Hans van de Ven

About Hans van de Ven

Hans van de Ven began his officer training in 1981 in Breda. Over the past 35 years, he has held various positions both domestically and internationally. He has worked in Germany, Bosnia, Eritrea, the United States, and served as Defense Attaché in Afghanistan. Additionally, he has been part of various emergency response teams for 20 years, deployed worldwide. In 2014 and 2015, he spent nearly a year in Ukraine as Commander of the MH17 repatriation mission. After various roles in the Netherlands, he was assigned to NATO headquarters in Rheindalen, Germany, in 1990, from where he was deployed to Sarajevo at the onset of the war in 1992. He subsequently held positions at international headquarters in Heidelberg and Munster before returning to the Netherlands. Since 1996, he has held various operational and staff positions in the Netherlands, and he has also been deployed to Eritrea and Afghanistan. After a period at the Operations Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, where he was partly responsible for supporting all Dutch missions abroad, he was assigned in 2009 as a Liaison Officer at the U.S. CENTCOM headquarters in Florida. In 2011, he was appointed as Defense Attaché at the Dutch embassy in Afghanistan. Since 2015, Colonel van de Ven has been working at the ‘Movement Coordination Centre Europe. Since 1996, van de Ven has also been part of various emergency response teams, such as the ‘Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) and the Urban Search and Rescue Team (USAR.NL). In these roles, he has gained extensive experience in emergency assistance during major disasters, including in Morocco, Pakistan, and Haiti. Most recently, he was the commander of the MH17 repatriation mission, responsible for the recovery of victims, their personal belongings, and wreckage from flight MH17. Hans is eager to share his experiences as a person and leader, taking you into a world that many are fortunate to know only from the media. Working under conditions where the utmost is demanded from people, both physically and mentally. A world where leadership, perseverance, and camaraderie are often put to the ultimate test.