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After
serving as SEAF's legal counsel from its foundation
in 1989 as the CARE Small Business Assistance Corporation
(CARESBAC), Mr. van der Vaart joined SEAF on a full-time
basis in 1994 as Director-General of CARESBAC-Polska,
SEAF's first investment company, which grew during his
tenure to a total capital under management of $15.9
million. While serving as Director-General of CARESBAC-Polska
from August 1994 until May 1997, Mr. van der Vaart led
the completion of 27 small business investments. Mr.
van der Vaart then returned to Washington, DC and has
served as President and Chief Executive Officer of SEAF
ever since. Since his time there, SEAF has increased
the capital under its management by more than five times,
to a total of more than $280 million, has made more
than 235 investments and achieved more than 125 exits.
Mr. van der Vaart has spoken on SMEs and development
to a number of conferences and universities, including
those organized by IFC, World Bank, Harvard University,
Wharton, the OECD, the Government of Norway, the Brooklyn
Bridge Triple Bottom Line Investors' Conference, India
Soft and SIDBI.
Prior
to his full-time engagement by SEAF, from 1984 through
1994, Mr. van der Vaart was a Partner and Associate
with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Washington, D.C, and
Brussels Belgium, where he specialized in corporate
law, primarily with respect to corporate financings
and mergers and acquisitions for such companies as Hilton,
Vortech, Waverly Publishing, General Dynamics, Investcorp,
Fleetwood, Kellogg's, Honda Motors, Westinghouse and
Monsanto. From 1983 through 1984, he was a management
consultant with Bain & Company in London and Munich.
Mr. van der Vaart has practiced law in Washington, Brussels,
Paris, New York, and Frankfurt. He holds a J.D. from
Yale Law School, where he also studied finance at Yale
School of Management; a B.A. in Politics and Economics
and a M. Phil. in Economics from Oxford University,
where he was a Rhodes Scholar; and a B.A. from the University
of North Carolina, where he was a Morehead Scholar.
Mr. van der Vaart speaks English, Dutch, German and
French.
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