Aruba de Groot-Cham’s work is grounded in the long-term stewardship of institutions operating at the intersection of law, science, governance, and public consequence.

Her background spans advanced legal training, biomedical research, and senior oversight roles across philanthropic, advisory, fiduciary, and civil society contexts. With postgraduate qualifications in law and medical science, Aruba has worked extensively in environments where regulatory integrity, scientific discipline, and human outcomes must be held together under pressure.

Aruba’s early professional formation took place within biomedical research, where she contributed to internationally peer-reviewed work in oncology, lipid science, and infectious disease treatment. This grounding instilled a rigorous respect for evidence, systems behaviour, and the risks of poorly designed intervention. Her legal training and specialist focus in international war crimes extended this perspective into questions of governance, accountability, and the protection of rights within complex civil and criminal frameworks.

She currently serves as Chairwoman of PBG Foundation Limited, an ACNC-registered Public Benevolent Institution (PBI). In this role, Aruba is responsible for strategic oversight, regulatory compliance, and institutional integrity, ensuring that charitable activity is conducted lawfully, transparently, and with respect for local sovereignty and dignity. Her focus is on building structures that endure beyond individual leadership and remain defensible under public and regulatory scrutiny.

Beyond formal governance, Aruba holds leadership roles in national sporting institutions in Vanuatu, serving as President of the Vanuatu Archery Federation. Through these roles, she supports youth development, cultural continuity, gender equity, and international representation, using sport as a vehicle for discipline, confidence, and community cohesion.

Aruba has lived and worked in the Pacific for two decades and is a naturalised citizen of Vanuatu. Her leadership is shaped by direct engagement in communities where governance decisions carry immediate and tangible consequences. She speaks English, Dutch, and Bislama at native proficiency, with full professional command of German and Indonesian, working proficiency in French, Spanish, and Italian, and reading and writing proficiency in Japanese and Chinese. Accustomed to cross-cultural environments, she operates with composure across legal systems, institutional cultures, and geopolitical boundaries.

Above all professional roles and institutional appointments, Aruba’s greatest achievement remains her role as a mother to five children: Zsa Zsa, Zelda, Zeus, Zahira, and Zlatan. This role informs her understanding of stewardship not as an abstract principle, but as a lived obligation to future generations.

As Director, Aruba’s role is therefore to remain present to what institutions often avoid: time, consequence, and responsibility. Alongside the Chief Executive Officer, she attends to the long horizon; ensuring that strategy and structure remain aligned, and that institutions endure beyond the urgency of the moment. Her approach rests on the understanding that trust is not asserted, but cultivated through patient, disciplined care over time.