Patrick was born in the Netherlands where he grew up in a small family together with one elder brother. He studied Business Administration at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam and worked for four years in the private sector before joining UNDP in 2000 working in Honduras. In 2003, under the LEAD programme, he moved to Tanzania as the Deputy of Strategic Operation. Afterwards he travelled to more than 20 African countries to work with the country offices to increase the delivery of their programme. While based at HQ New York, he met his wife got married and they now have two children. In New York Patrick was the project manager for the Millennium Villages project. He exchanged NY for 北京, and for five years was the Deputy Country Director of the UNDP in China. From 2018 – 2020 he was the Regional Partnership Advisor for the Bureau for External Relationships and Advocacy, based in Bangkok, after which he headed the External Relations and Partnerships for UNDP in Afghanistan.