Editing Bilderberg Group — Key Persons Directory (section)

=== Founders and Early Leadership ===

==== Jozef Retinger (1888–1960) ====
Polish diplomat-in-exile; doctorate from the Sorbonne at age 20; served Polish government-in-exile during WWII; parachuted into Nazi-occupied Poland at age 56; co-founded European League for Economic Cooperation (1946); principal architect of the Bilderberg concept; first Secretary General 1954–1960; succeeded by Ernst van der Beugel upon his death.

==== Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands (1911–2004) ====
German-born prince (born Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld); married Crown Princess Juliana of the Netherlands; supreme commander of Dutch forces in exile during WWII; founding Bilderberg Chairman 1954–1976; resigned following the Lockheed bribery scandal (accepted $1.1 million in bribes from Lockheed Corporation); also co-founded the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and later admitted to misuse of WWF funds.

==== David Rockefeller (1915–2017) ====
American banker and philanthropist; CEO and Chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank; grandson of John D. Rockefeller; co-founder of the Trilateral Commission (1973) with Zbigniew Brzezinski; long-time Bilderberg steering committee member; attended from the 1950s into the 21st century; author of ''Memoirs'' (2002) containing the famous "guilty as charged" internationalism statement.

==== Paul van Zeeland (1893–1973) ====
Belgian statesman; Prime Minister of Belgium; Vice President of the first Bilderberg meeting; provided political credibility in Continental Europe.

==== Charles Douglas Jackson (1902–1964) ====
Senior Eisenhower adviser; psychological warfare expert; Time-Life executive; arranged American participation in the founding Bilderberg meeting; later associated with the suppression of the Zapruder film of the Kennedy assassination.