SNV announces the departure of Allert van den Ham as CEO

SNV announces the departure of Allert van den Ham as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and as chairman of the Board of Directors of SNV USA. Van den Ham has taken this decision on his own initiative. He will step down as soon as a suitable successor has been found.

SNV operates in over 30 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America and has over 1,000 employees implementing programmes in Agriculture, Energy, and Water, Sanitation & Hygiene. For the year 2017, revenues are expected to be more than €120 million.

Van den Ham joined SNV in 2010 as Regional Director Asia. In 2011, he was asked to take the lead in transforming SNV into an independent quality player in the international development field. "When I started as CEO, SNV was still fully dependent on core subsidy from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the past year, SNV worked exclusively project-based, financed by over 75 international donors. Now the moment has come for someone else to take over. We will encounter new chances and challenges, and this new phase requires new leadership."

Koos Richelle, Chairman of the Supervisory Board: "Allert has a modest but goal-oriented style, wary of bureaucracy and needless ornaments. As CEO he guided SNV through a turbulent period. He always asks himself: 'Will our actions contribute to the reduction of poverty?' I am convinced that he has shaped SNV’s clear profile in the development sector in this way."

Allert van den Ham will remain with the organisation. He will become Country Director in Laos, where he wishes to work closer to the field, promoting SNV's mission: handing people the tools to free themselves from poverty.

Healthy organisation

Over the past years, SNV focused on efficient and transparent operations. The organisation is financially sound and the quality of the programmes receive broad recognition. The lives of over 20 million people have been improved as a result of SNV's efforts.

The 2016 annual report will be published at the end of June. Van den Ham: "The final figures still need to be approved, but they will show a continuation of the trend we saw over the past years. Our growing revenues and larger projects mirror the trust of our donors."

Successor

The timely announcement enables the Supervisory Board to carefully select a successor. Van den Ham will remain in his current position until a suitable successor has been found.

We thank him for six years of dedicated leadership, energy and vision!