Sjoukje Heimovaara succeeds Louise Fresco as top woman of knowledge giant Wageningen University & Research (WUR). She was appointed chairman of the Board of Directors with effect from 1 July 2022. Heimovaara comes from agribusiness and has been working at WUR for two years.
Wageningen UR announced this on Monday. Louise Fresco will say goodbye after eight years this summer. In 2014 she succeeded Aalt Dijkhuizen as the top boss of the WUR. Heimovaara is currently General Director of the Agrotechnology & Food Sciences Group (AFSG) within WUR.
Sjoukje Heimovaara has had a long career at TNO and Royal Van Zanten. She left the latter company, a group active in floriculture breeding, in 2019 after having been CEO for more than two years. In March 2020 she joined Wageningen UR. "The Supervisory Board is very pleased with Sjoukje Heimovaara as our new Chairman of the Board. Heimovaara has a clear passion for WUR, a clear vision and is an open and connecting personality," said Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, in a statement. statement.
Contribution to sustainable world
In the statement, Heimovaara emphasizes the sustainable course that Wageningen UR will continue to follow under her management. "Wageningen UR can and must make an important contribution to a sustainable world. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an important guideline in this respect, also for our business operations and cooperation." According to her, the results of the research within Wageningen, which it claims to be the most sustainable university in the world, should be made more visible in this area in the coming years. "We have something to pass on to the new generations when it comes to immense social issues such as food security and safety, biodiversity recovery, urbanization, climate change and adaptation and making agriculture more sustainable."
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