Bernardus Johannes Maria "Ben" Verwaayen (born February 11, 1952 in Driebergen) is a Dutch businessman. On September 2, 2008 the Alcatel-Lucent board of directors appointed Verwaayen as the company’s Chief Executive Officer, succeeding Patricia Russo.
Ben Verwaayen is the fifth of six children born to a family who owned a chemicals business in Driebergen.[1] At school, he organised the first student parliament, and after graduating from Utrecht University with a degree in law and international relations in 1975, wanted to be a journalist or politician.[1]
On graduation, he decided to immediately undertake his National Service with the Dutch Army, where he founded the Algemene Vereniging Nederlandse Militairen (General Association of Dutch soldiers), a union that existed until 1996.
On leaving the army, to enable him to continue his work with the trade union, he joined a subsidiary of ITT Corporation because it gave him time to sit on a Dutch state committee to reform the army.[1] His first promotion came after he headed to the European Union Parliament in Brussels to protest about the company's alleged role in the overthrow of Salvador Allende's government in Chile - ITT responded by making him its Netherlands public relations chief.[2]
In 1988 Verwaayen became a director of PTT Telecom, the state-owned Dutch telecoms group that was a forerunner of today's KPN; and then appointed a board member of Lucent Technologies in 1997, moving to the United Sates. A committed Anglophile,[3] he was CEO of BT.[4] During his time there, he was also a board member for Dutch television production company Endemol, and chaired the CBI committee on climate change.[3]
After standing down from BT on 1 June, 2008 when Ian Livingston took over,[5] he was speculated to persue a career in Dutch politics.[2] On September 2, 2008 the Alcatel-Lucent board of directors appointed Verwaayen as the company’s chief executive officer, succeeding Patricia Russo.
During his military service, Verwaayen founded the Algemene Vereniging Nederlandse Militairen (General Association of Dutch soldiers), a union that existed until 1996.
Verwaayen has been a long time member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy. He sat in its executive for ten years, and also contributed to its election programme for the 2006 Dutch elections. At various times, he was linked with a Cabinet position.
Verwaayen has received various honorary awards and has been made an Honorary knight of the British Empire, KBE (United Kingdom), Chevalier de la Légion d 'Honneur (France) and Officier in de Orde van Oranje Nassau (Netherlands).
Married to Helena, the couple have two children.[3] They currently reside in Paris, but had a family home is Haslemere, Surrey where Verwaayen hosted a party in summer 2008, attended by 1,300 guests including former Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin, UK government ministers Stephen Twigg and John Denham.[1] Tennis playing Verwaayen put on a celebrity tennis match between John Lloyd and Ilie Nastase;[1] and is also a fan of Arsenal F.C..[3]