Louise van Deth T'83
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"There have always been two patterns in my life. One is financial and organizational; the other is cultural."
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Still Able to See the Stars
In the Netherlands, unlike in the United States, light and noise pollution are not local annoyances but matters of national concern. "We have greenhouses with lights on day and night," says Louise van Deth. "There is always a highway nearby or a plane coming over. In a small country like ours, where do you find silence? Where is it really dark? Where can you still see the stars?"
Van Deth is the director of the Foundation for Nature and the Environment (Stichting Natuur en Milieu or SNM), a large—for the Netherlands—nonprofit that seeks to infl uence both the government and the public on environmental issues that directly affect people's lives. Her concerns range from climate change and urban planning to manure, of which Dutch cows produce more than the land can absorb. It's a job that lets her exercise her financial and managerial skills while gaining expertise in the world of environmental affairs. "I have something to contribute and a lot to learn."
Van Deth joined SNM in April 2003, after seven years as second in command at the Central Bureau on Fundraising (Centraal Bureau Fondsenwerving), a private group that monitors the country's charities. Before that, she had spent five years with Pierson, Heldring & Pierson, an investment bank in Amsterdam. In between, she returned to school for a degree in English literature and, while pregnant with the first of her three children, coauthored a popular book on menopause. She has also served on several charitable boards—most notably that of Mama Cash, a Dutch umbrella organization funding a range of women's enterprises around the world, from shelters for battered women to experimental theater and dance productions.
"There have always been two patterns in my life," she says. "One is financial and organizational; the other is more cultural." As an undergraduate at the University of Amsterdam, she studied both economics and theology. She is equally interested in corporate finance and the works of James Joyce. It was this dual perspective that led to her seek an American education—she received a BA from Hollins College in Roanoke, Va., before entering Tuck—but then to return to the Netherlands to pursue her career and her life. "I liked the U.S., but American society, as a whole, is not very deep-thinking or multidimensional. I missed certain things in Europe—the details, the nuances, the depth. In the U.S., the leading principal is money. But I believe other values are important, too."
Van Deth's life reflects these values. She commutes an hour to SNM's offices in Utrecht via bicycle and public transport. She sees to it that SNM's 100 employees are treated well, including a focus on the personal. "It's my duty as a manager to bring out the best in people to achieve the best result," she says. "We take care of the people who work for us." At the end of her long workday, she cooks dinner for whoever happens to be around: her longtime partner, her children, her former husband, her friends.
Despite this crowded schedule, van Deth finds time for an occasional visit to Tuck, most recently in October 2003. "It was a good time to be there," she says. "I had forgotten the crisp night air." And, perhaps, the brilliance of the stars.
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