Top 100 Corporate Women
Top 100 Corporate Women 2023
PostNL CEO Herna Verhagen succeeds Petri Hofsté as the most influential woman in Dutch business. For the first time, not a professional supervisory board member but an executive leads the list of corporate women. This is a trend that we see in the whole list: a substantial proportion of the women (especially younger ones) combine the supervisory board position with a role in the c-suite. You can read our analysis of the list here.
(4) Herna Verhagen
PostNL top woman Herna Verhagen is the new No. 1 of the Top 100 Corporate Women. This makes history: for the first time, the first lady of Dutch business is not a professional supervisor with a supervisory position on every finger, but the CEO of a listed company with only two, but significant, supervisory positions. Verhagen was reappointed as Supervisory Board member of financial institution ING this spring and took office last year as Board member of medtech company Philips during the sleep apnea affair.
(7) Pauline van der Meer Mohr
Pauline van der Meer Mohr, a professional supervisor, is the runner-up. She is a supervisory director at Ahold Delhaize, ASMI and NN, after reaching the end of her terms at DSM, HSBC and EY. That adds to the interest of the supervisory role: the periodic refreshment opens the door to other boardrooms and new sectors. It is a photo finish with Verhagen. Both women could be declared co-captains of the Top 100: one in the category of supervisory-executives, the other in the category of professional supervisory directors.
(1) Petri Hofsté
Petri Hofsté led the list for six years, but this time she is ranked No. 3. Hofsté serves on the supervisory boards of Pon Holdings, Rabobank, Achmea and Fugro. She also chairs the board of the Nyenrode Foundation, the business university where she herself once studied. She will join the supervisory board of FrieslandCampina in December 2023, so we may see her higher up the list again next year.
(2) Miriam van Dongen
Miriam van Dongen drops two places this year, to fourth in the Top 100 Corporate Women. Her supervisory portfolio is diverse. Insurance company Achmea, the Land Registry, online payment service provider Mollie, derivatives trader Optiver... It was being able to immerse herself in different companies at the same time that was one of the reasons for her decision, after holding a number of CFO positions, to only hold non-executive positions from 2009.
(6) Angelien Kemna
Angelien Kemna has been on the rise in the Top 100 Corporate Women for several years and enters the Top 5 for the first time this year. She is a non-executive director at Prosus and a supervisory director NIBC and FrieslandCampina, among others. The latter position, however, she will resign at the end of this year, so in order to continue her rise she will have to look for a new supervisory position.
See full list 
Justification
A female director is eligible if she holds one or more positions as a Supervisory Board member or Director with the most important businesses in the Netherlands. By this, we mean companies that are listed on the AEX, AMX (MidCap), or AScX (SmallCap) index and unlisted companies with equity in excess of 1 billion Euros. Foreign women are only eligible if they hold an executive position or at least two non-executive positions in these companies.
Allocation of Points
All women are awarded points based on the amount of equity held by the companies where they hold a position. Executive positions for these businesses are worth more points than supervisory roles. In addition, the non-executive directors receive points for Chairmanships of Supervisory Boards or Executive Boards and Chairmanships of audit, remuneration and nomination committees.
In line with the corporate governance code for large companies, we assume a maximum of five points for supervisory positions: two for a chairmanship and one for a membership, together a full time commitment. A CEO gets five points.
Finally, points are awarded for supervisory roles for large overseas companies, universities, universities of applied science, hospitals, and other large businesses.
Cut-off Date
The cut-off date for the rankings is 1 May 2023.