Maarten de Groot is the CEO of single family office Eligius and he is Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) candidate at Vrije University Amsterdam, School of Business and Economics; focusing his research on family capital, family governance and wealth preservation. His research considers the role of the family office and the complexities of non-financial considerations of ultra-high net worth enterprise families, leading to impact and wealth preservation. He pursues this line of inquiry through qualitative and quantitative empirical studies, reaching out to his global network of ultra-high net worth families.

He previously lectured at Harvard Kennedy School of Government on US-European relationships and in Shanghai on the topic of investment management. Before his doctoral studies, Maarten worked as quantitative investment manager and in corporate banking in London, Hong Kong, Frankfurt and Amsterdam. He has broad investment experience, including emerging market equities, quantitative optimization strategies and global asset allocation.

In 1996, Maarten co-founded VermogensGroep, one of the largest multi family offices in Europe, managing US$20 billion for 100 ultra-high net worth clients. He served as CEO and introduced the first financial datawarehouse driven multi-currency consolidated investment reporting, offering insight and overview, performance attribution and integral risk analysis. Maarten sold VermogensGroep to UBS in the summer of 2008. He continued working with UBS as non-executive member of the UBS board until the end of 2014.

Over the course of his career, Maarten worked with enterprise families around the world that seek impact and wealth preservation. He has served as a director, trustee and advisory board member of a variety of not-for-profit and other organizations. He is chairman of the Cordius Foundation that contributes to a better world by strengthening institutions, organizations and projects with a social purpose. Maarten served on the International Board of Directors of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) in New York, USA. Currently, Maarten is a chancellor and research champion of that organization. He founded JDRF in the Netherlands and he is chairman of the board.

Maarten studied business economics plus mathematics at Vrije University Amsterdam. He also attended Harvard as a Nuffic fellow and complemented his education in France at Insead and in Switzerland at IMD. He enjoys art, sailing and long-distance running. Maarten currently resides in Amsterdam.