27 June 2023 The second cycle of the young professionals program has now really started. On Friday 23 June, a group of participants met Mayor Ton Heerts of Apeldoorn. In the two-hour meeting, Heerts shared extensively about his career, his personal life and his vision on current political and social themes.

Ton Heerts began his career at the Royal Marechaussee. After his station in Apeldoorn, he is never from "the village" as he loves to say about the place where he left mayor since December 2019, even when his career led him to the Second Chamber through the board of trade union FNV. After a term in parliament on behalf of the PvdA, he returned as chairman to FNV. Later he became chairman of the MBO Council, until the mayor's vacancy in his hometown came his way.

Despite his youth in CDA-bolwerk Tubbergen, Heerts is a convinced Social Democrat. The belief that the individual must have security of existence runs like a thread through his working existence. In his positions at the union, in politics and as an educational director, he has been hard on this. In addition, he stresses the importance for taking responsibility and personal ethics. It is also that sense of responsibility that drives him at times when the work becomes busy or heavy. The lesson he wants to give to the young is that passing on the wealth and beauty we grew up in is an important and responsible task.

The young professionals program is part of the Care for the Creation/Laudato Si hindered program and is organised in collaboration with Thomas More Foundation. People in important social positions tell young works about their career and their personal lives, the choices they have made and the lessons they have learned. Talks with Mark Buck and Minister Karien van Gennip will follow later this year.