Onno Hoes was an independent entrepreneur until 2001 while serving part-time as a member and faction leader of the municipal council of ’s-Hertogenbosch and the Provincial Council of North Brabant. As Deputy for, among others, Economic Affairs and Energy Companies, he contributed to the establishment of Brainport Eindhoven and, as chair of the shareholders’ committee, the split and sale of the provincial energy company Essent. As Ecology Deputy, he was also partly responsible for the designation of Natura 2000 areas and North Brabant’s nitrogen policy.
His career continued as mayor of Maastricht, Haarlemmermeer, and Roermond, and as informateur during an interim formation of the Limburg Provincial Executive.
At the intersection of care and safety, he has successfully brought together relevant parties to authoritatively address the issue of ‘people with confused or disturbed behavior.’
NVM
A foray into the business world led him to the Royal Dutch Cooperative Association of Real Estate Agents and Appraisers (NVM). There, he helped shape the one-tier cooperative and expanded its business portfolio into a holding with eight subsidiary companies managing the real estate sector.
Vice-Chair VVD
Asked how he consistently manages to solve governance challenges and bridge seemingly insurmountable gaps, Hoes recently remarked: “I don’t have a recipe, I am the recipe.”
Hoes has been actively involved in a wide range of contemporary societal issues: asylum policy as advisor to the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA), coffee shop policy as mayor of Maastricht, security at Schiphol Airport as mayor of Haarlemmermeer, nitrogen policy as Deputy in North Brabant, social safety as chair of the Taskforce for People with Confused Behavior, and the renewal of the VVD post-Rutte as national vice-chair.
