Atzo Nicolaï has been appointed Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) by the Dutch Minister for Education, Culture and Science. Nicolaï has also been appointed Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Hogeschool van Amsterdam, University of Applied Sciences (HvA). Additionally, Lidwin van Velden has been appointed a member of the Supervisory Board of the UvA. These appointments are effective from 1 July 2012 and are for a term of four years.

Nicolaï succeeds Inge Brakman, who held the post of Acting Chairman of the Supervisory Boards of the UvA and the HvA. Van Velden succeeds Hessel Lindenbergh, whose second term ended on 1 May. With effect from 1 July, the UvA Supervisory Board will comprise Nicolaï, Brakman, van Velden and Adri Baan, and the HvA Supervisory Board will comprise Nicolaï, Bart Bieker and Monika Milz.

Nicolaï (1960) has been President of DSM Netherlands since 1 July 2011. Prior to this, he served as a member of the House of Representatives for the VVD party, a role in which he had previously served from 1998-2002. From 2002 to 2007, Nicolaï successively held the positions of State Secretary for European Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the first and second cabinets of Jan Peter Balkenende, and Minister for Government Reform and Kingdom Relations in the third Balkenende cabinet. Before his political career, he was Secretary General to the National Arts Council and the Council for Culture, as well as project leader of political principles at the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. He studied Dutch law and political science at VU University Amsterdam. Nicolaï holds various executive positions. Among other things, he is a member of the Board of the Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers (VNO-NCW) and president of the Netherlands Society for the Protection of Birds. Until recently, he was also president of De Balie, a centre for culture and politics in Amsterdam.

Van Velden (1964) has worked at the Nederlandse Waterschapsbank (NWB Bank) since October 2008, first as Deputy Director and since January 2010 as Chief Financial Officer. Between 1990 and 2008, she held a number of positions at De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), including Policy Officer in the Financial Markets division, Deputy Head of Risk Management in the Financial Markets division, Head of Export and Import Guarantees, and Head of the Banking Supervision division. Van Velden was previously a researcher at the UvA’s Department of Macroeconomics and at the Foundation for Economic Research (now SEO Economic Research). She is a board member of Stichting TPE digitaal, which publishes a scientific journal on economic theory and policy. Van Velden graduated from the UvA with a degree in Economic Science.

About the Supervisory Boards

The Supervisory Boards assess overall governance of the UvA and the HvA and advise the joint Executive Board appropriately. Key planning documents, such as the Strategic Plan, the budget, the annual financial report and the management and administration regulations, require the Supervisory Boards’ approval. Members of the UvA Supervisory Board are appointed by the Minister for Education, Culture and Science. Those of the HvA Supervisory Board are appointed by the members of the UvA Supervisory Board.