SPAR Netherlands is pleased to announce the appointment of two new board members: Bas Luten (Finance and IT Director) and Geeske Burema (Commercial Director), who will help grow the business further in 2020 and beyond.

Bas Luten (55) has been the CFO of Lekkerland Netherlands since 2015. Before this he held the position of Finance Director at various companies including CSM International and Danone.

“Bas is a very experienced financial manager and is familiar with franchise organisations. We are pleased with his appointment as Finance Director and expect that he can strengthen the brand further with his broad background,” said Saskia van Walsum, Chairman of the Supervisory Board.

Commenting on his selection, Bas said: “With the knowledge I’ve gathered on the fast-growing convenience market, I think SPAR is very well positioned for the future. I am very excited to continue SPAR’s healthy growth and help shape the company’s digital transformation.”

In recent years, Geeske Burema (44) has worked as a Global Consumer & Business Intelligence Director at Brand Loyalty. Prior to this, she held various commercial roles within Ahold. Talking of her background she said: “With my experience in retail and format development, product development and category management, I have come to appreciate the power of data in recent years. In the loyalty business, I learned how to combine emotional and transactional data and how they together tell a story about the customer.”

Commenting on Geeske’s appointment, Saskia van Walsum said: “With Geeske we have brought in a driven and innovative Commercial Director with whom we will be able to further expand our mission.”

Bas and Geeske join Pim Dirckx (Director of Operations), Marie-José Rutten (Director of HR and Organisational Development) and John van der Ent (Managing Director of SPAR Netherlands) as the management team of SPAR Holding BV (SPAR Netherlands) from 1 January 2020.

Source: SPAR Netherlands