Councilor Klaas de Vries of the municipality of Meppel missed out on the title of Best Local Administrator of 2025. Nevertheless, the prize went to a Drent, mayor Mark Boumans of the municipality of Doetinchem.
Boumans was born in Oosterhesselen, grew up in Exloo and went to high school in Emmen. He later served as alderman in Meppel, and Boumans has been mayor of Doetinchem since 2015. He is also vice-chairman of the Association of Dutch Municipalities.
Administrators and politicians who nominated Boumans described him as “communicatively strong and decisive”, reports the trade magazine Domestic Governance. They also see him as “a director who dares to take a stand, also on nationally sensitive files”. It was judged that he is accessible and effective in his actions.
The Best Local Administrator election was held for the seventeenth time.
