Frits van Eerd is still a suspect in a large money laundering investigation. The Jumbo CEO was detained for five days after a Fiod raid on his house in Heeswijk-Dinther. After his release, the supermarket chain said it would “carefully discuss the situation that has arisen in the coming days.” You may assume that Van Eerd’s position as chairman of the board will also be taken into account. After all, he is the face of Jumbo. The Supervisory Board will decide on its future and that will not be easy.
Charles of Honor (84) is the father of Frits and the conscience of Jumbo. From 1959 to 2009 he was the director of the group. It didn’t start as a supermarket at all, but as a wholesaler in foodstuffs. It was not until 1963 that Karel opened the self-service shop ‘Kroon’ in Schijndel.
Jumbo came into the picture in 1979, after the acquisition of a Tilburg supermarket that bore this name. This formula was expanded by Karel, thanks to many takeovers, to become the second largest supermarket chain in the country.
Although Karel van Eerd is no longer CEO of Jumbo, he is still the chairman of the Supervisory Board. This board ensures that the board functions properly and that the shareholders remain satisfied. It is therefore the supervisory directors who are in charge of the position of the management, including that of his own son. This puts the founder of Jumbo in a difficult position.
Colette Cloosterman-Van Eerd (56) is Fritz’s sister. She is also a member of the Supervisory Board. Until recently, she was part of Jumbo’s board as formula director and worked with her younger brother on a daily basis. Because she has been a supervisory director since March, she will now also have to consider the future of Frits as CEO of Jumbo.
Father Karel, Frits, Colette and the other sister Monique Groenewoud-Van Eerd (54) also each own a quarter of the shares of the Jumbo empire. Add to that the fact that they also just form a close family, then it is logical that the whole situation is very difficult for the Van Eerd family.
Ton van Veen (52) was the financial chief of Jumbo until March this year. All acquisitions and all growth spurts were financially supported by him. He is known as a confidant of the family. After all, he had been on the board for 18 years and was still hired by Karel van Eerd.
Today, Van Veen is a member of the Supervisory Boards of both Jumbo and HEMA. He is also involved in possible new acquisitions for the Van Eerd empire. Only now he has to deal with the position of good friend Frits.
Anthony Burgmans (75) and Wilco Jiskoot (72) have been involved as a supervisory director at Jumbo since 2009, but have no further history with the supermarket. Antony Burgmans was Unilever’s CEO for ten years. He has also been chairman of the Supervisory Board of chemical group Akzonobel, construction market group Intergamma and parcel service FedEx.
Wilko Jiskoot worked at ABN AMRO for decades and was vice-chairman of that bank. In addition to his supervisory role at Jumbo, he supervises the board of HEMA, which incidentally is owned by Jumbo.
Piet Coelewij (62) and Jacqueline Hoogerbrugge (58) have not been a supervisory director at Jumbo for very long. They too have held senior positions in the business world elsewhere. For example, Coelewij was the CEO of mail order company Wehkamp and he also worked in high positions for Philips and Amazon, among others. He has been a supervisory director at Jumbo since April 2018.
Hoogerbrugge only became that two years later. She has held senior positions at Danone and Unilever, among others, but is also a supervisor at IKEA.
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