Ruud Hendriks is entrepreneur and an expert in new media and the media industry in general. He was co-founder of Sky Radio and Radio 10, President of NBC Europe (later CNBC Europe) and executive member at Endemol production company.

After studying journalism Ruud Hendriks (50) started his career as a DJ on board of the legendary pirate station Radio Caroline. At the age of 20 he got his first opportunity as a TV-reporter and anchorman with public broadcaster Veronica. During a 9-year period Ruud anchored many Dutch TV programs mainly on news, current-affairs and sports. Amongst others he hosted the 1988 Olympic Games for “Studio Sport” and several telethon’s for “Greenpeace”.

Over the years he became head of news and current affairs for Veronica. He initiated the first non-stop Newsradio format in the Netherlands and several innovative TV formats. But the limits of public broadcasting in the Netherlands in the late eighties frustrated him so much that he decided to go out by himself and became a co-founder of Sky Radio and Radio 10. These radio stations used European legislation to beam into Dutch cable head ends from beyond the Dutch borders.

In 1989 he wrote the business plans for RTL4 and RTL5 and became their first program director. He then became the station’s C.O.O. Under his tenure RTL became the market leading TV broadcaster in the Netherlands.

In 1992, living in London, Ruud became President of NBC Europe and transformed Superchannel into NBC Superchannel and finally into CNBC Europe.

Social circumstances forced him back to the Netherlands where he joined entrepreneurs Joop van den Ende and John de Mol as an executive member of TV-production company Endemol Entertainment. When Ruud joined in 1994 the company operated in 3 countries, when he left in 2001 Endemol had subsidiaries in 21 countries. Market value grew from 135 million euros to 5.3 billion.

During his stint at Endemol he was responsible for all its international activities, new media and international distribution. He played a key role in Endemol’s IPO, the start of failed sports channel Sport 7, and the 2000 take over of the company by Telefonica from Spain.

After his departure from Endemol Ruud accepted several supervisory board positions. From 2002 until 2004 he was (chairman) of United Broadcast Facilities, during 2004 and 2005 chairman of Radio 538. Until December 2009 he was Chairman of “Het Nieuwe Parool” which owns one third of leading Amsterdam newspaper “Het Parool”

In August 2010 Ruud Hendriks sold his shares in Lux Media which owned “Het Gesprek” a national TV station for an affluent audience. Lux Media also owns NRC Media which publishes two national newspapers NRC Handelsblad and NRC next.

Currently he’s in his ninth year as a supervisory board member of Dutch bank Theodoor Gilissen and a member of the advisory board of advertising agency BSUR. He’s advising several people and companies in and about the media industry and regulary speaking about entrepreneurial affairs and media on seminars. Ruud is married with Annemieke van der Mast and lives in Amsterdam.