Former Presidents

Joan Gelderman (December 14, 1877, Oldenzaal – October 5, 1975, Oldenzaal) was a textile manufacturer and politician from Oldenzaal. In 1905, he was incorporated into the family firm H.P. Gelderman & Sons in Oldenzaal. When this company was converted into a public limited company in 1935, he became its director, together with two family members and went on to act as delegated commissioner from 1960 to 1963. As an entrepreneur, he played an important role in trade policy and in the difficult cooperation between textile companies. He was successful in this thanks to his special modesty and great amiability. Gelderman held a political position as a member of the Senate of the States General for the Liberal State Party from 1928 to 1946. He was also the first chairman of the newly established Chamber of Commerce for Twente and Salland from 1921 to 1928, and also chairman of the Supervisory Board der Nederlandse Spoorwegen and NV Heemaf and supervisory director of Kon. Dutch. Cotton Spinnery, the Tilburg Cotton Spinnery and the Central Employers Risk Bank. His prominent position in the East was apparent from his appointment in 1945 as Economic Commissioner of the province of Overijssel.

Hans van Mourik Broekman (Haarlem, August 19, 1906 – Boekelo, December 8, 2004) was an engineer in chemical technology (TU Delft, 1933) and later became president-director and chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Royal Dutch Salt Industry (later Royal Salt Industry) from 1949 – 1969. Organon, later Akzo). He was also a member of the Preparatory Committee of the Third Technical University and, after the establishment of the TH in 1961, until 1970 a member of the Board of Trustees of the THT (a supervisory body whose chairman was a member of the executive board of the TH).

Willem Titus Kroese (Medan, December 1, 1907 - Almelo, December 9, 1979) joined the N. V. Textielfabriek Holland in Enschede in 1935. In those years it was still an exception for someone of non-Twente origin to occupy a leading position in the Twente cotton industry. Kroese always referred to himself as 'anspölsel' in that respect. In 1943 he transferred to the Koninklijke Stoomweverij N.V. in Nijverdal. In 1945 Kroese obtained his doctorate with his dissertation Forms of cooperation in the Dutch cotton industry 1929-1939. A first step towards cooperation in the Twente textile industry was the formation of the textile group Nijverdal-ten Cate in 1952, in 1957 a merger came about. Until 1972 he was chairman of the Executive Board, then vice-chairman of the Supervisory Board until 1977. Kroese held many international positions and was the right person to maintain contacts with Indonesia and Japan, among others. In addition, Kroese was a supervisory director of a number of companies outside the textile sector, including the Dutch Railways, Robeco, ABN, Vredestein, Kon. Zout/Organon and Thomassen and Drijver. Kroeze was also active in the world of scientific education. He was curator of the Economic University of Applied Sciences, as well as of the Technical University of Twente. He had already made an early effort to set up this institution, including as a member of the Foundation for the Promotion of Technical Higher Education in the Northern and Eastern Provinces and as a celebrated speaker at propaganda meetings.

Han Wolhoff (Utrecht, January 4, 1927 – Hengelo, July 17, 2017) was associated with the fund for twenty years, thirteen of which as president. Wolhoff, a chemist by trade, came from Unilever Rotterdam to Twente in 1960 to work at KNZ ('the salt'), which later became AKZO. His last position was deputy chairman of the board of directors. In November 1977 he joined the board of the University Fund and seven years later the general board elected him chairman. When he started, one board member did not come from a Twente company. Today there are nine. 'With representatives from AKZO, Unilever, ABN/AMRO, KPN and DSM, we have managed to get hold of the top industrial leaders in the Netherlands. That gives you more options to knock on their door when you need money.' The importance of a seat on the board of the university fund is clear according to Wolhoff. 'The industry wants to know what's going on at the university, how things are going and what it wants.' That the university, in turn, is happy with the fund is evident from the fact that the Supervisory Board 'plented generously' from the fund board.

Dr. Adrianus (Adriaan) van Es (Delft, 1931) worked at Akzo from 1965 to 1994, from 1987 as chairman of the management of Akzo Nederland. His career started in 1949 and he held various positions in laboratories at Unilever, TNO, Shell and Leiden University. In December 1963 he graduated cum laude in mathematics and natural sciences at TU Delft. This was followed a year later by a PhD in chemistry. In 1965 Van Es started working as a research chemist at the Central Research of the Royal Dutch Salt Industry (KNZ) in Hengelo, later Akzo. Van Es successively held the positions of head of the chemical technological service, production manager and director of the Hengelo salt location. In July 1980, Van Es was appointed member of the Board of Directors of Akzo Zout Chemie, which was founded in 1971, and also member of the Board of Directors of Akzo Nederland. In 1987 he was appointed chairman of the board of Akzo Nederland. Since 1990, as a member of Akzo's management board, Van Es was also involved in the formation of the merger between Akzo and the Swedish Nobel group in 1994 to form AkzoNobel. On May 31, 1994, Van Es retired from Akzo. Since 1987, chemist Van Es has done pioneering work at Akzo Nederland in the field of labor relations in the Netherlands. An amiable and accessible captain of industry, who knew how to use communication as an 'incredibly crucial' tool, both within and outside Akzo. In addition to Akzo, he was also active as chairman of the then Chemische Kring Twente and as a supervisory board member of various companies.