Fred van Leeuwen became EI General Secretary during the Constituent Congress of Education International in January 1993. He was reelected by EI's World Congresses (July 1995, Harare; July 1998, Washington D.C.; July 2001, Jomtien; July 2004, Porto Alegre; July 2007, Berlin; July 2011, Cape Town; July 2015, Ottawa). Since 2017, he is General Secretary Emeritus of EI.

A former teacher in the Netherlands, he joined the Algemene Bond van Onderwijs Personeel (ABOP - now AOb) in 1973 and became responsible for its international affairs in the late 70s.

Fred van Leeuwen was elected General Secretary of the International Federation of Free Teachers' Unions (IFFTU) at its World Congress in Panama in 1981. He held this post until the IFFTU and the World Confederation of Organisations of the Teaching Profession (WCOTP) formed the Education International in 1993.

Education International today comprises about 400 unions in more than 170 countries and territories, thus representing 30 million teachers and education employees in education institutions from early childhood to university.

Fred van Leeuwen was born on 22 April 1950. He currently lives in the Netherlands.