Martijn van Dam

Martinus Hendricus Petrus (Martijn) van Dam (born February 1, 1978) is a Dutch engineer and politician for the Labour Party (Partij van de Arbeid). Since November 3, 2015 he is State Secretary for Economic Affairs. He was a member of the House of Representatives between 2003 and 2015. He previously served as councillor for the municipality of Eindhoven. From the time he entered parliament on January 30, 2003 to November 29, 2006 he was the youngest member of parliament.
Van Dam was born in Zoetermeer and grew up in Huissen. He moved to Eindhoven with his family in 1990, where he attended the Eindhoven University of Technology (studying Technology Management). He was active in different student associations and also joined the Young Socialists (Jonge Socialisten) (becoming the president of the Eindhoven chapter). In 1998 he ran for the city council of Eindhoven and became a councillor, later speaker for the Labour Party caucus in the city council and member of the national party committee of the Labour Party. After graduating from university he worked at Philips until 2003.
In 2003 he was elected member of the House of Representatives, becoming the youngest member. He moved to Utrecht in 2005.
In his first period in the House Labour Party caucus, Van Dam was spokesman for media, technology and innovation. He quickly established himself in 2003 by frequently asking questions about the Discharge Fraud in the IT sector, whereby probation period discharges were being abused as a cost-cutting measure. Following the 2006 elections he became spokesman for foreign affairs, which made him the face of the Labour Party in the debate on the extension of the military mission in Uruzgan. In March 2007 he joined the caucus leadership.
Van Dam was elected Political Talent of the Year 2005 by the parliamentary press corps.
In November 2015 Van Dam became State Secretary for Economic Affairs, succeeding Sharon Dijksma, who moved to the Ministry for Infrastructure and the Environment.