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Feike Sijbesma

Major Career Roles:

  • Honorary Chair and former CEO, Royal DSM
  • Supervisory Board Chair, Royal Philips
  • Board member, Supervisory Board, Dutch Central Bank
  • Co-Chair, Global Centre Climate Adaptation
  • Board of Trustees, World Economic Forum
  • Senior Adviser, Africa Improved Foods and Ocean Cleanup
  • Independent Non-Executive Director, Unilever

 

Other Career Highlights:

  • Corona Envoy, the Netherlands
  • Board member, Dutch Growth Fund
  • Board member, Netherlands Cancer Institute and Hospital
  • Board member, Netherlands Genomics Initiative
  • Chair, EuropBio
  • Board member, European Chemical Industry Council
  • Board member, Utrecht University
  • Board member, Dutch Innovation Platform

 

 

 

 

Feike Sijbesma has over 30 years’ experience as an international executive and senior leader across multiple industries, including food, nutrition, (bio)chemicals, health, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, diversified industrials and renewable energy. He is a leader who is highly respected and trusted globally by business, NGOs and governments.

 

Feike is Honorary Chair and the former CEO (2007 to 2020) of Royal DSM and Chair of the Supervisory Board of Royal Philips. He is also Co-Chair of the Global Centre on Climate Adaptation, together with Ban Kimoon, former Secretary-General of the UN. He is a designated Global Climate Leader of the World Bank (and carbon pricing champion), member of the Advisory Council of the IMF, member of the Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum and Co-Chair of the Business Network for Scaling Up Nutrition at the UN.

 

Previously, he was an Independent Non-Executive Director at Unilever and a member of the Supervisory Board of the Dutch Central Bank.

 

Feike served on the Managing Board of Royal DSM, including 13 years as CEO. Under his leadership, DSM successfully transformed from a bulk-chemical company into a leading global innovative science-based company focused on nutrition, health and sustainable living. He has proven at DSM that sustainability is not only a key responsibility but also a core value and a main business driver. He is a main advocate for inclusion and diversity.

 

Feike studied Medical and Molecular Biology at the University of Utrecht and Business Administration at Erasmus University, Rotterdam. He is a recipient of several awards, including Humanitarian of the Year Award & Leaders of Change Award by the UN, has an honorary doctorate from Maastricht and Groningen University, the Netherlands, and was listed by Fortune as one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders, and by Harvard Business Review as one of the World’s 100 most successful CEOs. He received the Courage to Lead Award from the World Resources Institute. Feike is currently an investor in smaller companies in food and sustainability/ energy and advises companies on transformations.

 

Feike was decorated in 2021 by the Netherlands Prime Minister as Grand Officer in the Order of Orange Nassau, one of the country’s highest royal honours.