Serge Ivar Thijsen was born on January 2nd 1978 in Aruba as the second son of Aruban parents. In 1990 he finished Primary school and in 1994 he obtained his M.A.V.O. diploma. After one year of H.A.V.O. he switched to M.T.S. where he succeeded in his Associate Degree in Construction Engineering in 1999. During his practical year at M.T.S. he worked for three months with the construction company Arcon N.V. He also practiced with Wilma N.V. a land surveying company for 4 months and lastly (3 months) with S.H.S. Design, an architect office. After one year of self-employment he went to Holland in 2000 where he attended Haagse Hogeschool in The Hague for his College Degree. In February 2004, after only 3½ years, he obtained his Bachelor of Science in Built Environment. During his practical year at the Haagse Hogeschool he spent his trainee period (6 months) at the F.C.C.A. in Aruba. After his return from Holland he was immediately employed by the Garcia Welding & Construction Co. In 2005 he was promoted to co-project leader of the company. Under very stressful circumstances he gained 2400 hours of experience on several projects with regards to preparation, cost estimation, planning, directing, Quality Assurance and Quality Control, control on human resources and material. In December 2005 and in April 2006 he went to the United States to follow different courses in Project Management. Since May 2006 he has been hired to the Valero Energy Corp. as base load contracted Project Planner in the Department of “Reliability & Rotating Equipment”.  After his daily chores at this company he also worked part time for individuals and other companies doing appraisement, structure calculation, architectural drafting, and cost estimation and drafting expert reports regarding structural problems. He also gives courses in project management (Primavera). Because of tax purposes and expansions he converted his privately owned company into a limited liability company “Thijsen Engineering & Consultancy N.V.”. In 2009 when the Valero Refinery had to close down its doors, he was forced to step full time into his own company. In 2010 when Valero decided to re-start the refinery, Serge Thijsen was re-hired through his own company to fulfill the position of contracted master scheduler during the process to re-start the refinery. His task was to update the management team and field execution teams of all progress of all projects related to the start-up by using his expertise in the project management tool Primavera. After the start-up of the refinery he regains his position of contracted Project Planner in the Department of “Reliability & Rotating Equipment”. Although this effort, the refinery close its doors for the second time in March 2012. During this same year, Serge Thijsen won two government projects through a bidding process between the best architects of Aruba. Currently, Serge Thijsen is still designing, engineering and managing modern residential and commercial buildings projects.