Gaele Winters

After graduating with an MSc in Economics from the Free University of Amsterdam, Gaele Winters joined the Secretariat of the Social-Economic Council of the Netherlands.

In 1981 he became Senior Policy Advisor in the Energy Department of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and in 1986 Head of the Division for Gas Revenues, a post he held for two years.

His next position with the Ministry was as Deputy Director for Manufacturing and Heavy Industry, followed by Director of the Policy Division in 1990. It was during this period that he first became concerned with space as he was also appointed Policy Coordinator for Space Policy.

In 1993, still within the Ministry of Economic Affairs, he was appointed Deputy Director-General for Industry as well as Director for General Policy Coordination for the Industry Directorate-General. In this position he was concerned with all technological development programmes including those for space, and as Director of Manufacturing and Heavy Industry he was directly involved with aerospace issues. Because of this experience, in 1997 he was appointed President and CEO of Fokker Space BV, a position he held until joining ESA. Prior to his present post, he had been ESA Director of Technical and Operational Support since 2001.

Gaele Winters was appointed Chairman of the ESA Council in 1993. He has also been Chairman of the Netherlands Industrial Space Organisation and on the boards of the Netherlands Agency for Aerospace Programmes and the Netherlands Aerospace Laboratory.

His experience of both the public and private sectors has helped him to understand the differences between the two sectors and the constraints facing a public agency.  
 
Last update: 11 January 2011