For fifteen years, until 2006, he was the U.S. correspondent of RTL4 Dutch Television and covered all the major stories from that period. Westerman studied in New York; he obtained a bachelor’s degree from New York University and a master’s in journalism from Columbia University. He worked as a writer for Newsweek and Business Week. He also contributed to the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and CNN, and served as a U.S. correspondent for NRC Handelsblad, Elsevier Magazine and Dutch national radio. In recent years Westerman branched out with three TV-series and wrote two bestselling books. In recent years, he has been working as a speaker, moderator, radio host, tv commentator and columnist for various publications.