Mijndert Ververs

Mijndert Ververs (3 February 1933 – 19 January 2025) was a Dutch businessman. He was successfull as chairman of the board of Wolters Kluwer and was chairman of the supervisory board of ING.

Ververs was born in Waddinxveen on 3 February 1933.^[1] His father worked as an inspector at grocery chain De Gruyter, his mother worked before their marriage as a maid. Ververs had a younger and an older brother. His parents started a grocery store in 1939 and he went to houses to deliver and sell groceries. The store went bankrupt during World War II. Ververs attended Hogere Burgerschool and studied afterwards chemistry in Delft. At the age of 24 years old he started working at the Vossius Gymnasium in Amsterdam. In 1965 he became science editor at Wolters publishers in Groningen, that merged shortly afterwards with Noordhoff publishers. From 1969 he was a member of the board.

Ververs was chairman of the board of publisher Wolters Samsom. In 1987 he took over publisher Kluwer and the named changed into Wolters Kluwer. Under his leadership the company grew enormously. The net profit increased by 20% every year and the company became one of the best performing stock exchange funds at the AEX. This growth has been attributed to Ververs.^[2][3]

In 1994 he was asked to become Minister of Finance, but he declined. He became chairman of the supervisory board of ING. Under his leadership, from 1996 remaining parts of the bankrupt aircraft manufacturer Fokker were sold and he led the merger of the Zwolle hospitals into Isala hospitals.^[3] He became also chairman of the Samenwerkende Actiegroepen Tegen Laagvliegen (SATL; translated: Collaborative Action Groups Against Flying Low).^[4]

He was married to Cora Ververs and they had a son and a daughter. They lived in Zwolle. After his wife died in 2019, Ververs died on 19 January 2025, at the age of 91 due to heart failure.^[2][3]