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A retired executive who for years helped manage KLM’s with its joint venture partner Delta Air Lines in Atlanta has been knighted for his service to the Dutch business community.
Jan Willem Smeulers was presented with the royal decoration of Knight of the Order Orange-Nassau for what the Consulate General of the Netherlands called “longstanding meritorious service to Dutch society.”
Consul General Jacob (Jaap) Veerman presented the decoration on behalf of King Willem-Alexander during a ceremony at the Dutch residence in Atlanta this week.
Mr. Smeulers took up his post in Atlanta as KLM’s vice president here in 2009, the same year Delta launched its transatlantic joint venture with Air France-KLM. The move came after Delta had emerged from bankruptcy in 2007 and soon thereafter acquired Northwest Airlines, the first big deal in what would become a wave of industry consolidation. Mr. Smeulers had been in Minneapolis before that, working on a separate KLM joint venture with Northwest that was rolled into a larger partnership after the Delta merger.
Always active in the Dutch business community, Mr. Smeulers became president of the Netherlands-American Chamber of Commerce Southeast in Atlanta, rolling off in 2015 after a two-year term.
He then chaired for many years the Netherlands American Business Council, a network of Dutch chambers and Netherlands-America Foundation chapters around the country.
Born in The Hague, Mr. Smeulers grew up and studied in the Netherlands, then came to the U.S. to earn an MBA at the University of Puget Sound in Washington in 1973. He joined KLM the following year, working in sales and marketing before advancing into managerial roles in Nigeria, Sweden and finally in Venezuela, where he headed up KLM’s operations for Latin America and the Caribbean before returning to the U.S.
Along with the Order of the Lion, the Order of Orange-Nassau given to Mr. Smeulers is one of two civilian “orders of chivalry” bestowed on behalf of the Dutch royal house. The order was founded in 1892 by then-Queen regent Emma, according to the consulate’s LinkedIn page.
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