Alderman City of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Sharon Dijksma (1971) is a Dutch politician and member of the ‘Partij van de Arbeid’. (Labour party). She studied law at the University of Groningen and public administration at the University of Twente.
Ms. Dijksma began her political career in 1991 with the Young Socialists, where she started as a general secretary and later became chairwoman. In this period Ms. Dijksma was also one of the youth representatives in the Dutch government’s delegation to the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York.
At the age of twenty-three she became member of Dutch parliament. (1994-2007). She was the youngest member to be elected at that time. She was responsible for economic policy and spatial planning & infrastructure.
In 2007 she was appointed minister for Education, Culture & Science. In 2012 she was asked again to become the minister for Economic affairs. She joined the Dutch government for a third time in 2015 as minister for Infrastructure and Environmental affairs.
Meanwhile Ms. Dijksma served on several boards for example that of BNN media, Twente Education Centre and the supervisory board of Rijksmuseum Twente.
In 2018 she was asked to join the Amsterdam city council as deputy mayor; an opportunity for her and her family to live in Amsterdam, but also to help the city with its challenges regarding traffic, transport and air quality. One of the main focus therein is the transition to an emission free Amsterdam by 2025.
