Zaandam, the Netherlands, 2014-10-14— /EPR Retail News/ — Ahold today announced that Lodewijk Hijmans van den Bergh, Chief Corporate Governance Counsel and member of the Management Board and Executive Committee, will step down during the first half of 2015.
Lodewijk joined Ahold on December 1, 2009, and his responsibilities include Ahold’s Legal Affairs, Corporate Governance, M&A, Product Integrity, and the company’s Responsible Retailing strategy.
Dick Boer, Ahold CEO, said: “On behalf of the Management Board and Executive Committee, I would like to thank Lodewijk for over 5 years of excellent service, during which he has successfully resolved some of the key legacy issues of Ahold. During his tenure, Lodewijk actively contributed to the development and execution of Ahold’s strategic agenda, including the ICA divestment, the acquisition of bol.com, and the recent acquisition of SPAR in the Czech Republic. Lodewijk has also played a pivotal role in developing Ahold’s Responsible Retailing strategy. Following these accomplishments, we agreed that this is the right time to change the legal role within Ahold. We wish Lodewijk all the very best for the future.”
Rob van den Bergh, Chairman of Ahold’s Supervisory Board said: “On behalf of all my Supervisory Board colleagues, I would like to thank Lodewijk for the significant contribution he has made to the company, and wish him every success in his new endeavors.”
The process of finding Lodewijk’s successor will commence and a further announcement will be made in due course.
Cautionary notice
This press release includes forward-looking statements, which do not refer to historical facts but refer to expectations based on management’s current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those included in such statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Many of these risks and uncertainties relate to factors that are beyond Ahold’s ability to control or estimate precisely, such as discussed in Ahold’s public filings and other disclosures. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Koninklijke Ahold N.V. does not assume any obligation to update any public information or forward-looking statements in this release to reflect subsequent events or circumstances, except as may be required by law. Outside the Netherlands, Koninklijke Ahold N.V., being its registered name, presents itself under the name of “Royal Ahold” or simply “Ahold”.