Rein Willems (1945 ) studied Chemical Engineering at Delft University. In 1969 he started his career at Royal Dutch Shell in various manufacturing and marketing functions in Australia, the U.K. and The Netherlands.

In 1989 he joined Shell Brasil as Chemicals director .From 1993-1997 he was Country Chairman of the Shell Companies in The Philippines.

And from 1997 -2003 he was member of the Shell Chemical global executive committee responsible for the Base Chemicals Division.

He became President Director of Shell Netherlands in 2003 until September 2007.

He joined the Dutch Senate in June 2007 as member of the Christian Democratic Party (CDA) until mid 2011.

At present he is member on the Board of:
— Essent NV
— Van Leeuwen Buizen Groep BV
— Caldic Chemie BV
— The Netherlands Investment Institute (NLII)
— The Boerhaave museum Leide
— Chairman of the platform Biodiversity,Ecosystems and Economy
— Chairman of The Netherlands Study Centre for Technology Trends (STT)