The John Adams Institute

The John Adams Institute
Annual report 2009
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The John Adams Institute
Annual report 2009
Table of contents:
3 - Mission Statement
4 - Note from the Director
7 - Events
23 - Other Activities
28 - Awards
31 - Support
33 - Publicity
34 - Staff and Volunteers
35 - Board of Directors
37 - West-Indisch Huis
38 - 2009 Attendance
40 - In the Press
42 - Corporate Sponsors & Friends
44 - Finance
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The John Adams Institute - West-Indisch Huis, Herenmarkt 97, 1013 EC Amsterdam – The Netherlands
Tel. +31(0)20-624 72 80 - Fax. +31(0)20-638 11 45 – [email protected] - www.john-adams.nl
Mission Statement
The mission of the John Adams Institute is to provide a window
onto the United States for Dutch audiences. Our main way of
carrying this out is by bringing notable Americans--novelists,
politicians, historians, scientists, screenwriters, poets--to the
Netherlands, and having them talk about their work and their
insights. We believe in discussion and debate. We believe in
words and thoughts. And we believe in the power and value of
real-life encounters. We don’t see ourselves as a “patriotic”
organization, which waves a little American flag and tries to
promote America. Rather, we believe that the United States is so
big, so teeming, so powerful, so complex, so full of life and
creativity and violence and confusion, that everyone-Americans included--needs to continually study what it is.
Further, there is a unique connection between the United States
and the Netherlands. For it was the Dutch who founded a
colony, based on Manhattan Island, which gave rise to New
York. The Dutch melting pot of the seventeenth century
spawned New York City and also the American melting
pot. America, therefore, has Dutch roots. And America’s most
vital elements--its mixed society and its free trade ethic—
originate in those Dutch beginnings. It is all the more
appropriate, then, that, with immigration, diversity, and
national identity being central topics of debate in the
Netherlands, we bring American perspectives to the Dutch.
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A note from the director
The year 2009 marked the four hundredth
anniversary of the voyage of Englishman Henry
Hudson to what he hoped would be the Far
East. Why, one might reasonably wonder, would such
an event provide an excuse for a year-long
celebration of Dutch-American relations--in which
the John Adams Institute played an important
part? The answer turns out to be simple
enough. Hudson sailed, in 1609, for a Dutch
company, so the lands he charted would be claimed
by the Dutch Republic. And rather than find a route
to Asia, Hudson wound up charting and exploring
the area that would become New York and New
Jersey. Based on his voyage, the Dutch colony of New
Netherland would come into being, with its capital of
New Amsterdam at the southern tip of Manhattan
Island. The Dutch colony--multiethnic and freetrading--would form the template for New York,
and it would also provide genetic material for the
American melting pot.
That, then, is reason enough for a year-long celebration. And the coincidental fact that I wrote a book
about the Dutch founding of New York gave us at the John Adams Institute further reason to fit our
programming for the year around the historical theme. One of the two bookends of our year took place on
April 4, the exact day that Hudson set sail from Amsterdam, when we organized a Town Hall Meeting at the
Westerkerk in Amsterdam. It featured author Geert Mak, Dutch Minister for European Affairs Frans
Timmermans, U.S. Consul General Marjorie Ames, Sam Roberts of the New York Times, Beth Fertig of
WNYC Radio in New York, Dutch Americanist Ruth Oldenziel, myself, and NOVA host Twan Huys as
moderator. The hall was full, the event was lively. We were lucky enough to have a contingent of Mohawk
Indians visiting, and they contributed a vital element as we explored history and the themes of immigration
and diversity.
The other side of the celebration came in September, when the entire John Adams Institute family--staff,
board members and partners--decamped to New York City. We took part in lectures and events that
included Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Maxima, all of which reflected
on the Amsterdam-New Amsterdam connection.
Somehow, with all of this going on, we also managed to put together a full slate of “regular” speakers--by
which I mean internationally renowned novelists, historians, journalists and others. Malcolm Gladwell,
Toni Morrison, Marvin Hamlisch...well, I won’t give the whole list, since the details are in the following
pages. Suffice to say the John Adams Institute spent 2009 as it had previous years, bringing some of the
best and brightest American minds to Dutch audiences. It’s a long and fruitful connection between two
countries. And we have the Englishman Henry Hudson to thank for it.
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South Street Seaport Museum: Frans Timmermans, Russell Shorto, Astrid Hertog (Nationaal Archief), Prince Willem Alexander, Princess Maxima.
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Prince Willem Alexander, Princess Maxima, Russell Shorto, Frans Timmermans.
Russell Shorto, Prince Willem Alexander, Princess Maxima, Maxime Verhagen (Dutch
Foreign Minister, Martin Berendse (Director Nationaal Archief)
Russell Shorto, Prince Willem Alexander, Princess Maxima, Astrid Hertog (Nationaal Archief)
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Events
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Malcolm Gladwell
DATE: 30 January 2009
LOCATION: Aula University of Amsterdam
What if the Beatles had never gone to
Hamburg in 1960? Would they have
become a sensation? What if Bill
Gates had been born five years later? Would
he have revolutionalized
the world? Excellence, we often
think, comes from practice. But Malcolm
Gladwell, staff writer for The New Yorker
and bestselling author of The Tipping Point
and Blink, took the John Adams Institute
podium to make a very different case.
In Outliers: The Story of Success he shows
why people often waste their talent, and how
culture, family, time and place are essential
ingredients of success.
MODERATOR
Joris Luyendijk
IN COOPERATION WITH
Contact publishers
EVENT SPONSORING BY
Twynstra & Gudde
PHOTOS
Chris van Houts
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Stewart O’Nan
DATE: 10 February 2009
LOCATION: The Movies, Amsterdam
Winter is cold in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The characters in O’Nan’s atmospheric
novel Snow Angels interact like
snowflakes: in a swirl of love and pain
and coincidence. At the center is a boy
named Arthur, whose parents’ marriage
is collapsing and whose former
babysitter is murdered. In 2008, the
book became a Hollywood film starring
Sam Rockwell and Kate Beckinsale.
In this very special event, the John
Adams Institute hosted author O’Nan
and presented the Dutch première of
the film.
MODERATOR
Russell Shorto
IN COOPERATION WITH
Cossee publishers
PHOTOS
Chris van Houts
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Michael Pollan
DATE: 11 February 2009
LOCATION: De Duif, Amsterdam
Never has so much attention been paid
to what we eat. It’s strange, then, that
a lot of what we eat is not actually food
but, according to Michael Pollan,
“edible food-like substances—no
longer the products of nature but of
food science.” The irony, which Pollan
detailed in his latest book, In Defense
of Food, is that “the more we worry
about nutrition, the less healthy we
seem to become.”
MODERATOR
Tracy Metz
IN COOPERATION WITH
Arbeiderspers publishers
PHOTOS
Chris van Houts
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Joseph O’Neill
DATE: 13 March 2009 at 8pm
LOCATION: West Indisch Huis, Amsterdam
Joseph O’Neill was born in Ireland, raised
in the Netherlands, educated in England,
and lives in New York. His award-winning
novel, Netherland, reflects his background,
as well as his passion for cricket. Its hero is a
Dutchman who immerses himself into New
York’s 21st century multiethnic society.
Netherland, with its unapologetically
philosophical wandering, was one of the
most highly praised novels of the year, and
O’Neill himself a one-man link between
Dutch and American societies.
MODERATOR
Julie Phillips
IN COOPERATION WITH
De Bezige Bij publishers
PHOTOs
Chris van Houts
This was the first event in our
New America Series,
sponsored by the Dutch Ministry of
Foreign Affairs.
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Town Hall Meeting featuring:
Geert Mak & Russell Shorto
DATE: 4 April 2009 at 8pm
LOCATION: Westerkerk, Amsterdam
On April 4, 2009 it was exactly 400 years ago that English sea
captain Henry Hudson set sail from Amsterdam, on behalf of
the Dutch East India Company, to find a short route to Asia.
Instead, he found Manhattan, and the future New York. This
special event celebrated the 400-year relationship between the
Netherlands and the U.S., and especially between Amsterdam
and New Amsterdam—that is, New York.
The meeting featured talks by Geert Mak and Russell Shorto, the
presentation of the book they co-wrote for the event (1609: The
Forgotten History of Hudson, Amsterdam and New York), as well as a
discussion including Frans Timmermans (Minister for European
Affairs), Marjorie Ames (US Consul-General), Sam Roberts (New
York Times reporter), Ruth Oldenziel (American specialist at
Eindhoven University) and Beth Fertig (WNYC Radio).
MODERATOR
Twan Huys
IN COOPERATION WITH
Stichting
Henry Hudson 400
Ministerie van
Buitenlandse Zaken
Gemeente
Amsterdam
PHOTOS
Gerrit Serné
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Twan Huys, (NOVA)
Sam Roberts (New York Times reporter)
Ruth Oldenziel (American specialist at Eindhoven University)
1609: The voyage of Henry Hudson
Marjorie Ames (US Consul-General in Amsterdam)
Russell Shorto & Geert Mak, co-wrote 1609: The Forgotten History of
Hudson, Amsterdam and New York
Audience
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New York
Perspectives
DATE: 13 May 2009
LOCATION: Stadsarchief Amsterdam
Amsterdam discovered by New York
photographers:
- Carl Wooley
- Gus Powell
- Richard Rothman
- Joshua Lutz
Introduction
Tracy Metz
IN COOPERATION WITH
Stadsarchief Amsterdam
Foam, Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam
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Nobel Prize Winner
Toni Morrison
DATE: 20 May 2009 – 8pm
LOCATION: Aula of the University of
Amsterdam
One of the most important American
writers of her generation took the John
Adams Institute stage for the first time.
Toni Morrison—as renowned for her
magical realism as for her portrayal of the
African American struggle—is that rare
writer who is acclaimed by critics and
adored by the reading public. In her latest
novel, A Mercy, a mother gives away her
daughter as she struggles for a better life,
and the reader unravels the meaning
behind seemingly cruel acts. The Nobel
Prize committee wrote about Toni
Morrison: “…in novels characterized by
visionary force and poetic import, [she]
gives life to an essential aspect of American
reality."
MODERATOR
Bas Heijne
IN COOPERATION WITH
De Bezige Bij publishers
EVENT SPONSOR
Ahold
PHOTOS
Roberto Bourgonjen
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Amy Chua
DATE: 27 May 2009
LOCATION: Universiteit van Utrecht, Utrecht
The Persian dynasties, the Roman Empire, the
Dutch Republic in the 17th century, the United
States of America: all of these hyperpowers grew
to world dominance at a time when they had
high concentrations of minorities. Each
admitted people who had been persecuted or
cast off. And each profited from them. So said
Amy Chua in her latest book Day of Empire:
How Hyper Powers Rise to Global Dominance –
and Why They Fall. Chua, a professor at Yale
Law School, took the John Adams Institute
stage to argue that this acceptance of cultural
diversity is precisely the secret of the success of
these powers. She also gave her original
insights into present-day international
relations.
MODERATOR
Kustaw Bessems
IN COOPERATION WITH
Studium Generale Utrecht
Nieuw-Amsterdam publishers
PHOTOS
Chris van Houts
This was the second event in our
New America Series, sponsored by the Dutch
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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David Leavitt
DATE: 16 June 2009
LOCATION: Posthoornkerk, Amsterdam
Born in Pittsburgh, educated at Yale,
David Leavitt has been grouped with the
likes of Edmund White as a writer who
has “made art out of previously repressed
and unnarrated areas of homoerotic
experience.” He is also drawn to history.
His latest novel, The Indian Clerk, takes
place in the early 20th century and
revolves around the relationship between
the brilliant mathematicians G. H. Hardy
and Srinivasa Ramanujan. "Mathematics
and its paradoxes provide a deep vein of
metaphor that Leavitt uses to superb
effect, demonstrating how the most
meaningful relationships can defy both
logic and imagination,” said The New
Yorker.
MODERATOR
Tim Overdiek
IN COOPERATION WITH
De Harmonie publishers
PHOTOS
Gerrit Serné
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David Simon
DATE: Wednesday 30 Sept. 2009
LOCATION: The Movies, Amsterdam
More than a few critics have called The
Wire, the hit U.S. series about crime in
Baltimore, the best TV show of the year.
David Simon, its creator, began his career
as a crime reporter for The Baltimore
Sun, where he gleaned details of the city’s
seamy side. Using this material,
he produced a series of bestselling books-including Homicide, which is now out
in Dutch--and top TV series. The Wire
intricately integrates lives (detectives,
drug dealers, union bosses), uses local
non-actors and almost no flashbacks, to
create a gritty symphonic structure.
Simon himself once said it is really
“about how we live together.” In this
first airing of the show in the
Netherlands, David Simon took us scene
by scene through an episode of what one
newspaper called “broadcast literature.”
MODERATOR
Britt Stubbe
IN COOPERATION WITH
Ambo Anthos publishers
PHOTOS
Chris van Houts
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Said Sayrafiezadeh
DATE: Thursday 1 Oct. 2009
LOCATION: Bethaniënklooster, Amsterdam
Say you grew up in 1970s and 1980s
America. Say your father was Iranian and
your mother was Jewish. Say both were
radical members of the Socialist Workers
Party, who cared more about handing out
political leaflets than taking care of you.
What would you do? If you were Saїd
Sayrafiezadeh, you would write an exotic,
elegant, only-in-America memoir.
When Skateboards Will Be Free charts his
life in Brooklyn and Pittsburgh and
a childhood of struggle, poverty and
absurdity, as he is forced to dutifully rebel
against capitalist society. “Its language has
the fierceness and humor of a Charles
Dickens story about childhood,” one critic
wrote. Saïd Sayrafiezadeh guided us
through his outlandish variation on the
immigrant experience.
MODERATOR
Bahram Sadeghi
IN COOPERATION WITH
J.M. Meulenhoff publishers
PHOTOS
Chris van Houts
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Christopher Caldwell
DATE: 16 October 2009
LOCATION: OBA, Theater van het woord,
Amsterdam
As a senior editor at The Weekly Standard and
a contributor to The Financial Times,
Christopher Caldwell is a Young Turk (if one
can apply the term) in the American
conservative movement. His provocative
arguments have covered everything from
California’s budget crisis to intellectual
property rights in France. In 2005 he
published a laudatory article about Ayaan
Hirsi Ali, which brought her to American
awareness. Caldwell defended the thesis of his
new book, Reflections on the Revolution in
Europe, that Islam is threatening Europe’s
cultural foundations.
MODERATOR
Joris Luyendijk
IN COOPERATION WITH
Ambo Anthos publishers
PHOTOS
Chris van Houts
This was the third event in our
New America Series, sponsored by the Dutch
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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Marvin Hamlisch
DATE: 20 October 2009
LOCATION: Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, Amsterdam
Marvin Hamlisch is the maestro of American
music. As a composer, he has scored everything
from Woody Allen films to James Bond movies
to A Chorus Line and The Sting. His latest
film is The Informant, directed by Steven
Soderbergh and starring Matt Damon. With
three Oscar awards, four Grammy awards, four
Emmys, three Golden Globes, a Tony and a
Pulitzer Prize, Hamlisch is the most acclaimed
living composer. He is also an accomplished
pianist and a great showman in his own right.
In this very special event, Marvin Hamlisch
guided the John Adams Institute audience
through the making of a musical.
INTERVIEWER
Henk van Gelder
MUSICAL THEATER SINGER
Lara Grünfeld
IN COOPERATION WITH
AEGON
PHOTOS
Chris van Houts
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Jane Alison
DATE: 3 December 2009
LOCATION: de Balie, Amsterdam
The acclaimed American novelist Jane Alison
has written a memoir of her exotic childhood,
and done so, in the words of the Boston
Globe, “with the insight of a novelist and the
language of a poet.” It is a story—involving
double spouse-swapping among diplomats,
daughters who were mirror images of one
another, and ultimately tragedy—that Alison
originally tried to cast into fiction but found
she couldn’t: truth was stronger, stranger,
more biting. The Sisters Antipodes has
received international acclaim and has also
been turned into a mini-opera. This was an
insightful evening with the author of what the
Philadelphia Inquirer called “a
groundbreaking, stellar memoir.”
MODERATOR
Britt Stubbe
IN COOPERATION WITH
Arena Publishers
PHOTOS
Chris van Houts
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Other activities
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The Island
A digital-historical adventure about the relationship between New York and Amsterdam
As part of the Hudson 400 Festivities, the John
Adams Institute and the Waag Society created
The Island, an urban mobile game that
connected students in Amsterdam and New York
in real time.
By becoming 17th century merchants equipped
with 21st century technology, the students
immersed themselves in the history that links
both cities.
The two-hour game started with a short
introduction. Students were divided into
teams. Each team received a historic map of the
city, a cell phone with internet and GPS
technology and a market price chart. The goal
was to navigate through the city, buying and
selling goods with teams on the other side of the
Atlantic Ocean.
The game required strategy. The goal: to end up
with as many guilders as possible. The ultimate
aim: to appreciate how complex the world of the
17th century was, and how intriciately woven
together the two cities of Amsterdam and New
Amsterdam were.
Production The John Adams Institute
The Waag Society
Special thanks to Jaap Jacobs, historian
The Gemeente Amsterdam
Additional support by The Netherland-America
Foundation in New York
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The Quincy Club
A Younger Perspective: The Quincy Club is
part of our ongoing effort to help young
audiences better understand American culture.
The Club's activities take students into an
interactive new learning environment through
American history, literature and art.
Theme
The History of American Immigration and Integration
Lectures given by America expert
Frans Verhagen.
Schools 2009
09 Nov - Scala College, Alphen ad Rijn
09 Nov - Gymnasium Camphusianum, Gorinchum
10 Nov - Piter Jelles Gymnasium, Leeuwarden
12 Nov - Aloysius College, Den Haag
12 Nov - Rijswijks Lyceum, Rijswijk
13 Nov - Cygnus Gymnasium, Amsterdam
16 Nov - Theresiaslyceum, Tilburg
16 Nov - Pius X, Bladel
19 Nov - Laar & Berg, Laren
19 Nov - Calandlyceum, Amsterdam
20 Nov - 4e Gymnasium, Amsterdam
23 Nov - R.S.G. Wolfsbos, Hoogeveen
23 Nov - Almere College, Dronten
24 Nov - Coenecoop College, Waddinxveen
24 Nov - Stedelijk Dalton Lyceum, Dordrecht
01 Dec - Scholengemeenschap Stevensbeek
01 Dec - Raayland College, Venray
02 Dec - St Jan's Lyceum, 's-Hertogenbosch
02 Dec - Jeroen Bosch College, 's-Hertogenbosch
03 Dec - Titus Brandsma Lyceum, Oss
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Awards
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New York City
On September 2009 our director,
Russell Shorto, was named Ridder in
de Orde van Oranje-Nassau, in
recognition of his work in promoting
the Dutch role in American history.
F.l.t.r. Gajus Scheltema (Dutch Consul General in New York,
Frans Timmermans (Dutch Minister of European Affairs), Russell Shorto.
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Support
As a nonprofit organization, the John Adams Institute has been ahead of its time in
the sense that, ever since its launch in 1987, it has depended heavily on the private
sector. We are fortunate to benefit from a number of public sector grants and
funding sources.
Also this year we received a very generous donation from the Holland America
Friendship Foundation.
Publishers
De Arbeiderspers
J.M. Meulenhoff
Other supporters
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Photo: Chris van Houts
Malcolm Gladwell event: 30 January 2009 - Aula, Universiteit van Amsterdam
Becoming a Sponsor or Friend of the John Adams
Institute brings a company or individual with interest
in the United States into an eclectic community which
includes politicians, entrepreneurs, writers, artists,
journalists, professors and publishers. Indeed, our
audiences and network of supporters include people of
accomplishments that rival those of our speakers. Our
Sponsors and Friends tell us they find value in their
affiliation in various ways, whether by inviting clients to
hear a Nobel Prize winner or former U.S. Secretary of
State in an intimate setting or by mingling at our
receptions. Many times a corporation will approach us
asking to sponsor an individual event; this gives them a
large block of seats and the chance to use a reception—
with the featured speaker— as a special occasion for
their members or customers.
In 2009, we gained the following corporate friends:
- De Baak
- Fortis
- Heineken
For a complete List of Corporate Friends & Sponsors
for 2009, see page 43.
Sometimes supporters indicate from the beginning
that their contribution will be limited to a certain
time period. We wish to thank the following
departing Friends for their generous support in past
years:
Amsterdam Institute of Finance; AON; Boer &Croon;
Corporate Express; Philips Electronics; Provincie
Zuid-Holland; Sara Lee International; Wolters
Kluwer.
Contributions per calendar year:
- Corporate Friends: €2000
- Personal Friend: €1500
- President’s Club: €500
- Patron: €65
- Member: €25
We currently have 1218 members.
Of these, 17 are members of the JAI President’s
Club:
R.M. Amato, K.A. van den Broek-Kohlstrand,
A. Croiset Van Uchelen, R. Donehoo, R.W.H. Groen,
P.J. Gunn, C. &. D. Harple, L. Kaplanian, S.W. Khan,
W. Knibbeler, A. Korijn, D.S. Macy, W. van RoijenVan Nispen, H. & K. Pabbruwe, H.O.C.R. Ruding,
F. Schaik, M. Schuit- Williams, W.F.C. StevensMullens, F. Warmelink, A.C. Westbroek.
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Publicity
Poster
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The John Adams Institute
American Culture in The Netherlands
West Indisch Huis
Herenmarkt 97
1013 EC Amsterdam
The Netherlands
[email protected]
www.john-adams.nl
We are an independent, nonprofit foundation dedicated to
presenting some of the most compelling speakers in the world
to European audiences. From poetry to political debate, film
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to finance, hyperpower hegemony to hip-hop hype, each of
our events lights up a different part of the endlessly complex,
constantly shifting cultural landscape of the U.S.A.
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Staff
Volunteers
Project Volunteers
Miriam van der Meij
Sara Grasman
Kiekie Pabbruwe
The Island
The Quincy Club
Ambassador The Hague
Event Volunteers
Director:
Russell Shorto
Program administrator:
Maarten van Essen
Heather Gould
Liesbeth van den Heijden
Naomi Kamphuijs
Veronika Kovacsova
Ellen Kroese-Kane
Gerard Kroese
Jaime Kyres
Richard Nyaku
Kiekie Pabbruwe
Rebecca Sakoun
Yvonne Veger
Alex Verdegaal
Event coordinator:
Cobie Ivens
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Board of Directors
Marry de Gaaij Fortman
- Chair
She graduated in 1988 from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Since then she has worked as a
lawyer with Houthoff Buruma. In 1997 she was named partner and from 2001 until 2007 she was
Managing Partner at this firm. Alongside her daily tasks, she also works as a mediator (affiliated
with the Dutch Mediation Institute, NMI and the International Mediation Institute, IMI) and
contributes regularly to roundtable discussions on leadership, management and diversity. Marry de
Gaay Fortman holds various additional functions, she is Chair of the supervisory board of AMREF
Flying Doctors, member of the supervisory board of the Nederlands Dans Theater and the Stedelijk
Museum in Amsterdam, is a member of the Commission to promote sound management and
integrity in Public Broadcasting, and is a member of the Advisory Council of the Dutch Care
Authority.
Evert van den Bergh - Treasurer
Until 2002 he served on the board of management at ExxonMobil Benelux, with contact
responsibility in the area of financial affairs. After his retirement he was appointed in 2004 to the
Supervisory Board of Esso Nederland. Among his many other activities, Mr. van den Bergh held the
post of Director for Strategy and Policy at Delft University of Technology. He is treasurer of
the Dutch String Quartet Academy, and a member of the Gasunie pension fund investment
advisory board. Since 2003 he has served as a mediator for ACB, an intermediary organization
dedicated to dispute resolution. In 2003 Mr. van den Bergh was appointed a member of the
Committee set up to adjudicate and allocate non-personal claims to Jewish funds relating to
damages sustained in World War II and released by the Dutch government, banks and the stock
exchange. In recent years he has held interim director positions at two Dutch symphony orchestras.
Arie Westerlaken - Secretary
He was Philips' Chief Legal Officer and a member of the Group Management Committee. He
joined the company’s legal department in the Netherlands in 1973 and was appointed General
Counsel to Philips Japan in 1979. After six years in Japan and five years with the Corporate Legal
Department in Eindhoven, he left the company in 1990 to become Director of Legal Affairs for
DAF Trucks. Returning to Philips in 1994, he was appointed Director of Legal Affairs. He
became Chief Legal Officer of Philips on April 1, 1996, Secretary of the Board of Management in
July 1997 and a member of the Group Management Committee on May 1, 1998. Mr. Westerlaken
was born in 1946 and graduated with a degree in Law from the University of Utrecht. He is
35
married with two children.
Chris Kijne
VPRO broadcaster and journalist. He started as a print journalist but later switched to radio, both as a
domestic and foreign reporter. The last decade he was one of the anchors for the VPRO broadcasts on
Radio 1, the national news-channel. He also works for television, making documentaries and most
recently with a series of extensive interviews for both the digital channel HollandDoc and the in
investigative program Tegenlicht. Among his guests were Salman Rushdie, Madeleine Albright, Elie
Wiesel, Amos Oz and Amartya Sen. He also moderates events of the Institute.
Tracy Metz
Tracy Metz, a native of California, is a journalist with NRC Handelsblad. She writes regularly about
architecture, urbanism and landscape and has written a number of books, including Snelweg: Highways
in the Netherlands and FUN! Leisure and Landscape. Her most recent book is Huis in Frankrijk:
Nederlanders en hun maison de campagne. She is also a international correspondent for the American
magazine Architectural Record and a visiting Fellow at Harvard University. For the John Adams Institute,
where she has been a member of the board since 2004, she also regularly moderates evenings with
authors.
Pim Roest
Pim Roest joined PriceWaterhouseCoopers as Partner in Advisory in 2009 leading the Energy, Utilities and
Mining practice. He graduated as Master of Science in Business Administration specializing in Strategy and
Finance from the Erasmus Universiteit. He also studied International Business at the Stockholm School of
Economics and has worked in the corporate strategy department of Shell in Sweden. Since 1993 he worked in
the business strategy units of KPMG Management Consulting and Nolan, Norton & Co. in The
Netherlands. He transferred to Australia and was based in the Asia Pacific region between 1996 and 2003
before returning to BearingPoint Europe to start the new Netherlands office. He led the development and
growth of the practice as Managing Director and Country leader until 2009. He has a passion for culture,
traveling, modern art and good food and wine.
Truus Valkering
Truus Valkering graduated from the Gemeente Universiteit Amsterdam in 1983. She then worked as a
company lawyer with Koninklijke Nederlandsche Hoogovens en Staalfabrieken. Since 2001 she has been a
management team member of Corus Strip Products IJmuiden and Director of Communications and Public
Affairs of Corus Netherlands. She is also chairwoman of the Supervisory Board of Rabobank NoordKennemerland, member of the Supervisory Board of Ontwikkelingsbedrijf Noordholland Noord,
chairwoman of VNO Communicatie and boardmember of the Chamber of Commerce Amsterdam.
Jeannette Sanders
For many years Jeannette Sanders co-hosted our fundraising receptions, lectures and dinners. She left the JAI board in 2009.
HONORARY BOARD
ADVISORY COMMITTEE
John H. Bryan - former CEO, Sara Lee Corp, Chicago
K. Terry Dornbush - US Ambassador to the Netherlands, 1994-1998
Cynthia P. Schneider - US Ambassador to the Netherlands, 1998-2001
Clifford M. Sobel - US Ambassador to the Netherlands, 2001-2005
B. C. Alexander - former Director McKinsey & Co
J.M. Hessels - Chairman NYSE EuroNext
C.J.A. van Lede - former Chairman Akzo Nobel
A.H.G. Rinnooy Kan - Chairman SER
H.O.C.R. Ruding - former Minister of Finance
Anne Wertheim - former Director John Adams Institute
36
West-Indisch huis
Where Amsterdam Meets
New York
Two great institutions owe their existence
to Amsterdam's historic West Indisch
Huis: the city of New York and the John
Adams Institute. It was here in the
headquarters of the Dutch West-Indische
Compagnie that two historic decisions were
made: to establish a Dutch trading base in
the New World on the island of Manhattan,
and, centuries later, to create an
institution dedicated to transatlantic
cultural exchange.
After periods as an orphanage, retirement
home and warehouse, the West Indisch
Huis was renovated in the 1980s. In 1987 it
became the home and symbol of The John
Adams Institute.
37
2009 Attendance
Invitations
Members
Patrons
Discounts
Non
member
Free
e.d.
Others
Sub
total
Malcolm Gladwell
53
111
50
22
166
6
131
539
10-Feb
Stewart O'Nan
23
51
20
6
18
5
4
127
3
11-Feb
Michael Pollan
38
35
16
9
128
9
157
392
4
13-Mar
38
79
6
-
10
5
11
149
#
DATE
WRITER
1
30-Jan
2
Joseph O'Neill
The New America Series
Town Hall Meeting
Geert Mak & Russell Shorto
5
4-Apr
Henry Hudson Sets Sail
116
192
44
50
161
40
169
772
6
20-May
Toni Morison
111
185
28
80
140
15
11
570
7
27-May
The New America Series
4
-
-
-
-
105
2
111
8
16-Jun
David Leavitt
5
39
5
3
17
25
5
99
9
30-Sep
David Simon
34
63
5
14
52
4
172
10
1-Oct
Saïd Sayrafiezadeh
19
29
9
6
3
3
3
72
11
16-Oct
The New America Series
31
29
8
59
17
7
151
12
20-Oct
Marvin Hamlisch
30
32
90
321
13
3-Dec
Jane Alison
12
29
10
1
3
11
514
842
201
191
757
273
Amy Chua
Christopher Caldwell
TOTAL
66
594
3541
38
30-Jan-09, Aula Universiteit van Amsterdam
photo: Chris van Houts
30-Jan-2009, Aula Universiteit van Amsterdam - photo: Chris van Houts
30-Sep-09, The Movies, Amsterdam
photo: Chris van Houts
11-Feb-09, de Duif, Amsterdam
photo: Chris van Houts
20-Oct-09, Muziekgebouw aan ‘tIJ, Amsterdam
photo: Chris van Houts
4-Apr-09, Westerkerk, Amsterdam
photo: Gerrit Serné
39
1-Oct-09, Bethaniënklooster, Amsterdam
photo: Chris van Houts
13-Mar-09, West-Indisch Huis, Amsterdam
photo:Hollandse Hoogte
In the Press
40
41
Corporate Sponsors & Private Friends 2009
The Friends of the John Adams Institute are directors of American companies based in the Netherlands
and top executives of Dutch companies with significant interests in the United States of America.
Corporate Sponsors
HAFF
Holland America
Friendship Foundation
Additional Supporters
Boekhandel Athenaeum
Private Friends
T. Dornbush, former U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands
K.J. Storm, former CEO AEGON
42
Corporate Friends
Ahold
Amsterdam Foreign Investment Office
Amsterdam Institute of Finance
AON Groep Nederland
Baker & McKenzie
Bank Insinger de Beaufort
BearingPoint
Boekhandel Van Rossum
Boer & Croon
Booz Allen Hamilton
Corporate Express
Citibank International
Clifford Chance
Esso Nederland
Fortis
Fugro
Greenberg & Traurig
Houthoff Buruma
ING Groep
McKinsey & Co.
Mees Pierson, Private Wealth Management
Nyenrode Business Universiteit
Philips Electronics
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Provincie Zuid-Holland
Rabobank
Resources Global Professionals
Sara Lee International
Siemens
Stichting SNS REAAL Fonds
Theodoor Gilissen Bankiers
Unilever
Weekblad Pers Groep
Wolters Kluwer
Wakkie, P.N.
Meer, H.I. van der
Childers, B.
Steen, J.W.Th. v d
Scheer, E.T.H.
Kantor, I.R.
Roest, P.
Johnson, Ms. B.
Groot, E.P. de
Mensing, P.B.
Ventress, P.
Boom, P.F.
Eijsbouts, Ch.J.R.
Baeckelmans, N.
Lanschot F.J. van
Jonkman, A.
Jong, W. de
Bosman, J.
Hommen, J.
Reibestein, R.W.P.
Kok, B.
Tebbe, F.
Sivignon, J.P.
Swaak, R.
Dijk, J.W.A.
Heggeler, R.H.L. Ten
Bruin, R.C.
Kennett, B.
Pernis, M.C.J. van
Verburg, J.H.
Dam, E. van
Waaij, K. van der
Clement, K.
McKinstry, Ms. N.
43
Finance
44
45