Raiffeisen Bank Romania president Steven Van Groningen's personal blog won the second spot for business blogs in the local blogging competition Roblogfest. He came second to Orlando Nicoara, the general manager of Mediafax Group and Apropo Media.

Dutchman Van Groningen, also the president of the Foreign Investors Council in Romania, has been the CEO of Raiffeisen Bank since 2002, and has lived in Romania for more than 15 years. He is married to Romanian Valeria Racila Van Groningen. “Like most people, I like to be successful at what I am doing, while maintaining a reasonable balance in life. All of my professional life I have worked in banking. The constant factors in my private life are my family, sports and photography,” Van Groningen writes on his blog.

Van Groningen, who is fluent in Romanian, writes on his blog in English, tackling different issues, under the headline 'Views on life in banking in Romania'. A former Olympian, Ironman participant and marathon runner, he often writes about sports, as well as about business, sometimes commenting on the local banking market.

“I am not sure what will come from it, it is not my intention to try to change the world and I thought it would be fun to post some of my views about Romania, banking, the economy, but also some personal experiences and views on work-life balance,” Van Groningen wrote when starting the blog.

editor@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Steven Van Groningen blog)