Heleen Mees

{{Infobox person

| name = Heleen Mees

| image = Heleen mees.png

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption = Heleen Mees (2014)

| birth_name = Heleen Nijkamp

| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1968}}

| birth_place = Hengelo, Overijssel, Netherlands

| website = {{URL|www.heleenmees.com}}

| footnotes =

}}

Heleen Mees (born Heleen Nijkamp, 1968){{cite news|url=http://www.vn.nl/Standaard-Media-Pagina/Powerfeminist-Heleen-Mees-Het-liefst-zou-ik-trouwen-en-kinderen-krijgen.htm |title=Powerfeminist Heleen Mees: 'Het liefst zou ik trouwen en kinderen krijgen' |language=Dutch |trans-title=Power feminist Heleen Mees: 'I would rather get married and have children' |newspaper=Vrij Nederland |date=25 April 2009 |access-date=11 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140311064248/http://www.vn.nl/Standaard-Media-Pagina/Powerfeminist-Heleen-Mees-Het-liefst-zou-ik-trouwen-en-kinderen-krijgen.htm |archive-date=11 March 2014 |df=dmy-all }} is a Dutch opinion writer, economist, and lawyer. Involved with politics and public policy in the Netherlands and the US, she has also taught at universities in both countries.

Biography

Mees graduated in Economy and Law at University of Groningen. From 1992 to 1998, she worked for the Dutch Treasury in The Hague, for two years as spokeswoman for former State Secretary Willem Vermeend. She then worked for the European Commission in Brussels from 1998 to 2000. In 2000 she emigrated to the US, where she changed her surname from Nijkamp to Mees.{{cite web|first=Arjan|last=Visser|url=http://www.trouw.nl/tr/nl/4324/Nieuws/article/detail/1215419/2008/03/22/Heleen-Mees-Ik-vind-het-niet-erg-mensen-op-de-kast-te-jagen.dhtml|title=Heleen Mees / Ik vind het niet erg mensen op de kast te jagen|trans-title=Heleen Mees / I don't mind getting a rise out of people|language=Dutch|publisher=Trouw.nl|date=22 March 2008|access-date=8 May 2014}}

In New York Mees was initially employed as a European affairs consultant for Ernst & Young. When her contract was not renewed, Mees stayed in New York and worked as an independent consultant on European affairs. Mees also started writing opinion pieces for several Dutch newspapers.

Mees' breakthrough as an opinion writer (she is credited as a third wave feminist{{cite news|url=http://www.nrc.nl/handelsblad/van/2008/maart/03/ambitieuze-powerfeministe-met-extreme-meningen-11496960|title=Ambitieuze powerfeministe met extreme meningen|newspaper=NRC |language=Dutch|trans-title=Ambitious power feminist with extreme opinions|publisher=NRC Handelsblad|date=3 March 2008|access-date=30 April 2014 |last1=Mat |first1=Joke }}) in the Netherlands came in 2006 when she wrote "The time is long overdue that women should go to work", her first feminist opinion piece in NRC Handelsblad.{{cite web|url=http://www.women-on-top.nl/wp-content/uploads/nrc-mees.pdf|title=Vrouwen moeten nu eindelijk eens echt aan het werk gaan|language=Dutch|trans-title=The time is long overdue that women should go to work|publisher=NRC Handelsblad|date=21 January 2006|access-date=5 May 2014}} The same year, she co-founded Women on Top, an organization that until 2011 advocated more women in top jobs.{{cite web|url=http://www.women-on-top.nl|title=Women on Top|language=Dutch|publisher=Women on Top|access-date=5 May 2014}} As a firm advocate of female ambition and a promoter of more women in the supervisory and executive boards of big companies, Mees has been described as a "power feminist".{{cite web|url=http://www.hpdetijd.nl/2013-10-21/heleen-mees-profiel-gevallen-vrouw|title=Heleen Mees, profiel van een gevallen vrouw|language=Dutch|trans-title=Heleen Mees, Profile of a Fallen Woman|first=Nathalie|last=Huigsloot|publisher=HP de Tijd|date=21 October 2013|access-date=8 May 2014}}

From 2006 to 2010 she wrote a bi-weekly column in NRC Handelsblad, and from 2012 to 2013 a weekly column for Het Financieele Dagblad."[http://fd.nl/economie-politiek/columns/heleen-mees/ Heleen Mees] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140417001911/http://fd.nl/economie-politiek/columns/heleen-mees/ |date=17 April 2014 }}". Het Financieele Dagblad. Retrieved 10 May 2014. She has written for publications such as Foreign Policy"[https://foreignpolicy.com/profiles/Heleen-Mees Heleen Mees]", Foreign Policy. Retrieved 10 May 2014. and for Project Syndicate In September 2015 she was a guest columnist for de Volkskrant,{{cite news|url=http://www.volkskrant.nl/opinie/verhuis-noorderlingen-naar-de-grote-stad~a4140190/|title=Verhuis noorderlingen naar de grote stad|last=Mees|first=Heleen|date=13 September 2015|work=De Volkskrant|language=Dutch|access-date=11 October 2015}} and in 2016 began a biweekly column for that same paper.{{cite news|url=http://www.quotenet.nl/Nieuws/Heleen-Mees-wordt-vaste-columnist-van-de-Volkskrant-175144|title=Heleen Mees wordt vaste columnist van de Volkskrant|date=11 March 2016|work=Quote|language=Dutch|access-date=7 October 2016}}

She was vice-president of the chapter of the Dutch Labour Party (PvdA) in New York.{{cite web|url=http://www.pvda.nl/berichten/2013/04/Het+New+Yorkse+PvdA-honk|title=Het New Yorkse PvdA-honk|date=1 April 2013|publisher=PvdA|language=Dutch|access-date=3 June 2014|archive-date=12 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140512230857/http://www.pvda.nl/berichten/2013/04/Het+New+Yorkse+PvdA-honk|url-status=dead}} From 2005 to 2008She worked from 2005 for the Clinton campaigns. [http://nos.nl/audio/26486-heleen-mees-over-amerikaanse-verkiezingen.html NOS Heleen Mees on the election in America (announcement)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140512221612/http://nos.nl/audio/26486-heleen-mees-over-amerikaanse-verkiezingen.html |date=12 May 2014 }}, NOS, 3 January 2008. Retrieved 10 May 2014. The last campaign was in 2008. she worked as volunteer-fundraiser for the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton.{{cite web|url=http://www.twentevisie.nl/Files/Billeder/PDF%20Archief/2008/April/0804-08.pdf|title=Twentse power-feministe Heleen Mees haalt geld op voor Hillary Clinton|language=Dutch|trans-title=Power Feminist Heleen Mees from Twente fundraiser for Hillary Clinton|author=Carrie ten Napel|publisher=TwenteVisie|date=April 2008|access-date=26 April 2014|archive-date=27 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140427194530/http://www.twentevisie.nl/Files/Billeder/PDF%20Archief/2008/April/0804-08.pdf|url-status=dead}} In July 2013, Mees was arrested in New York on charges of stalking her former lover, the chief economist of Citigroup, Willem Buiter.{{cite news|url=http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/ex_nyu_prof_charged_in_citigroup_jv8h0yt1qYyNeNxy48W3WO|title=Ex-NYU prof charged in Citigroup stalk|first=Rebecca|last=Rosenberg|newspaper=New York Post|date=3 July 2013|access-date=5 May 2014}} In March 2014, the court decided that the case against Mees was to be dismissed in one year provided that she complies with two conditions.{{cite web|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/AP35e7f881be7841169dff04a021abd01a|title=Dutch prof's NYC stalking case set for dismissal|newspaper=Wall Street Journal|date=10 March 2014|access-date=27 April 2014}} Later that year, in September 2014, Mees responded by filing for damages against Buiter."[http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/23137087/__Heleen_Mees_eist_miljoenen__.html Heleen Mees eist miljoenen]". De Telegraaf 29 September 2014. Retrieved 13 October 2014. In November 2016, Mees simultaneously lost both lawsuits in Amsterdam and New York.[http://www.quotenet.nl/Nieuws/Pijnlijk-Heleen-Mees-verliest-rechtszaak-van-Willem-Buiter-187358 Sonny Motké: Pijnlijk: Heleen Mees verliest rechtszaak van Willem Buiter (Painful: Heleen Mees loses lawsuit against Willem Buiter)], www.quotenet.nl (9 november 2016)

In August 2012, Mees completed a doctoral thesis at the Erasmus School of Economics, in which she argued that the primary cause of the 2008 financial crisis was the flourishing economy in China and resulting savings and government investments by the Chinese.{{cite book |url=http://repub.eur.nl/pub/34930/ |first=Heleen |last=Mees |title=Changing Fortunes. How China's Boom Caused the Financial Crisis (Dissertation)|publisher=Erasmus University Rotterdam |date=2012 |isbn=9789058923110 }}{{cite web |first=Veerle |last=Corstens |url=http://tedx.amsterdam/2013/11/how-chinas-boom-caused-the-financial-crisis/ |title=How China's boom caused the financial crisis |publisher=TEDx Amsterdam |date=November 2013 }} While completing her research, she worked as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Tilburg University.{{cite web|url=http://universonline.nl/2010/11/12/heleen-mees-wil-vrouwelijk-potentieel-mobiliseren|title=Heleen Mees wil vrouwelijk potentieel mobiliseren|language=Dutch|trans-title=Heleen Mees wants to unlock the Female Potential|publisher=Univers.online|date=12 November 2010|access-date=5 May 2014}} From September 2012 until July 2013, Mees was employed as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Public Administration at New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.{{cite web|url=http://wagner.nyu.edu/Mees|title=Heleen Mees: Adjunct Associate Professor of Public Administration|work=Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service|publisher=New York University|access-date=5 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130226062918/http://wagner.nyu.edu/Mees|archive-date=26 February 2013}}

Publications

=in English=

{{Cite book |first=Heleen |last=Mees |title=Changing fortunes : how China's boom caused the financial crisis |publisher=Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), Erasmus University Rotterdam |location=Rotterdam |date=2012 |series=ERIM Ph.D. series research in management, 266 |isbn=9789058923110 |oclc=869743485}} PhD dissertation, 159 pp.
"NY Service Economy - A Template for a Future Suburbia" in Here, There, Everywhere 2014. DroogLab Amsterdam. {{ISBN|978-9090281735}}"[http://www.droog.com/news/2014/05/here-there-4-year-journey/ Here, There, Everywhere a 4-year journey] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012224416/http://www.droog.com/news/2014/05/here-there-4-year-journey/ |date=12 October 2016 }}", droog. Accessed 12 October 2016
The Chinese Birdcage - How China's Rise Almost Toppled the West (2016). {{ISBN|978-1-137-58885-2}}"[http://webmail.newasiabooks.org/publication/chinese-birdcage-how-chinas-rise-almost-toppled-west-2016?page=1 Chinese Birdcage, The: How China's Rise Almost Toppled the West: 2016] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009182832/http://webmail.newasiabooks.org/publication/chinese-birdcage-how-chinas-rise-almost-toppled-west-2016?page=1 |date=9 October 2016 }}", newbooks.asia. Accessed 7 October 2016

=in Dutch=

{{Cite book |first=Heleen |last=Mees |title=Tussen hebzucht en verlangen - de wereld en het grote geld. Columns over actuele sociaal-economische kwesties. |trans-title=Between Greed And Desire - Big Money and the World |date=2009 |isbn=978-90-468-0572-5 |publisher=Nieuw Amsterdam |language=Dutch}}
{{Cite book |first=Heleen |last=Mees |title=Weg met het deeltijdfeminisme! : over vrouwen, ambitie en carrière |trans-title=No More Part-Time Feminism! - On Women, Ambition and Career |publisher=Nieuw Amsterdam |language=Dutch |isbn=9789046802144 |oclc=150254852 |location=Amsterdam |edition=2nd |date=2007}} 160pp. First edition was 2006.{{cite web|url=http://www.nieuwamsterdam.nl/weg-met-het-deeltijdfeminisme-#.UzLQWCjfFLE|publisher=Nieuw Amsterdam|title=Weg met het deeltijdfeminisme!|language=Dutch|trans-title=No More Part-Time Feminism! - On Women, Ambition and Career|date=|access-date=22 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140318014632/http://www.nieuwamsterdam.nl/weg-met-het-deeltijdfeminisme-#.UzLQWCjfFLE |archive-date=18 March 2014 |url-status=dead}}
Compendium van het Europees belastingrecht [Compendium of EU Law] (2002) (coauthor). {{ISBN|90-200-2435-3}}{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150530122608/http://www.literatuurplein.nl/boekdetail.jsp?boekId=390144 |archive-date=2015-05-30 |url=http://www.literatuurplein.nl/boekdetail.jsp?boekId=390144 |publisher=Kluwer |title=Compendium van het Europees belastingrecht |language=Dutch |trans-title=Compendium of EU Law |date= |access-date=29 May 2015}}