He was born in Leiden, Netherlands on 13 May 1955 to Hubertus Robert van der Vaart (2 March 1922 - 16 November 2002). He moved to the United States as a child and grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina where his father was a professor at North Carolina
He attended Needham B. Broughton High School.
State University. Van der Vaart speaks his native Dutch, English, German, French, and some Polish and Russian as well. Van der Vaart resides in Northern Virginia. Van der Vaart later attended the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Politics and Economics and was a brother of Chi Psi fraternity.
Van der Vaart was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and received an Master of Philosophy in Economics from Oxford University while rowing on the Boat Club (OUBC).
Van der Vaart then attended Yale Law School where he received his Juris Doctor and studied finance at the Yale School of Management. While serving as Chief Executive Officer, Van der Vaart oversaw over $450 million invested throughout emerging market small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in dozens of countries worldwide.
