Hans W. Vriens

Hans W. Vriens is managing partner of Vriens & Partners Pte Ltd. Hans has lived and worked in Asia since 1990, during which time he has been counsel to clients on many of the region’s most sensitive issues. A regular political commentator, he is often asked to provide background briefings to visiting executives to help them better understand political, economic, cultural and business developments in the region. He is able to provide unique and frank analysis thanks to the many research and consultancy projects Vriens & Partners (V&P) has undertaken for MNCs and governments around Asia.

Prior to establishing V&P, Mr Vriens was Vice Chairman, Asia at APCO Worldwide overseeing the expansion of the firm in Southeast Asia. Before this he established and served as Managing Director of the Indonesia practice for six years, and prior to this was a political economist at the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy in Hong Kong. He earlier practiced law at Clifford Chance and was the Asia correspondent for a leading Dutch financial and economic daily. In 1995, he was elected president of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club Hong Kong, then the largest in the world.

Mr Vriens serves on the Board of the Europe-ASEAN Business Alliance and is Chairman of the Foundation Dutch Education at the United World College of Southeast Asia (UWCSEA). He has served on the board of the European Chamber of Commerce in Singapore, and was founding chairman of the Dutch Chamber of Commerce in Singapore.

Mr Vriens graduated from law school in civil and constitutional law at Groningen University in the Netherlands. During his studies, he was a research assistant in parliamentary history and constitutional law. In 1982 he took a year off from his studies when he was elected president of the Student Union (VAP).

Mr Vriens has a diploma in international relations of the Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of the Johns Hopkins University. At SAIS he studied at the Bologna Center in Italy. He also did stints at the Universities of Grenoble in France, and Krakow in Poland. His family lived in the Netherlands Dutch Indies for several generations until the handover of Papua to the United Nations in 1962. Hans is married to Katy le Blanc and has two sons.