Ajax present Maarten Fontein as new general director
26 August: The club required a number of months,
but eventually found the man they were looking for.
Ajax announced today that managing director Arie
van Eijden's successor will be Maarten Fontein (53).
Fontein, a former international top man of Dutch multinational
Unilever, will start working for Ajax on 01 November of
this year. One month later, on 01 December, he will officially
take over from Van Eijden.
The new man in charge: Maarten
Fontein. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
On 07 April of this year Ajax announced
that managing director (or general director) Arie van
Eijden would
step down as per 01 April 2006 -- or as much
earlier as possible. Four and a half months later his successor
has been found.
Maarten Fontein, a The Hague native and a graduate of Leiden
University, gained prominence as an international top
manager for Unilever, one of
Holland's major multinationals and the mother company
of an array of food and non-food brands. Fontein has
worked as an esteemed 'brand builder' for Unilever since
1977, in The Netherlands, but also in Australia, Sweden, China
and Turkey. For many years he was the marketing manager for
Unilever's complete ice-cream division in Asia, Africa and
Australia.
Fontein's qualities an international manager and
business-man are beyond dispute, but he also has a history in
the world of sports. As a teenager he played football for
the only other club in The Netherlands that goes by the name of
Ajax: the 'Ajax Sportman Combinatie' (ASC) from Leiden. After
that he played for amateur side HVV. However, Fontein admits
that he had more talent for cricket: he had a fine career
as an international for the Dutch cricket team. Fontein
also has experience as a manager and board member in the world
of sports.
A detail but a very important detail: Maarten Fontein is a
life-long Ajax fan. "I am crazy about Ajax," he says.
"On March 5th 1969, when I was 17 years old, I went on the
famous bus trip to Paris, to see Ajax's legendary decider
against Benfica. I will never forget that day. It seems like it
was written in the stars that I would work for Ajax one day:
all my life I've had the desire to combine my experience as a
business man with my passion for sports. This is a fantastic
challenge for me. As a professional, as a sportsman
and as an Ajax fan. Everything must be focused on
the same goal: to get Ajax back at the top of European
football. With head-coach Danny Blind and technical director
Martin van Geel, Ajax have got things well-organized on a
technical level. They are team players, just like me. I look
forward to working with them, and with all other Ajacieden."
(MP)
Source: Ajax.nl
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