CEO Huub Vermeulen decides to retire after 20 years at bol.com

Margaret Versteden – van Duijn (45) has held various management positions within bol.com. She started six years ago as Director of Marketing (CMO) and then as Director of Stores (CCO), managing the commercial department. Last year, she took on the new position of Director Platform, with final responsibility for the platform activities of bol.com.

She says: “I consider it an honour and a great opportunity to take over the management of this beautiful organisation. In 22 years, bol.com has grown from the first online bookstore in Europe to a platform where 47,000 sales partners sell millions of items to our customers, over 12.5 million Dutch and Belgians. This development was possible thanks to a very strong and driven team of now 2,500 bol.com employees. The next few years will also be characterised by growth and the further development of our platform. This is a great ambition that I, together with the management team, will be happy to give further direction. The many years of collaboration with Huub forms a good basis for my new role. I am very grateful to him for everything he has done for bol.com and for me. We will miss him terribly.”

Huub Vermeulen (57) became involved with bol.com in 1999 as director of fulfilment company Docdata (now Ingram Micro), with whom bol.com has worked ever since. In 2001, Huub joined bol.com as Director of Operations & Fulfilment (COO) and became CEO four years ago.

He says: “The decision to leave bol.com was not easy. After 20 years of bol.com, I need a different work-life balance at this stage in my life. In addition, I want to create the opportunity to assist other entrepreneurs in a non-executive role. It now feels like the right moment to stop at bol.com, knowing that I will leave behind a great company and a great team. Because from the very first day that I got to know bol.com as an organisation, I was captivated by the tremendous drive, innovative spirit and ambitious mission of the bol.com team. It has been an unforgettable adventure to be part of this company almost from the start.

I am convinced that the internal culture of bol.com is one of the key success factors. Stimulating and maintaining this culture – in which togetherness, enthusiasm and trust are key – has therefore been one of my focal points as CEO. Partly due to our unique way of working, we have been able to rapidly transform into a platform organisation and realise the strongest growth in our history.

I am handing over my role with confidence. As Margaret has already held various management positions within bol.com, she has come to know the full breadth of the organisation. In addition to enormous energy, she brings decisiveness combined with strong strategic qualities. Finally, I would like to thank all bol.com employees for the inspiration and energy they have given me every day and my colleagues at Ahold Delhaize for their trust and cooperation.”