Published: 8.00 CET

Van Lanschot Kempen today announced the appointment of Lars Dijkstra as Chief Sustainability Officer. In this newly created capacity, Lars Dijkstra will head up the Sustainability Centre and report directly to the Chairman of the Management Board. The Sustainability Centre brings together and coordinates all sustainability activities at Van Lanschot Kempen.

Karl Guha, Chairman of the Management Board, said: “We are delighted to appoint Lars as our Chief Sustainability Officer, with this appointment highlighting our sustainability aspirations as a wealth manager. Lars’s many years of experience in the financial markets and his extensive knowledge of sustainability and corporate responsibility make him eminently suited to help drive Van Lanschot Kempen’s mission to be a leading sustainable European wealth manager.”

Sustainability is deeply woven into Van Lanschot Kempen’s strategy and one of the key pillars of its successful growth strategy. The company’s aim is to preserve and create wealth, in a sustainable manner, both for its clients and for the society it serves. It aims to take an entrepreneurial approach to creating both financial and non-financial long-term value for all its stakeholders.

Lars Dijkstra, Chief Sustainability Officer, commented: “We’ve been working together with our clients, our internal and external fund managers as well as our investees for years to generate both financial returns and sustainable impact. I’m determined to leverage Van Lanschot Kempen’s influence to achieve sustainable change across the value chain, taking responsibility for both our own footprint and that of our clients’ investments.”

Lars Dijkstra has been Van Lanschot Kempen’s Chief Investment Officer since 2005 and has served as head of Core Investment Strategies since the beginning of this year. Erik van Houwelingen, member of the Management Board and Chairman of Kempen Capital Management’s management board, will assume Dijkstra’s current duties.

In addition to his position at Van Lanschot Kempen, Lars Dijkstra serves as the Treasurer of Eumedion which represents the interests of institutional investors in the field of corporate governance and sustainability, and is a member of The 300 Club, an international group of leading investment professionals raising awareness about the impact of current market thinking and behaviours. He has also been closely involved with FCLTGlobal since its inception, a not-for-profit organisation driving long-term value creation for companies, savers and communities.

More information
Media Relations: +31 20 354 45 85; mediarelations@vanlanschotkempen.com
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