Maarten Otto: ‘I now have more compassion for non-executives’

What was the immediate motivation for taking on this supervisory role in addition to your CEO role?
‘The motivation came from a conversation with my own supervisory board members at Alliander about my personal development. They encouraged me to look for a place where I can continue to develop and broaden my perspective by experiencing a different position in the boardroom. It is about experiencing what it is like to be on the other side of the table: how do you view an organization then, and what type of leadership is appropriate?
I was also inspired by a book by Jan Stolker about the social importance of supervision. He argues that supervision is a social function, aimed at strengthening trust between the outside world and the organization. This requires both business and social perspectives, and that suits who I am.’

You combine this role with four young children. How do you maintain the balance?
‘That requires very conscious choices and a fair division of labor at home. My wife is a super-talented, ambitious woman. We met at university, and it made no sense at all that I would work more than she did. In the early years, she took care of a lot, but now we are trying to find a more equitable balance. I take the kids to school two to three times a week, and on Friday afternoons I take them to swimming lessons.
The flexibility of my job allows me to determine when I need to be physically present and when online is sufficient. Ultimately, the question for me is always: what can I contribute, and is it really my role to do so? My life begins at home with my family. Then it is about contributing and continuing to learn. If this is not in place, I get bored, and it becomes a waste of my time.’

Why did you choose NWB Bank?
‘I deliberately sought an organization in a different sector with different market dynamics, preferably more private, but where I could contribute with my knowledge. Capital is a huge driver for major social issues and essential for the investment challenges that exist. NWB Bank is a crucial player because, as a public bank, it makes capital available under appropriate conditions to public institutions such as water boards, housing associations, and healthcare institutions. What is often underestimated is how essential this is to the Netherlands' long-term attractiveness for investment.’

You come from an environment with a strong focus on execution power. As a supervisory board member, what administrative reflexes do you have to actively unlearn to maintain the right distance?
‘That is perhaps the biggest challenge: I have to suppress my impulse to act. As a director, I am used to intervening immediately and solving problems with a results-oriented manner. On the supervisory board, I have to realize that I am supervising and, as an advisor to the management, I have to look at how the organization can move forward. You have to be close but with distance, role-aware, and role-specific. I really had to learn that I do not make things better by taking over the role of management. I now also look at my own supervisory board at Alliander with much more compassion. I understand better how difficult it is to distill the essence of our challenges from the entirety of our information provision without getting bogged down in the details.’

Which managerial reflexes can you use in your new role?
‘My experience as a director is enormously helpful in actively listening and approaching issues from different paradigms. I can ask questions about consistency and coherence in plans. I also try to constantly ask myself: what really helps me as a director when a supervisory board member asks a question? I use that mirror to sharpen the focus of the NWB Bank management team and truly add value to their decision-making.’

Where do you draw the line between sharp, critical oversight and undesirable interference, where you take the place of the management?
‘The line lies at the realization of the course. The management, together with the supervisory board, sets the course and is responsible for its realization. I am there to help promote that course and to continue to challenge it. I learned a brilliant lesson from Henk Breukink: with every question you want to ask, you have to ask yourself what difference the answer will make for the organization or the client. Am I asking the question just to show how smart I am, or does it really help the management board? Modesty is appropriate here. You are part of a total system and generally have no one-to-one causality with the outcome, no matter how convinced you sometimes are of your unique rightness.’

You see a strong link between resilience, energy, and water. How does that connection translate into the strategic discussions within the supervisory board of NWB Bank?
‘Everything is intertwined. NWB Bank was founded after the North Sea flood of 1953, but the questions today are about how we can organize the Netherlands in such a way that people can stay dry and live and work in a sustainable energy system. In the supervisory board, we discuss the role the bank can play in the enormous investment challenges in the water, housing, and energy sectors. The bank is a partner for water boards and housing associations in exploring how we can keep these public services robust in the face of climate change and geopolitical instability in the future.’

Within the supervisory board, you are a member of the risk committee. What do you think are the greatest strategic risks for NWB Bank?
‘As a member of the risk committee, we look at both financial and non-financial risks. For me, the three biggest areas are: first, operational risks, including cybersecurity. Because we are a vital infrastructure, there already is a high level of awareness of this, but the threat is increasing. Second, technological dependence, where we must avoid becoming dependent on systems we can no longer understand. And third, the climate and ESG risks that affect the core of our social mission. We must maintain a very low risk appetite in order to protect our Triple-A status and thus the low interest costs for the public sector.’

At Alliander, you advocate for focusing on broad prosperity rather than solely on financial returns. How do you put this framework into practice in your supervisory work at the bank?
‘At NWB Bank, broad prosperity is at the heart of our existence. We do not focus on profit maximization. In practice, this means that the bank's output is directly linked to the Sustainable Development Goals. We make this transparent: what social impact do we have with our investments? I am vocal about this. It also leads to tough choices. Management sometimes decides not to go ahead with a proposition because it simply does not align with the mission of a water-conscious and sustainable society.’

You recently traveled to Silicon Valley with a group of Dutch executives to learn more about AI. What is the biggest opportunity and the biggest risk of AI for a financial institution such as NWB Bank?
‘AI is going to revolutionize the banking sector. The biggest opportunity is a significant gain in productivity and quality in knowledge work. With agents, you can process information faster and more effectively. The biggest risk is false security and increased dependence. This also means that supervision must shift from ex post oversight to oversight of how the AI ​​system is designed and functions. You need to understand the design much better, otherwise you will no longer be able to reconstruct what the outcome was. An important rule of thumb: never assume that AI outcomes are inherently true. If we can no longer reconstruct the throughput of a system, we lose control.’

What does this mean for the work of a supervisory board member?
‘AI makes supervision more complex. As a supervisory board, we also need to set requirements for explainability. If a model supports a critical decision, the board must be able to explain the considerations that went into it. Incidentally, I do not believe in having an AI supervisory board member as a separate member. Supervision is about human accountability and trust, and you cannot outsource that to a machine.’

NWB Bank is one of Alliander's financiers so in a sense you are supervising yourself. How do you safeguard your independence and avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest?
‘NWB Bank does indeed invest in bonds issued by Alliander and other grid operators. However, the supervisory board is not involved in the bank's individual investment decisions. That is the responsibility of the management board. Moreover, in the heavily regulated banking sector, potential conflicts of interest are identified immediately. There are strict procedures in place, and although we have not had to use them yet, the awareness is constant.’

You are around forty, which makes you relatively young for this role. Do you see this as an advantage or a challenge?
‘I have been asked this question throughout my career. In the past, I even removed my age from my resume so that I would be taken seriously in large consulting projects. For me, it is about maturity beyond age. I am fortunate to be blessed with a deep voice and a tall stature, which often unconsciously gives me authority. But actually it is ridiculous that I have to justify myself in this way, because someone with a different build and the same age can contribute the same or more. That is what matters, what you contribute, what you add. In terms of content, process, relationships, and interaction. And then it may be that age can contribute to diversity in the boardroom. Different generations view issues differently, such as the balance between work and care. I find it perfectly normal to cancel an appointment if my children are sick. This generational shift brings with it a necessary new dynamic.’

Where do you see the biggest financing bottlenecks for the energy transition?
‘The challenge is the enormous structural social task that goes hand in hand with a massive capital demand. The energy transition is not a project that you can declare complete in a day. It is a fundamental change to the system. The bottleneck lies in the availability of capital on favorable terms for the parties that have to carry out the work. I see a major role for public financiers in keeping the transition affordable and feasible.’

Which decisions taken now will determine whether the Netherlands will still be investable in ten years’ time?
‘The decisions about our fundamental infrastructure. We are already seeing the consequences of overdue maintenance, such as with the Van Brienenoord Bridge. If we do not take an integrated view of the interrelationships between molecules, electrons, and water safety, we will undermine our own resilience. We must now choose a system that will still be reliable and affordable in ten or twenty years.’

What would constitute a personal success in this supervisory role in two to three years’ time?
‘Personally, I will consider it successful if I have, based on the experiences of others - clients, management, and colleagues - added value that contributes to the realization of NWB Bank's goals. I want to have asked questions that lead to reflection and increase the bank's learning capacity. In terms of governance, I hope that we have found the right balance between proximity and distance, and that the bank has defined its social purpose even more clearly. I do not measure success by a checklist, but by whether we have moved the organization forward in line with its mission.'

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This interview was published in Management Scope 03 2026.