Alan van Griethuysen wanted to be an officer in the Netherlands Royal Army, following in the footsteps of his father, who was a full colonel in the military police.
However, when he took a one-year leave while in school and worked in hotels in England, it started a path that led him to the options exchange in Amsterdam. That first job as a price reporter began a tenure of 32 years at the exchange, which saw many changes during van Griethuysen’s time.