Laurens Antonius Josephus Maria Dassen (born 19 October 1985) is a Dutch politician and former banker. Dassen grew up in Knegsel, studied business administration at Radboud University Nijmegen and worked for ABN AMRO for six years. He has been a member of Volt Netherlands since its foundation in 2018 and was elected to the House of Representatives as his party’s lijsttrekker in the 2021 general election.
. . . Laurens Dassen . . .
Dassen was born in 1985 in Eindhoven and grew up in the nearby village Knegsel, North Brabant.[1][2] His father worked as a manager for Philips, and his mother was a primary school teacher.[3] Dassen has an older sister and a younger brother, and he attended the Veldhoven secondary school Sondervick College, earning his havo diploma in 2003.[3][4] In his youth, he played football at the Knegselse Boys, and he played the baritone horn in a youth orchestra.[2][3]
After finishing secondary school, Dassen went to the Eindhoven Fontys University of Applied Sciences but quit after a year to study international economics at Maastricht University. Another year later, in 2005, he left that educational institution to study business administration at Radboud University in Nijmegen, where he graduated in 2011.[5][6] While a student, Dassen was a member of the student association N.S.V. Carolus Magnus, spent half a year in India and participated in the 2009 edition of Harvard Model United Nations as part of the United Netherlands delegation.[7][8]
In 2012, following his graduation, Dassen took a job at ABN AMRO. He was initially involved in risk management and in the prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing, and he was posted to Dubai for five months. Dassen later worked on web and app development at the bank.[5][6][9] He left his job in September 2018 but returned part-time for a few months in 2020.[7][10]
. . . Laurens Dassen . . .