PHILIPSBURG--J.H. (Rob) Bats was appointed as Director of the Cabinet of the Governor of St. Maarten effective October 1.

St. Maarten will officially get a governor as representative of the Kingdom and ceremonial head of government when the current Island Territory achieves country status on 10-10-10. The cabinet supports the governor in these tasks.

Since 2007, 48-year-old Bats has been commissioner in Drenthe, the Netherlands, for Europe, International Cooperation, Traffic and Transport as well as Roads and Canals. Before that he had been director of Thorbecke Academy for public administration and government management for five years and worked at the Ministry of Finance, the Permanent Representation at the European Union (EU) and the Dutch embassy in Paris.

Bats studied public administration at University of Twente and followed a fiscal-judicial course at Education Institute Finances in The Hague.