Ruud Sondag appointed interim CEO of Royal Schiphol Group

Ruud Sondag will be Royal Schiphol Group’s new CEO from 1 November 2022. The Supervisory Board appointed him ad interim until 31 August 2023. He forms Schiphol Group’s management team together with Robert Carsouw (Chief Financial Officer, CFO) and Hanne Buis (Chief Operating Officer, COO).

The procedure to find a definitive successor was started by the supervisory board immediately after Dick Benschop announced his resignation. This process obviously takes some time and will naturally continue. In order not to lose any headway in these challenging times for Schiphol, the supervisory board considers it desirable to quickly appoint an interim CEO who will take on the day-to-day management of Schiphol, and whose priority is to swiftly bring the operational processes at Schiphol up to the level that passengers and airlines are entitled to expect. He will therefore remain until the end of the Summer period 2023.

Jaap Winter, Chair of the supervisory board of Royal Schiphol Group: “We are very pleased that Ruud Sondag will take up the position of CEO of Royal Schiphol Group. With his knowledge of and experience with complex and labour-intensive organisations, Ruud is the right person for this interim position. As such, he will be able to make a significant contribution to solving Schiphol’s operational challenges. He is a strategist with a broad logistical background and strong operational execution skills, who has successfully led organisations in transition. Ruud Sondag further has a proven sustainability profile that matches Schiphol’s ambition to accelerate sustainability and reduce environmental impact.”

Ruud Sondag is a supervisory board member of ProRail and Port of Rotterdam, among others. He will resign these positions to fully focus on Schiphol. Before that, he was, among other things, CEO of energy company Eneco and Chair of the supervisory board of Vebego. He was also CEO of Van Gansewinkel Groep for over a decade and majority shareholder of Van Scherpenzeel Groep. Both companies focus on sustainable collection and recycling, energy, and water.

Ruud Sondag: “Schiphol is a beautiful company currently facing a massive challenge. I am hugely motivated together with all employees and stakeholders to get Schiphol back on track. Structural improvement is essential. For travellers, for airlines and for the Netherlands.”

Note to editors:
Ruud Sondag is currently unavailable for interviews. For the moment he is focusing entirely on the organisation and addressing its challenges.