Born 4 June 1951, in
Eindhoven, van Rooy attended a
Gymnasium in
Maastricht from May 1964 until June 1970 and applied at the
Utrecht University in June 1970
majoring in
Law and obtaining a
Bachelor of Laws degree in July 1972 before graduating with a
Master of Laws degree in July 1976. van Rooy worked as a
paralegal for the
Christian Employers' association (NCW) from November 1976 until July 1984. van Rooy was elected as a
Member of the European Parliament after the
European Parliament election of 1984, taking office on 24 July 1984. van Rooy was appointed as
State Secretary for Economic Affairs in the
Cabinet Lubbers II following the appointment of
Enneüs Heerma as
State Secretary for Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, taking office on 30 October 1986. van Rooy was elected as a
Member of the House of Representatives after the
election of 1989, taking office on 14 September 1989. Following the
cabinet formation of 1989 van Rooy was not giving a cabinet post in the new
cabinet, the Cabinet Lubbers II was replaced by the
Cabinet Lubbers III on 7 November 1989 and she continued to serve in the House of Representatives as a
frontbencher and
spokesperson for
Development Cooperation. van Rooy was again appointed as State Secretary for Economic Affairs in the Cabinet Lubbers III following the appointment of
Piet Bukman as
Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Fisheries, taking office on 28 September 1990. After the
election of 1994 van Rooy returned as a Member of the House of Representatives, taking office on 17 May 1994 serving as a frontbencher chairing the parliamentary committee for Kingdom Relations and spokesperson for
Social Affairs,
Transport and Water Management and
Kingdom Relations. In August 1997, van Rooy was named as Chairwoman of the
Education board of the
Tilburg University, she resigned as a Member of the House of Representatives the same day she was installed as chairwoman on 1 September 1997. In January 2004, van Rooy was named as Chairwoman of the Education board of the
Utrecht University, she resigned as Chairwoman of the Education board of the Tilburg University the same day she was installed as Chairwoman of the Education board of the Utrecht University on 1 February 2004. van Rooy also became active in the
private sector and
public sector and occupied numerous seats as a corporate director and nonprofit director on several boards of directors and supervisory boards (
Philips,
NN Group,
Concertgebouw,
Stichting Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn,
Gemeentemuseum Den Haag and the
Social and Economic Council) and served on several state commissions and councils on behalf of the government (
Advisory Council for Spatial Planning,
Center for the Promotion of Imports,
Accreditation Council and the
Dutch Healthcare Authority). van Rooy also served as a trade association executive for the
Nederlandse Vereniging van Ziekenhuizen (Hospitals association; NVZ) serving as chairwoman from 1 December 2012 until 1 December 2018. ==Decorations==