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Leon van de Zande appointed secretary general of the university

12 September 2023

The Executive Board has appointed Leon van de Zande as secretary general of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) with effect from 23 October 2023. Van de Zande is currently a strategy & governance advisor at ACTA, the joint dentistry faculty of the UvA and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He succeeds Calluna Euving, who will leave the UvA on 1 October for a board position at the Council for the Judiciary in The Hague.
Leon van de Zande (photo: Utrecht University)

'Leon van de Zande has a wealth of administrative experience in higher education and research, including in the field of strategy development and implementation. Before joining ACTA, he was general director / secretary general of Utrecht University. He is therefore very well informed about what the position requires and brings with him a wealth of experience,’ says Executive Board president Geert ten Dam. 'At ACTA we got to know him as driven and committed. Leon is a connector: open, accessible and with a sharp analytical mind.'

As secretary general of the UvA, Van de Zande will be the first advisor to the Executive Board and responsible for coordinating policy development and strategy formulation. The secretary general works closely with the university’s various faculties and units. Van de Zande will function as head of the Executive Staff and the manager of the directors of the UvA's support units. In addition, he will be a discussion partner for the decentralised works council of the Executive Staff and units when it comes to, for example, employee welfare and organisational developments.

About Van de Zande

Before Van de Zande came to ACTA, he worked in various positions at Utrecht University (UU). For example, he was general director / secretary general at the UU from 2017 to 2022 and director of Education & Research from 2009 to 2016. Van de Zande is a member of the Supervisory Board of the Arnhem and Nijmegen University of Applied Sciences (HAN) and chair of the advisory board of Utrechtinc, an incubator for startups. He studied Dutch language and literature at the UU.