Akkreditierungsdatum

23.10.2024

Details

Date of birth: 15th March 1972, Personal Status: Married

Bildung

Doctorandus (comparable to a Master’s Degree)

in Political Science with a major in International

Relations, University of Amsterdam

Sprachen

Dutch, English, German, French

Berufliche Laufbahn

Hester Somsen started working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1997. In those years she dealt with issues relating to the former Yugoslavia between 1997-2000, worked as a second secretary at the Dutch embassy in Hungary, followed by a year at the Department of European Integration.

In 2006 she was posted to the Dutch embassy in Tanzania focusing on political and cultural affairs.

When she returned to the Netherlands in 2009, she worked as acting and consequently head of the Crisis Management and Peacekeeping Operations Division in the Security Policy Department.

In 2013 she was appointed Ambassador to Lebanon, where she worked until November 2016. The refugee crisis and the instability in the country, both related to the Syria crisis, formed the background of her posting.

In September 2016 she was appointed Director of Security Policy at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In October 2020, she started as the Deputy National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism and as the Director for Cybersecurity and State Threats at the NCTV. In that capacity, she oversaw the publication of the Netherlands Cyber Security Strategy.