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Board of Directors

You can find out who the members of the Board of Directors are below.


Wouter Koolmees

President

Starting on 1 November 2022, Wouter Koolmees is now President of NS.

Wouter (born in 1977) has extensive experience in politics and public administration. He served as Minister for Social Affairs and Employment in the Rutte III cabinet from 26 October 2017 to 10 January 2022. From 1 November 2019 to 14 May 2020 he also served as second deputy prime minister. From 17 June 2010 to 26 October 2017, Wouter was a member of the House of Representatives for D66, serving as financial spokesman and vice group chairman. After graduating from Economics at the University of Utrecht, Wouter started out as an economic researcher. He was then employed as an official in the Ministry of Finance and was most recently head of fiscal policy at the Directorate General of the State Budget. He became President of Nederlandse Spoorwegen on 1 November 2022.

Bert Groenewegen

Bert Groenewegen was appointed to the post of finance director at NS on 15 September 2016.

Bert has extensive experience in management. At PCM Uitgevers, now known as De Persgroep Nederland, he served as CFO (2005-2007) and CEO (2007-2010). In 2015, Bert continued his career as CFO at Ziggo.

As finance director, he is responsible for Finance, Procurement, NS IT, Accommodations and Abellio.

Tjalling Smit

Tjalling Smit was appointed the Director of Commerce & Development on 1 April 2017. He is responsible for all NS development, sales and marketing activities.

Tjalling completed his education at the Higher Hotel Management School in The Hague, then went on to study Business Economics at Nyenrode in 2001. After that, he completed a Management traineeship at KLM, where he held several commercial positions, including Vice President Marketing & E-commerce at KLM subsidiary Transavia (2011-2013). In 2013, he returned to Air France KLM as the person responsible for the Middle East and India. From 2015-2017, he served as Senior Vice President Digital, in which capacity he was responsible for all Air France KLM online sales and services, including the Social Media service.

Anneke de Vries

Anneke de Vries was appointed to the Executive Board of NS on 15 October 2019. She is responsible for Stations, QHSE and HR.

After completing her Geography degree and her postgraduate Real Estate Studies programme at the University of Amsterdam, she gained experience in the fields of project development and administration. Anneke has filled a variety of executive management positions within ING Real Estate, including that of Managing Director of ING Real Estate Development Netherlands from 2005 to 2010. In 2011, De Vries continued her career as Senior Vice President Real Estate, Construction and Franchise for Albert Heijn, Etos and Gall & Gall. From 2010 - 2018 she served as a member of the Board of Commissioners of Woningcorporatie Rochdale.

Eelco van Asch

Eelco van Asch was appointed Director of Operations and a member of the Executive Board on 1 March 2021. He is responsible for all operational transport and maintenance activities for NS in the Netherlands.

After studying Economics and obtaining his Register Controller Certification (a Dutch certification comparable to CMA) at VU University Amsterdam, Eelco began his career at Delta Lloyd. He later made the switch to KLM Cargo, serving on the board in various capacities. In 2016, he was appointed Senior Vice President of Ground Services, before finally ending his career at KLM as Exeuctive VIce President of Information Services & CIO. From 2009 to 2017, Eelco was on the supervisory boards of Cargonaut and Smartlox.

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