Heineken N.V. announces CFO succession

Laurence Debroux to be succeeded by Harold van den Broek on 1 June 2021

Amsterdam, 8 March, 2021 – HEINEKEN today announced that after a successful tenure as Chief Financial Officer and member of the Executive Board, Laurence Debroux and the Supervisory Board have jointly agreed that she will step down after the company’s Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (AGM) on 22 April 2021. The Supervisory Board will nominate Harold van den Broek, currently President Hygiene at RB (Reckitt Benckiser), to be appointed as member of the Executive Board and Chief Financial Officer at the company’s AGM, for a period of four years.

Harold van den Broek has been with RB since 2014 where he was CFO Hygiene before assuming his current role. Harold spent over 30 years in fast moving consumer goods companies in a broad range of finance roles across business units, regions and global functions. He began his career at Unilever in 1991, living and working in Europe, across Asia and in Russia. Subject to shareholder appointment, he will join HEINEKEN on 1 June 2021 and both Laurence and Harold will work together to ensure a smooth transition.

Dolf van den Brink, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of HEINEKEN commented: “I would like to thank Laurence for her many contributions to HEINEKEN, both as CFO and as fellow Executive Board member. Over the past six years, she has strongly contributed to HEINEKEN's success. Most recently, she played a key role in steering the company through the COVID-19 crisis and shaping EverGreen, our strategic direction for the company, exploring how to accelerate and expand our sources of growth while simplifying and right sizing our cost base. Laurence leaves HEINEKEN in a strong financial position and with the finance teams in great shape, thanks to her continuous drive to develop and nurture great talent. We wish her every success in the future.

I am very happy to welcome Harold to HEINEKEN and am confident that he will be an outstanding finance and business leader for the company. Harold brings deep financial expertise and strong business acumen as the current president of a multi-billion pound business. He has led large scale business transformations, has decades of consumer goods experience and brings fresh external perspective – all of which will be an asset as we embark on our EverGreen journey, enter our next phase of growth and build on the great platform established by Laurence.”