Thijs Berman

Executive Director

Thijs Berman joined EPD as Acting Executive Director in December 2025. Previously, he was Executive Director of NIMD from 2019 until 2024. He has more than 30 years of experience in media, politics, and international development. He began his career as a journalist, working as a radio correspondent in Paris and Moscow, working for several Dutch radio stations, television channels and print publications. He then became a Member of the European Parliament in 2004, for the Dutch Labour Party (PvdA). In 2009, he was head of list at the European elections and became the chair of the Dutch social democratic EP delegation. As an MEP, he was a member of several committees, including on Development Cooperation and the Subcommittee on Human Rights. He has also headed European election observation missions to Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Senegal. After leaving the European Parliament in 2014, he worked as team leader of a European election support programme in the Central African Republic. In the two years before joining NIMD in 2019, Thijs worked in Vienna as the Principal Advisor to the OSCE Representative of Freedom of the Media.