Alexandra van Huffelen

Alexandra Carla van Huffelen (born 21 July 1968) is a Dutch politician of the Democrats 66 (D66) party. She served in the third and fourth Rutte cabinets, and she became party chair in November 2024.

Early life and career Van Huffelen was born in 1968, and her father was a clinical neurophysiology professor. She studied public administration at Leiden University and Erasmus University Rotterdam, and she began her career at the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment. She started working for energy company Essent in 2000, eventually serving as sustainable energy director. Following a drop in employee rationale, an internal evaluation pointed to her leadership style as the cause. Van Huffelen later stated that she had learned from the experience, and she acknowledged having exerted excessive pressure to achieve cost reductions.

In 2010, she was appointed alderwoman in Rotterdam, responsible for sustainability. She served on behalf of D66, which she had joined in 1989. Van Huffelen was a proponent of urban agriculture, and she advocated for green roofs and narrow strips of plants along façades. She ran for party chair of D66 in 2013, but she narrowly lost the member election. She has served as chair of the D66's fundraising committee and as treasurer of the party's Rotterdam chapter.

She became State Secretary for Finance in the third Rutte cabinet on 29 January 2020, where she worked to compensate victims of the childcare benefits scandal. Under Van Huffelen's leadership, victims received €30,000 payments to ease the compensation procedure's backlog; however, the number of applicants for the procedure increased. She announced her candidacy for party chair of D66 in September 2024 following the stepping down of . Van Huffelen was elected to the position with 65% of the vote, and she assumed office on 23 November 2024. Besides, she is planned to succeed Daniël Wigboldus as president of the executive board of Radboud University Nijmegen in February 2025.

Personal life Van Huffelen's husband works as a notary. As of 2024, they lived in the center of Utrecht.

European Parliament

Democrats 66