Background milk
New type of directors at FrieslandCampina
The binding nomination of Herman Bakhuis and Sandra Stuijk at FrieslandCampina, as announced last week, marks the introduction of a new kind of board member at the cooperative. Both are appointed as cooperative directors, and no longer automatically as supervisory directors of the dairy company.
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"In the new governance structure, a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 5 members of the cooperative's board will also be members of the supervisory board of Royal FrieslandCampina NV," the vacancy text reads.
The cooperative decided at the end of last year to organize the management of the cooperative and the dairy company differently. The nomination and expected appointment of the new directors as of December 13 this year is a consequence of this.
New, but not everything new
It is not all new that is happening. The two directors now nominated are no strangers to FrieslandCampina. Sandra Stuijk from Alphen has been active in FrieslandCampina's youth work for 5 years. Until the beginning of this year she was a member of the executive board of FrieslandCampina Youth. She is also a financing specialist for Large Business Food & Agri at Rabobank.
Hellendoorn Herman Bakhuis is a 'returner' and old hand in the world of dairy cattle managers. Until 2017, he was a member of the members' council and chairman of the chairman's meeting of Zuivel Cooperative FrieslandCampina. Bakhuis then became vice-chairman of LTO Melkveehouderij, where he serves under former RFC chairman Erwin Wunnekink. Bakhuis is also a board member at ZuivelNL, he will return there soon. The FrieslandCampina cooperative will then have a total of 8 (main) board members.
Another commissioner and new compensation
In addition to Bakhuis and Stuijk, FrieslandCampina is looking for a director for the position of internal commissioner (on behalf of the members) at dairy company FrieslandCampina. Candidates have been called for this, but no nomination has yet been made.
In the new composition, the Supervisory Board has 9 members (previous year 15). Of these, the cooperative supplies a maximum of 5. Of this group, a maximum of 3 have a dual function as supervisory director and cooperative director and a maximum of 2 are only supervisory directors.
At the same time as the appointment of the new directors in December, a new system of management remuneration will also be introduced. Various comments are circulating about this, but FrieslandCampina does not disclose how the compensation is structured.