Ahold Delhaize announces Jolanda Poots-Bijl as CFO

A replacement for outgoing Ahold Delhaize CFO Natalie Knight has been named.

Ahold Delhaize’s Supervisory Board has nominated Jolanda Poots-Bijl to become a member of the management board. Following shareholder approval, she will become the new CFO, the Zaandam, Netherlands-based global food retailer announced Monday. 

Poots-Bijl is expected to join the company in mid-August as EVP of finance and as a member of the executive committee. She will assume the position as CFO on Oct. 1, after an induction period. She will succeed current CFO Knight, who will stay with the company through early July.

"I am excited that Jolanda will be joining our company,” Frans Muller, CEO of Ahold Delhaize, said in a statement. “She is a seasoned CFO with broad international working experience and a passion for digital transformation and sustainability. She has relevant experience in a wide range of sectors and brings finance leadership that can help us deliver our Leading Together strategy. She is a passionate leader with a keen eye for talent development and will be a strong addition to our executive team. We look forward to welcoming her."  

Poots-Bijl joins the grocery retail group after having served since 2016 as CFO for Van Oord, an offshore construction company.

Her resume includes serving as CFO in several global and public companies, ranging from European IT service provider Ordina to international construction company Volker Wessels. 

In addition to her executive roles, Poots-Bijl has extensive supervisory experience, serving on the supervisory board of companies such as AkzoNobel, Pon Holdings and, previously,Blokker. A Dutch national, Poots-Bijl holds economics and finance degrees from Erasmus University.

“Ahold Delhaize is a business that plays an important role in the daily life of many people, from the emphasis on affordable, healthy eating to the transition of food retail into a more sustainable system,” Poots-Bijl said in a statement. “Ahold Delhaize is therefore in a good position to address some of the challenges of our time and I am honored to become part of the team. I look forward to getting to know the people, the business and the customers."

Her first six weeks at the food retail group will consist of “immersive on-boarding, giving her time to get to know the company, our brands and the teams before starting her role as CFO,” Ahold Delhaize said in a statement. 

"It is with great delight that we welcome Jolanda to the company,” said Peter Agnefjäll, chair of the supervisory board, in a statement. “She will bring passionate finance leadership to the Ahold Delhaize Management Board. She has a track record of shaping strategy and will drive implementation from a strong functional leadership position, without losing sight of the operations of our great local brands."

As of its 2022 fiscal year end, Ahold Delhaize had a total of 7,659 stores in the U.S., the Netherlands, Belgium and Central and Southeastern Europe, with 5,608 locations in Europe.