René van Zanten (1955) is the General Director of the Dutch Journalism Fund.
After a few years of studying Economics, he started (1980) working as a journalist for one of the most prestigious regional newspapers in the Netherlands (Haagsche Courant). He worked as a roving reporter, covering international issues with emphasis on East-West relations. He is a German Marshall Fund alumni as well as an Atlantic Exchange alumni.

In 1995, he became the Editor-in-Chief of the big regional newspaper Utrechts Nieuwsblad and in 2003 he became the publisher/director of the biggest regional newspaper in the Netherlands, De Gelderlander. He started at the Journalism Fund in 2011.

He is the co-founder of an annual lecture on Europe and he is the chairman of the board of a group of museums in his hometown Amersfoort.

He is passionate about finding ways to connect journalism to all new, current, accelerating challenges.