Turmoil in the supervisory board at Ajax: board members Ruud Haarms and Mike Harman resign. The reason is the intention to reward supervisory directors Annette Mosman, Cees van Oevelen and Georgette Schlick with a gross annual sum of 35,000 euros and chairman Pier Eringa and football commissioner Jan van Halst with 50,000 euros.
Earlier this week, honorary member Arie van Os called the plan ‘downright ridiculous’. “Now there are only career tigers. Any amount is too much for those few hours of work per year, but 35,000 to 50,000 euros is shameless, because Ajax can spend that money much better,” he said to De Telegraaf, among others. The Ajax association can get the plan with 73 percent of the shares through the EGM. Haarms and Harman were completely against the plan.
In an Association Update, quoted by De Telegraaf, board chairman Frank Eijken says that he ‘deeply regrets’ the departure of the two. “I can say the following about how the intended decision came about. We know that this award is sensitive and breaks with the tradition of voluntariness. I respect those feelings from the bottom of my heart and I realize that the club with the remuneration of the supervisory board breaks with a tradition of voluntariness.”
“In 2023, a supervisory directorship at a listed company will no longer be a volunteer job. And that certainly applies at Ajax, where responsibility, time spent and possible reputational damage play a significant role,” says Eijken. “An independent and critical supervisory board fits in with this remuneration policy, against which we, as the board of directors, will also closely test the virtually renewed supervisory board.”
In addition to Van Os, ten other members disagree with the board, the morning paper knows. A proposal is being made to vote against the proposal at the EGM on 26 May. If the proposal is adopted, there will be no reward for Mosman, Van Oevelen, Schlick, Eringa and Van Halst.
