Our Board of Management and Executive Committee
Click on the image below to read the biography of the respective Board member
From left to right:
Joëlle Boxus, Dr. Hilka Schneider, Thierry Vanlancker, Karen-Marie Katholm, Michael Friede, Maarten de Vries, David Prinselaar
Thierry Vanlancker
CEO and Chair of the Board of Management and Executive Committee
(1964, BE)
Thierry joined AkzoNobel in 2016, bringing more than 28 years of experience in the chemicals industry. He led operations in polymers, performance coatings and chemicals at DuPont and was President of Fluoroproducts at Chemours. He’s also a non-executive member of the Board of Directors of Sika AG and Aliaxis S.A. In May 2021, he joined the Board of Directors of Etex N.V. (a sister company of Aliaxis S.A.) as a non-executive director.
Maarten de Vries
CFO and member of the Board of Management and Executive Committee
(1962, NL)
Maarten joined AkzoNobel in 2018. He spent the previous three years as CFO at Intertrust Group and TNT Express. He was a member of the Management Board of Intertrust Group and the Executive Board of TNT Express.
Joëlle Boxus
Chief Human Resources Officer and member of the Executive Committee
(1971, BE)
Joëlle rejoined AkzoNobel as Chief Human Resources Officer in 2020. She had previously been global HR leader for AkzoNobel’s former Specialty Chemicals business. Joëlle managed the separation of Specialty Chemicals before becoming part of the Executive Committee of the newly established company. In 2018, she returned to Belgium to become Chief Human Resources Officer at Etex N.V. before rejoining AkzoNobel.
Michael Friede
Chief Commercial Officer – Performance Coatings and member of the Executive Committee
(1980, DE)
Michael joined AkzoNobel in July 2021 as Chief Commercial Officer – Performance Coatings. Before that, he worked in various countries within the chemical industry for companies such as Covestro and Bayer AG. He held roles in general management, sales and marketing, procurement and within corporate functions. In September 2021, Michael was appointed to the Board of Pearl Polyurethane Systems LLC as a non-executive member.
Karen-Marie Katholm
Chief Supply Chain Officer
(1967, DK)
Karen-Marie joined AkzoNobel in September 2021, having held various global leadership roles across sourcing, supply chain and operations. Before moving to AkzoNobel, she was Integrated Operations Leader for DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences – having joined Danisco A/S (later DuPont) in 2009. Karen-Marie has more than 20 years of experience working at various large and international food manufacturers, such as Orkla, United Biscuits and Arla Foods. She is also a non-executive member of the Boards of Directors of Green Hydrogen Systems A/S and NTG Nordic Transport Group A/S.
David Prinselaar
Chief Manufacturing Officer and member of the Executive Committee
(1974, FR)
David joined AkzoNobel in 2015 from Reckitt Benckiser, taking responsibility for the Performance Coatings operations and then manufacturing for AkzoNobel as a whole from January 2018. In March 2019, David took over the role of Chief Supply Chain Officer and became a member of the Executive Committee. During 2021, he began a new role as Chief Manufacturing Officer.
Dr. Hilka Schneider
General Counsel and member of the Executive Committee
(1970, DE)
Hilka joined AkzoNobel in January 2022. With expertise in M&A, corporate law and governance, she worked for various industries as an external lawyer, and then in-house at DHL and Demag Cranes (now Konecranes). Before joining AkzoNobel, Hilka was Group Director Legal, Compliance and Board Office and a member of the Group Executive Committee at travel company TUI.
For further information please visit our website: Board of Management