The OPTA Commission consists of three independent experts from various disciplines: Chris A. Fonteijn (chairman), Mark de Jong (non-executive member & vice-chairman) and Annet Aris (non-executive member). The members of the Commission are appointed by the Crown by recommendation of the Minister of Economic Affairs.
Chris A. Fonteijn, Chairman of the Commission
(1955, Den Haag), studied law in Leiden; during his years in military service, he worked in the Military Intelligence Service. From 1980, until his appointment as Chairman of the Commission of OPTA on September 1st 2005, Chris worked as a lawyer at NautaDutilh in Rotterdam, where he became a partner in 1988. He specialized in Business and Energy Law, and over the years he held a variety of positions at NautaDutilh; for several years he worked for NautaDutilh in the Middle East. During his last years at NautaDutilh, Fonteijn was director of the Energy & Utilities Group.
Professor Mark W. de Jong, vice-chair of OPTA
(1955) has a PhD in Economics. He is also a Professor of Economics of the Service Sector by special appointment at the University of Amsterdam and founder of the Amsterdam Centre for Service Innovation (AMSI). He worked for the OECD in Paris before joining TNO in Delft. Between 1993 and 2005 he worked at KPN, where he, among other things, served as the Executive Director Corporate Strategy and Regulatory Affairs and finally as the Executive Vice President of KPN Mobile Division. Between October 2005 and August 2009 he served as the Managing Director at Novay, formerly known as Telematica Instituut, in Enschede. Since 1 February 2006 he has been a non-executive member as well as the vice-chairman of the OPTA commission.
Annet Aris, MSc, MBA, non-executive Member
(1958) graduated from the University of Wageningen, following which she obtained a Master of Business Administration at INSEAD. She has been serving as adjunct Professor of Strategy at the latter institution since 2003. There she developed the MBA module, Managing Media Companies, as part of which she also lectures. In addition to this, she is a regular guest lecturer at universities in Switzerland, Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, and acts as an expert for European media firms and industrial associations in Europe. From 1985 to 2003 she held various positions at McKinsey & Co. in Amsterdam, London and Munich, serving as a partner and leader of the media practice in Germany in recent years. From March 15th 2008 she is non-executive Member of the Commission of the Independent Post and Telecommunications Authority.
Associate members of the Commission
The Commission is authorised to appoint associate members by virtue of article 7 of the OPTA Act. This concerns persons with special qualifications and expertise, related to the specific tasks of OPTA. Associated members are advisors to the Commission and fulfil there roles in close co-operation with the Commission.
Prof. Annetje T. Ottow
(1965) Annetje Ottow read Law at the University of Leiden and followed this with postgraduate studies in Queen Mary College at the University of London. She completed her doctorate at the University of Amsterdam in 2006. Since August 2007 she has served as a senior lecturer in Public Economic Law at the University of Utrecht. Ottow spent more than four years working as a researcher with the Institute of Information Law at the University of Amsterdam. Between 1990 and 2006 she worked as a lawyer, from 1998 as a partner in the Market Regulation and Competition department of the firm, Houthoff Buruma, and later on as a legal consultant. She has been an associate member of the OPTA Commission since 1 April 2006. Her most important duties lie in the field of monitoring and further consolidating the legal nature of OPTA’s work.
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