Supermarket veteran has to give Jumbo time to find successor after surprising departure CEO

From Ton to Tom: it could have just been the slogan with which Jumbo announced the leadership change. On Thursday, the supermarket company announced that retail veteran Tom Heidman will temporarily take on as the successor to departing CEO Ton van Veen. Heidman's arrival must bring peace in the search for a final successor.

The announcement follows the surprising announcement about Van Veens departure, a few weeks ago. Only two years was he highest boss at Jumbo and the first to not come from Eerd owner family. He would actually stay longer, but Van Veen recently called it « a logical moment » to transfer the position.

It is generally known that the CEO operated under difficult circumstances after the forced resignation of former CEO Frits van Eerd. He is the suspect in a large money laundering investigation and new details are still coming out. The Van Eerd family is also still closely involved, which sometimes makes important decision -making.

Jumbo did not immediately have a new chairman of the board ready, which is why a temporary replacement was chosen. With Heidman, who is praised by President Collette Cloosterman-van Eerd because of « personality, qualities and extensive experience, » the company buys time to come up with a definitive successor who can take the approval of the family.

C1000 and Ahold

Heidman and Jumbo are not complete strangers of each other. He was a chief executive of competitor C1000 when the Veghel company that took over in 2012. Van Veen, as the financial brain behind the growth of Jumbo last decade, played an important role in this. Heidman also worked for Albert Heijn for years, including as a commercial and operational director.

In 2015, Heidman was a commissioner at Vleesbedrijf Vion when that got into financial trouble. He was then temporarily promoted to chairman of the board. In recent years, the now 66-year-old Heidman has been a bit easier with commissions at sauce manufacturer Remia and herbal seller Euroma. Heidman: « After many years of being active in management positions, I made the decision to focus on various commissioner roles and my passion for developing food products. » For an interim job at Jumbo, however, he makes « happy space. »

The temporary CEO awaits a big challenge: Jumbo still suffers from the court case against Van Eerd, who is still in full swing. In addition to money laundering, he is suspected of forgery and corruption. At a raid in Van Eerd's house in 2022, the FIOD investigation service found 198,000 euros in Cash, and in his office at Jumbo another 250,000 euros. The substantive handling of that case starts in June.

Although the supermarket was protected from involvement, the matter yielded a lot of negative publicity. It did not benefit the results. In 2021 the company still had a market share of 21.6 percent, in 2024 20.5 percent remained. Earlier, the attack was used on the leading position of Albert Heijn. The profit was slightly better with 28 million euros last year than in 2023, but still did not come close to the top year 2020 (137 million euros).

That is why the costs have been cut down recently. 350 jobs disappeared at the head office last year. By joining purchasing organizations Everest and Epic Partners, the company was able to stipulate more favorably purchasing conditions and again oppose Albert Heijn in the price area. Restaurant chain La Place was also independent.

Commissioners leave

For the final follow -up of Van Veen, the name of Saskia Egas Repair is mentioned, among other things. She is still director of Hema, which is partly in the hands of the Van Eerd family. The Supervisory Board will have to make a decision on this in the coming months. Two members will no longer experience that: Wilco Jiskoot (74 years old) and Antony Burgmans (78) no longer apply for a new term after sixteen years. Especially for the latter, it may have been his last major job in Dutch business after, among other things, the CEO at Unilever and the Temporary Presidency at AkzoNobel. Whoever becomes their replacements will announce Jumbo at a later time.