UEF Board

Stef Kranendijk, Chair of the Board and Chair of the Investment Committee

Stef Kranendijk has been involved with the UEF since 2015, and has been the Chairman of the Board since 2022. He also serves as the chair of our Investment Committee. After leading multinational companies Desso and Procter & Gamble Europe, he is currently the CEO of businesses that promote a circular economy.

He is also involved with the Maritime Museum Amsterdam, the Concertgebouw Fund and the Support Casper Foundation. Mr. Kranendijk holds an MA in Economics from the UG.

Gert van der Leest, board member and co-chair of the Audit Commission

Gert van der Leest has been a member of our board and co-chair of the Audit Commission since 2020. As an independent consultant in accounting, he helps businesses in optimizing the quality of their audits.

Prior to this, he was a partner at PriceWaterhouseCoopers in the Netherlands and Netherlands Antilles. He graduated with an MA in Accounting from the UG.

Mariëtte Plaggemars, member of the board and co-chair of the audit commission

Mariette Plaggemars joined the board of the UEF in 2020 and is also the co-chair of our Audit Commission. She is a notary and partner at Damsté lawyers, and specializes in corporate law.

She is also involved with the TexPlus Foundation, a non-profit that promotes sustainability in the textile industry. Mrs. Plaggemars obtained an MA in Notary Civil Law from the UG.

Jouke de Vries, board member UEF and president of the University of Groningen

Jouke de Vries has served as a member on the UEF's board since 2018 and is currently the president of the UG. He sits on the boards of various organizations including: VSNU (Dutch Association of Universities), EBNN (Economic Board Northern Netherlands) and NERA (Netherlands Energy Research Alliance).

Previously, he was a full professor in Public Administration at the University of Leiden, where he also served as dean of the Campus The Hague for 16 years.

Liesbeth Nagelkerke - Mulder, board member UEF and chair of the Grantmaking Committee

Liesbeth Nagelkerke - Mulder joined our board in 2022 and oversees our grantmaking strategy. She is the founding director of ReachOut2, providing advice on strategic and programmatic development to private and family foundations.

She is also a member of the Commission for Good Governance at FIN, the association for charitable foundations in the Netherlands, and serves on the boards of several grantmaking foundations. Mrs. Nagelkerke - Mulder holds an MA in Criminal and Civil Law from the UG.

Lex Hoogduin is a full professor in Complexity and Uncertainty in Financial Markets at the UG and a board member at Wilgenhaege.

Professor Hoogduin brings expertise from previous leadership roles at De Nederlandsche Bank, the London Stock Exchange Group, and Robeco

Ties Tiessen currently holds various board member positions at nonprofit and for-profit organizations.

Throughout his career, mr. Tiessen worked in senior management positions at EY, Getronics and SNS Reaal

Volkert de Klerk is currently the CIO of Roots Investments, and brings extensive leadership experience in investing from previous roles at MN, ING and SNS