GMF Marks 20 Years of Partnership in the Netherlands

Kevin Cottrell,
Lora Berg,
Kristel Ba
The German Marshall Fund recently marked two decades of partnership in the Netherlands through its oldest partnership with the Atlantic Commission to the 2016 Alumni Leadership Action Project on “Dutch Inclusion Leaders.”

The German Marshall Fund recently marked two decades of partnership in the Netherlands through its oldest partnership with the Atlantic Commission to the 2016 Alumni Leadership Action Project on “Dutch Inclusion Leaders.”

On December 9, 2015, GMF’s Transatlantic Leadership Initiatives (TLI) team celebrated 20 years of Marshall Memorial Fellowship partnership in the Netherlands. GMF and the Dutch alumni network honored MMF Netherlands Coordinator Bram Boxhoorn, head of the Dutch organization the Atlantic Commission, who led and coordinated the Marshall Memorial Fellowship program with tremendous success there for 20 years. Boxhoorn made an impressive contribution to and impact on the program by building one of the most influential alumni communities in Europe, and creating one of most high-impact MMF city programs throughout the fellowship. During the years, Boxhoorn hosted several hundred U.S. fellows and was instrumental in selecting over half of the currently 104 alumni in the Netherlands. The celebration gathered a significant contingent of GMF alumni across years and sectors, who shared their experience and remembrances of the fellowship.

The TLI team also had the opportunity over the course of three days to meet with Mpanzu Bamenga (TILN ‘15) & Ahmed Larouz (MMF ’08) and Mei Lin Liem (MMF ’12) to discuss “The Dutch Inclusion Leaders Project,” a recipient of a 2015-16 Alumni Leadership Action Grant. The team also had the occasion to meet with some alumni from the government, and representatives from the public and business sectors, to discuss the current economic, political, social, and security priorities of the country. The GMF delegation and Dutch leaders discussed the Alumni Leadership Action Grants, the Marshall Seminar on Democracy and its Future that will be held in Bucharest in April 2016, and encouraged the alumni to organize a Netherlands delegation to attend GMF’s Triennial Transatlantic Leaders Retreat, “Transatlantic 20/20: Preparing for a New Era,” which will be held in Torino in June 2016.