New board members at top Dutch firms were 61-year-old men on average in 2023

Board positions at AEX-listed companies mostly went to older men in the past year, according to the Board Monitor Europe by consultancy firm Heidrick & Struggles. The share of women appointed to Dutch companies’ boards dropped by 10 percent in a year, and the average age of newly appointed directors increased from 57.8 years in 2022 to 61 years in 2023.

AEX-listed companies appointed 38 board members in 2023. Half of the appointments were CEOs, 13 percent were CFOs, and 8 percent were COOs. The AEX Index is a listing of the 25 largest companies on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange with a high volume of shares traded.

Only 42 percent of the new appointments were women last year, down from 52 percent the year before. This was the first time since 2020 that AEX companies appointed more men than women to their boards. Only companies in Poland (36 percent), Finland (38 percent), and Belgium (39 percent) appointed a lower proportion of female board members last year.

The Netherlands also has the highest average age of newly appointed commissioners of all 15 European countries surveyed. The sharp increase in age is likely due to 61 percent of last year’s appointments going to retired executives. In 2022, 26 percent of appointments were retirees.

While gender diversity is still hard to find in boards of directors, supervisory boards of AEX-listed companies are doing better. The Netherlands does not have a quota for women on the board of directors but does have one for supervisory boards. Since 2022, it has been legally required for listed companies to have at least 33 percent women on their supervisory boards.

This year, 73 of the 82 AEX-listed companies complied with this requirement, the Female Board Index previously reported. The number of men and women at this level has been almost equal for some time now. This year, there are 53 percent men and 47 percent women on listed companies' supervisory boards.