Born in 1949 in Utrecht, the Netherlands, Robert van der Meer holds a degree in Quantitative Business Economics, is a Dutch CPA (RA) and has a Ph.D. in Economics of the Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Robert van der Meer is since 1989 Professor of Finance at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen and Professor emeritus beginning 2015.

His business career started in 1972 with Pakhoed (international storage and transport, now known as VOPAK) in the Netherlands and from 1976 until 1989 he worked with Royal Dutch/Shell in several positions in the Netherlands and abroad. During this period, he was also Managing Director of Investments of the Shell Pension Fund.

From 1989 until 1995 Robert van der Meer was with AEGON as a member of the Executive Board, responsible for Investments and Treasury.

From 1995 until 2002 he was with Fortis, first as a member of the executive board of Fortis Amev NV and from January 1999 as a member of the Executive committee of Fortis Insurance Holding NV. In this board he was responsible for Investment Policy of the Fortis Insurance companies.

Since 2002 he is an independent advisor and holds a number of non-executive board memberships or advisory positions with investment companies, pension funds, real estate management companies, insurance and ICT companies. In addition he is a board member of some professional bodies and charity organizations. And a member (Raad-plv) of the Enterprise Chamber (Ondernemingskamer) at the Amsterdam Court of Appeal.