Marja van Bijsterveldt

In this Dutch name, the surname is Van Bijsterveldt, not Bijsterveldt.

Janneke Marlene "Marja" van Bijsterveldt-Vliegenthart (born 27 June 1961) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). She has been mayor of Delft since 2 September 2016.

Marja van Bijsterveldt
Van Bijsterveldt in 2010
Mayor of Delft
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 September 2016
Preceded by	Bas Verkerk
Minister of Education, Culture and Science
In office 14 October 2010 – 5 November 2012
Prime Minister	Mark Rutte
Preceded by	André Rouvoet
Succeeded by	Jet Bussemaker
Member of the House of Representatives
In office 17 June 2010 – 14 October 2010
Parliamentary group	Christian Democratic Appeal
State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science
In office 22 February 2007 – 14 October 2010 Serving with Sharon Dijksma
Prime Minister	Jan Peter Balkenende
Preceded by	Bruno Bruins
Succeeded by	Halbe Zijlstra
Chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Appeal
In office 2 November 2002 – 22 February 2007
Leader	Jan Peter Balkenende
Preceded by	Bert de Vries
Succeeded by	Peter van Heeswijk
Mayor of Schipluiden
In office 16 September 1994 – 1 January 2003
Preceded by	Jan Waaijer
Succeeded by	John de Prieëlle
Personal details
Born	Janneke Marlene Vliegenthart (1961-06-27) 27 June 1961 Rotterdam, Netherlands
Political party	Christian Democratic Appeal
Spouse	Antoine van Bijsterveldt ​ ​ (m. 1992)​
Children	2 children
Relatives	Arjan Vliegenthart (cousin)
Residence(s)	Delft, Netherlands
Occupation	Politician · Civil servant · Nonprofit director · Academic administrator · Nurse

Early life

Van Bijsterveldt attended nursing school and worked in healthcare.

Politics

In 1990 she became politically active for the Christian Democratic Appeal. She was an alderwoman (member) of the Almere municipal council but left her post after the mayor of Almere's expenses were investigated. Van Bijsterveldt disagreed with the way the other aldermen of the social-democratic PvdA and the liberal VVD had dealt with the matter, and following a motion of no-confidence she resigned.

In 1994 she was appointed to be Mayor of Schipluiden and at age 33, she became the youngest Mayor in Dutch history. She also was active within the CDA, first as chair of the Christian Democratic Youth Appeal (CDJA), the CDA's youth organization and later as chair of the CDA-women's council. In November 2002 van Bijsterveldt became party chair of the CDA. She was the first chair directly elected by the CDA membership. She beat the other candidate with 26,542 against 9,574 votes. She was reelected for a period of four years in 2006.

On 22 February 2007 Van Bijsterveldt was appointed State secretary for Education, Culture and Science in the fourth Fourth Balkenende cabinet. In August 2009 she made a speech in the States General about Laura Dekker, a thirteen-year-old Dutch citizen whose plans to circumnavigate the world solo caused international controversy. Van Bijsterveldt spoke against Dekker and agreed with the decision to make her a ward of court.

Decorations

Honours
Ribbon bar	Honour	Country	Date	Comment
	Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau	Netherlands	10 December 2012

External links

Official

• (in Dutch) J.M. (Marja) van Bijsterveldt-Vliegenthart Parlement & Politiek