Wiebe Draijer ready to contribute ‘to the major transitions’ at KLM

Draijer said goodbye to Rabobank in October last year. What has he done since then?

Normally it is a bit of a guess what a former CEO or CEO will do in the months off after retirement. But Wiebe Draijer (58) is open about that. He posted a list on LinkedIn: restoring a house in Italy, taking a wonderful trip with family, celebrating thirty years of marriage, spending time with children, saving a litter of puppies. And “saying no (a little too?) often to new options.”

‘Saying no too often’ is Draijer so popular?

Evidently. The former CEO of Rabobank has a large network. He was regularly on the list of the most influential Dutch people. KLM, where he will start if the shareholders’ meeting approves next spring, will be his first supervisory directorship at a commercial company. He also fulfills supervisory positions at, among others, Staatsbosbeheer and KWF Kankerbestrijding.

Before Rabobank, Draijer was chairman of the Social Economic Council (SER), an important advisory body to the government. And before that, he worked for 22 years, including in management positions, at the consultancy firm McKinsey. He was a colleague of former minister and current European Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra.

During previous cabinet formations, D66 member Draijer was often mentioned as Minister (Finance and Agriculture). He had been “intensively approached”, he said in a podcast from the bank. But: “I want to finish my job at Rabobank.” If he had entered national politics, he would have succeeded his father. Draijer senior was in the Senate for D66 in the early 1970s.

Will Draijer junior now become the most important supervisor in Paris?

Well, first of all he will be chairman of the Dutch KLM. And not from the holding company Air France-KLM. At KLM he succeeds Cees ‘t Hart, chairman of the Carlsberg brewery. Draijer will lead a council of nine, including himself: four French, four Dutch and one Canadian. That is Ben Smith, CEO of Air France-KLM. This council appoints, among others, the CEO of KLM.

Draijer also joins the board of Air France-KLM as an ordinary member. That board is one one tier boardwith executive and supervisory directors.

What should he do at the airline?

First: improve the relationship with The Hague. This is tense because of the downsizing plans for Schiphol. The company fears that these plans will be at the expense of KLM.

Draijer will also have to work on KLM’s social position. With more attention to nuisance in the area, for example, but without losing sight of KLM’s economic position.

Can Draijer do that?

In any case, he is familiar with complex issues. At Rabobank, the most important financier of agricultural Netherlands, Draijer was an important party in the discussion about nitrogen. And in 2021, Draijer was involved in the Energy Agreement on the greening of energy production in the Netherlands. He was praised for bringing many parties with conflicting interests to the table.

In any case, he is looking forward to big changes again. Under his list on LinkedIn he wrote: “(I) am up for what fate brings. As long as it contributes to the major transitions.”

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