Dutch retail group Ahold has announced that Dick Boer, president and CEO of the Albert Heijn Arena division, has been nominated for appointment by the Supervisory Board to the Ahold Corporate Executive Board.
Boer will assume his responsibilities as an acting board member with immediate effect, the company said, while remaining as president and CEO of Albert Heijn Arena. His board appointment will be put to the General Meeting of Shareholders for ratification at a later date.
Go deeper with GlobalData
“Dick is an experienced retailer with a proven track-record,” said Ahold president and CEO Anders Moberg. “His highly successful value-repositioning programme at Albert Heijn continues to increase our market share and drive profitable growth in that arena. I am extremely pleased to have him join the board, and am confident that he will play a significant role in contributing to the execution of our group-wide initiatives and future strategy.”
The company added that Boer’s initial focus as a board member would be to oversee a review of Ahold’s retail operations aimed at developing recommendations to drive and fund identical sales volume growth across the group’s global retail businesses. Also participating in this review will be Ahold’s chief financial officer John Rishton, and president and CEO of the US Foodservice division Lawrence Benjamin.
Having previously worked for companies such as SHV Holdings and Unigro, Boer joined Ahold in 1998 as CEO of its Czech Republic operation. He became president and CEO of Albert Heijn in 2000 and in 2003 was appointed president and CEO of Albert Heijn Arena, which comprises the Albert Heijn, Etos and Gall & Gall chains.
