WASHINGTON, D.C., 12 May 2006 | Recently Knighted Dutch Entrepreneur and Philanthropist Drs. Jacob Gelt Dekker and his business partner Drs. John Padget (also previously Knighted by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands) have been presented with The  Netherlands-America Foundation's 2006 Ambassador K. Terry Dornbush Award.

Named for and endowed by the U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands from 1994 to 1998, the award was created in 2003 to honor individuals whose marked contributions in the fields of philanthropy, education or culture in the Netherlands or the United States have served to strengthen relations between the two countries.

 
Pictured L-R: Congressman Pete Hoekstra, Jacob Gelt Dekker, Minister Norberto Ribeiro,
Rear Admiral Michel Hymans at the NAF Awards Gala.



The citation reads as follows: "Presented by Amb. K. Terry Dornbush
John Padget and Jacob Dekker helped to define the field of venture philanthropy. Both inserted their enthusiasms, energy, and leadership---in addition to financial support---for diverse causes such as educational programs, job creation, public housing, historic preservation, humanitarian relief, and cultural policy research.

Jointly, Jacob and John, through the Jade Foundation, financed the urban reclamation project in Curacao, the Netherlands Antilles. Stimulating additional widespread urban renewal in the capital city Willemstad, the reconstructed Dutch and Spanish colonial buildings are the showcases for Willemstad--UNESCO world heritage city, and the Museum & Hotel Kura Hulanda.

JACOB GELT DEKKER. Jacob designed and created the museum and hotel, restoring all the 18th- and 19-th century buildings in an 8-block drug- and crime-infested city slum, called Otrabanda, the "other side" of Willemstad. He continued with the Kura Hulanda Lodge and Beach Club--together with a nature preserve--built on the ruins of a 1600-acre plantation and abandoned Free Slave lots at Westpoint. Conde Naste Traveler recently ranked the Kura Hulanda complex as number four of all Caribbean resorts.

Museum Kura Hulanda, erected at an historic slave-wharf, memorializes and documents the horrors of indentured labor and slavery as an accepted economic reality together with the consequent trans-Atlantic slave trade that lasted over 200 years until the late 19th century. Countless items document the slavery and the trade, the Civil Rights Movement and the Harlem Renaissance.

The museum houses Jacob's collection of over 1500 pieces of antiquity beginning with Mesopotamian clay tablets, Amlash artifacts, Luristan bronzes, and Roman glass. West African, Sub-Saharan artifacts from 2000 years of Niger river kingdoms, Tellem and Dogon cultures, and Benin bronzes highlight the rich cultural heritage of African migrants in the Americas.

Born in 1948 in Oterleek, the Netherlands, Dekker trained to become a dentist and obtained degrees in dentistry and philosophy from the University of Amsterdam, and later his MBA degrees from the University of Rotterdam and the University of Rochester. During the 1980's, he became a Partner in Padget Associates B.V., focusing more on business activities, and his hobbies—archeology and reader of history.

In 2001, Dekker opened the Jacob Gelt Dekker Institute for Advanced Cultural Studies in Curacao, a cooperative program welcoming graduate students from 16 universities in North and South America, Europe, and Africa to study amidst the 60 nationalities residing in Curacao.

Dekker's board services include Anne Frank Center U.S.A.; the U. S. National Slavery Museum, an initiative of Governor Doug Wilder and Dr. Bill Cosby; TREUB, one of Netherlands' eldest foundations for scientific research in the tropics; MOWIC, Monuments West Indish Company; Curacao Sail; Curacao Welcomes Pensionados; and EARTH, a cutting-edge Antineutrino Geonuclear physics research project of the core of the earth.

Two years ago Jacob was named Chair of Amsterdam-based ChildRight International, succeeding Nobel laureate Jan Tinbergen as president of the charity launched by the Nobel-prize winners to fight present-day child slavery and exploitation.

Although Jacob officially resides in Curacao, he is also a frequent traveler to Florida, New York, and Amsterdam.

JOHN R. PADGET. John, a private equity investor, has always been attracted to and interested in education. His grandfather was a school principal who tutored Latin and Greek, his mother taught school, and John was a teaching assistant while in graduate school at Cornell University. Born in 1937 in upstate New York, John 's father was a farmer and his mother a first generation American. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Cornell and his M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School. Starting in 1969, John lived and worked in Europe in various executive positions for the multi-national Tenneco, Inc., finishing as President of Walker Europe, Inc.--an automotive parts manufacturer.

In 1980, John founded Padget Associates, B.V. a private equity firm in Amsterdam. Over a period of two decades, he was the primary investor, board member, and chairman of several ventures, most notably, a chain of over 120 photo shops and the Budget Rent-A-Car franchise in four European countries. Joined by Jacob Gelt Dekker, the firm also invested in Van Gogh International, a trademark licensing company, Splash Fitness Clubs, and Symphony Marketing & Music, among others.

In the Netherlands, John served on the board of AMCHAM, the American Chamber of Commerce in the Netherlands, and was first vice-president and chair of the policy committee for many years. He chaired the Rochester-Erasmus Executive M.B.A. Program Foundation board.

He helped launch Giving Back, the Amsterdam-based charity providing hope for immigrant children.

Nearing the end of his full-time business career, Padget received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Rochester, and was made a Knight in the Order of Oranje Nassau by Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.

Padget's interest in education continues. Governor Jeb Bush appointed him full-time interim Superintendent of Schools (2003-2004) in Monroe County, Florida. Serving on local and state boards, he is a leader in Florida's Take Stock In Children, the award-winning mentoring and scholarship program for poverty-level children, enabling over 11,000 Florida youngsters to break their family's cycle of poverty by getting their college degrees.

Mr. Padget resides in Key West, Florida, but frequently checks on investments and projects in New York, Curacao, and Amsterdam."

Founded in 1921, the NAF is the leading bilateral foundation initiating and supporting high-impact exchange between the Netherlands and the United States, including the NAF/Fulbright Fellowships and programs in the arts, business, public policy and historic preservation. NAF activities provide donors and recipients with access to a broad network of educational, cultural and business organizations that exemplify Dutch and U.S. excellence in a number of disciplines.

The 2006 NAF AWARDS DINNER was held on Friday, May 12, 2006 in the Hall of the Americas of the Organization of American States building on 17th Street and Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C.. The Hon. Peter Hoekstra, U.S. Congressman and Chairman, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, received the Wilkins Award.

The Hon. Pat Roberts (R-KS), U.S. Senator and Chairman, Select Committee on Intelligence, was the keynote speaker. The black tie event was held at the Organization of American States building on 17th Street and Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C. .

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