Hans Coenen appointed as member of the Executive Board of Gasunie
Press release
Hans Coenen will join the Executive Board of Gasunie as of April 1, 2023. He has been appointed for a term of four years and will succeed Ulco Vermeulen, who at his own request is stepping down as board member responsible for business development and participations on 1 July 2023.
Gasunie CEO Han Fennema: “As director of business development and corporate strategy, Hans has been closely involved in the ongoing transformation of our organisation from a gas transmission company into a sustainable energy infrastructure company. He has extensive experience in the international gas and energy markets and is a driving force behind Gasunie’s new activities in the field of hydrogen, heat, CO2 and green gas. His appointment will thus provide a new impulse for Gasunie’s strategic development.”
Chairman of the Supervisory Board Pieter Duisenberg adds: “Hans Coenen has been a key asset in the senior management of Gasunie for many years and has an extensive network in the Dutch and international energy world. His broad experience in different Gasunie departments, including his role as board member of Gasunie Deutschland, make him ideally suited to succeed Ulco Vermeulen on the Executive Board.”
New role for Ulco Vermeulen
Ulco Vermeulen, who has worked at Gasunie since 1990 and has been a member of the Executive Board since 1 May 2016, will transfer his board responsibilities for Gasunie’s activities in the field of business development and participations to Hans Coenen from 1 April. Vermeulen will step down as a board member on 1 July 2023, after which time he will remain affiliated with Gasunie for another year and a half as special advisor to the Executive Board, with a focus on the development of international hydrogen supply chains.
“Ulco has an impressive track record at Gasunie,” says Han Fennema. “With his sound commercial instinct and a keen eye for the public interest, he has worked with passion and perseverance on the energy transition, in particular the development of hydrogen. His recent efforts in developing LNG in the Netherlands and Germany, especially since the outbreak of war in Ukraine, has been crucial for security of supply in north-western Europe. Though we will miss him as a fellow board member, we are pleased that he will continue to be affiliated with Gasunie in the area of international hydrogen developments over the coming period.”
Pieter Duisenberg: “Ulco is an innovator par excellence and is the embodiment of Gasunie’s key role: bringing parties together from an energy infrastructure perspective. When he was reappointed in 2020, he had already informed us that he would not be serving out his full four-year term. We are grateful to him for remaining on the board during the extremely turbulent period we have experienced over the past year.”