Biography

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Prime Minister Evelyna "Evelyn" Wever-Croes is the current Prime Minister and for the last four years has served as the Minister of General Affairs, Integrity, Energy, Innovation, and Government Organization for the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba. Aside from forming the second coalition government in over 20 years, she made history by being the first female Prime Minister of Aruba. After assuming the role of Prime Minister of Aruba, the big innovation gap and its impact on the Aruban economy became apparent, especially after the COVID-19 Pandemic. She believes taking a human-centered approach to policy-making, combined with significant investment in innovation is the only way to help build a more sustainable future for generations to come. She is also an advocate for social, purpose-driven, innovation and for women in innovation and STEM.

Before assuming the role of Prime Minister of Aruba, she obtained a Bachelor of Law degree at the University of the Netherlands Antilles in 1986. She then moved to the Netherlands to pursue her master’s degree at the University of Leiden, specializing in tax law. Upon her return to Aruba in 1989, Prime Minister Wever-Croes began her career as a tax agent at the Aruba government tax department. She served as head of the Aruba tax department since 1994 for ten years. In 2004, after a successful and fulfilling career in the public sector, Prime Minister Wever-Croes took on a new challenge as a tax lawyer at the Croes Wever Tchong law firm leading many local and international corporate tax cases. In 2009, she was approached by the leader of the political party MEP to become an official candidate of the party. After the 2009 general elections, she was sworn in as a member of parliament. In 2011, she was elected as the leader of the MEP party. After eight years serving as a member of the Aruban parliament, she was sworn in on November 17, 2017, as the first female Prime Minister of Aruba. Prime Minister Evelyna Wever-Croes is devoted to her family, she is married and a mother of three children. More recently, she became a proud grandmother of a baby boy. Additionally, Prime Minister Wever-Croes is very passionate about giving back to her community and has served as a member of the civic organization Quota International, where she served as president of the Aruba board from 2009-2010.