus & Professor, University of South Carolina
2005 Jan G.F. Veldhuis
Former President, Utrecht University & Fulbright Center
2006 Jacob Gelt Dekker & John R. Padget
Venture Philanthropists
2007 Jan A. Zachariasse
President & CEO, Waterford Development, LLC
2008 Bert W.M. Twaalfhoven
Founder European Foundation for Entrepreneurial Research
2009 John A. Fentener van Vlissingen
Chairman, BCD Holdings N.V.
2010 Mark Pigott KBE
Chairman & CEO, PACCAR Inc
2011 J.C. Huizenga
Chair & Founder, National Heritage Academies
2012 Prof. Dr. Herbert Pinedo
Professor of Medical Oncology, Free University of Amsterdam (VUMC)
2013 Dolf van den Brink
President & CEO, Heineken USA
2014 Antoine W. van Agtmael
Principal Founder, CEO & CIO, Emerging Markets Management, LLC
2015 Ambassador William J. vanden Heuvel
Founder & Chair Emeritus, The Roosevelt Institute
2016 Emilie Gordenker
Director, Mauritshuis
2017 Dick Boer
CEO, Ahold Delhaize
2018 Glen Hauenstein
President, Delta Air Lines
2019 Russell Shorto
Author, Historian and Journalist
2020 Ivo H. Daalder
President, Chicago Council on Global Affairs
2021 Maureen Bunyan
Award-winning Journalist; Co-founder of National Association of Black Journalists and International Women’s Media Foundation
2022 Dr. Marnix Heersink and Mary Heersink
Health Advocates
2023 Ambassador Fay Hartog-Levin
(Ret.), Former US Ambassador to The Netherlands
Ambassadors’ Award
In 2024, the NAF combined the three Awards into one Award category.
2024 Francine Houben
Founding Partner and Creative Director
of Mecanoo
Ben Mandemakers
Founder, De Mandemakers Groep
2025 Hanneke Faber
CEO, Logitech
Past Keynote Speakers
2003 Lane C. Grijns Chairman
ING Americas Chairman, The Netherland- America Foundation
2004 His Excellency Boudewijn J. van Eenennaam
Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United States
2005 U.S. Representative Peter Hoekstra (R-MI)
Chairman House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
2006 U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS)
Chairman, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
2007 Kenneth T. Walsh
Chief White House Correspondent, U.S. News & World Report
2008 Rebuilding Iraq – Perspectives on the Dutch Role and Contributions
His Excellency Dr. T. Hamid Al-Bayati Iraqi Ambassador to the United Nations
2009 U.S. Representative Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)
Assistant to the Speaker of the House of Representatives; Co-Chair, U.S. Congressional Caucus on the Kingdom of the Netherlands
2010 History of the Dutch-American Relationship
General David H. Petraeus Commander, U.S. Central Command; U.S. Army
2011 The Uniqueness of the Netherlands and United States Friendship, the Implications in the Past and the Opportunities for the Future
Peter Hoekstra Former U.S. Representative (R-MI)
2012 Our Transatlantic Partnership
Prof. Dr. Jan Peter Balkenende, Former Prime Minister of The Netherlands
2013 The Enduring Nature and Continued Importance of the Netherlands- American Relationship
General David H. Petraeus U.S. Army (Retired)
2014 International Trade, Investment and Finance
Ambassador Miriam E. Sapiro, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative
2015 The Values We Share
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt President and CEO, Goodwill Industries of Northern New England; Chair, The Roosevelt Institute
2016 Aruba: The Kingdom’s One Happy Island
Maureen Bunyan Television journalist, anchor ABC-affiliated television station WJLA-TV, Washington, D.C.
2017 Renewing our Declaration of Interdependence
U.S. Representative Derek Kilmer (D-WA) Co-Chair, U.S. Congressional Caucus on the Kingdom of the Netherlands
2018 Enlightened Self-Interest
Hank Meijer, Author and Executive Chairman, Meijer, Inc.
2019 The Trump Era
Jim van de Hei Co-Founder and CEO, Axios
2020 Diplomacy in the Age of Disorder
The Honorable Ivo H. Daalder President, Chicago Council on Global Affairs; Former U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO
2021 Courage and Compassion in a Time of Hate
Dr. Alfred Munzer Former Director, Pulmonary Medicine, Washington Adventist Hospital
2022 Build…Launch…Fly! The Story of an Aruban Engineer at NASA
Dr. Edward Cheung Principal Engineer, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
2023 Special performance of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra’s Woodwind Trio With introductory remarks by Dominik Winterling, Managing Director, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
2024 Lonnie G. Bunch III Secretary of the Smithsonian
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