Curriculum vitae
Donald Kalff spent most of his professional life as a manager with Royal Dutch Shell and as a member of the Executive Board of KLM, Royal Dutch Airlines. He is a former Senior Fellow of the Wharton School.
In recent years, he (co-)founded biotech companies focusing on antibody discovery and diagnostic tests for tropical diseases. He cofounded four more companies, each dedicated to the improvement of existing, widely used, out-of-patent medicines. Additionally, he has invested and is actively involved in two companies in the field of cyber security. Finally, he is a member of the Board of a Dutch foundation that seeks to improve access to the court system for citizens and small businesses.
Donald Kalff is the author of two books and numerous articles on the governance and management of large enterprises. His work has been published in English, French, German, Russian and Dutch.
In 2019, he coauthored a book with Andrea Renda on the competitiveness of Europe: “Hidden Treasures: Mapping Europe’s Sources of Competitive Advantage in Doing Business” (published by CEPS). The authors describe hidden sources of competitive advantage in ten policy domains, such as contract law, corporate governance, taxation, control of corruption, competition policy, trade, innovation, and the EU’s unique approach to governing the digital economy. They call for the identification, defense and enforcement of Europe’s strengths, rather than seeking remedies to its weaknesses.
