ZAANDAM, The Netherlands, April 4, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- The Ahold (NYSE:AHO) Supervisory Board has announced its intention to nominate Karel Vuursteen as one of its members. The nomination of the current Chairman of the Executive Board of Heineken N.V. will be proposed to the Annual General Meeting of Ahold Stockholders to be held in The Hague on May 7, 2002.
Vuursteen, 60, was appointed Chairman of the Executive Board of Heineken in 1993. He joined Heineken in 1991 after a 23-year career with Philips. Vuursteen has considerable international experience and broad knowledge of the production, distribution and marketing of consumer goods. He is a member of several other Supervisory Boards including the Gucci Group and Randstad Holding in The Netherlands and AB Electrolux in Sweden.
Following the approval of Vuursteen's nomination by the Stockholders Meeting, the Ahold Supervisory Board will consist of seven persons. Chairman is Henny de Ruiter (former Managing Director of the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company). The other Board members, in alphabetical order, are: Roland Fahlin (former Chairman ICA Group); Sir Michael Perry GBE (former Chairman of Unilever plc); Dr. Cynthia Schneider (former U.S. Ambassador to The Netherlands); Bob Tobin (former Chairman of Ahold USA); Lodewijk de Vink (former Chairman of Warner-Lambert Company); and Karel Vuursteen (Chairman of the Executive Board of Heineken).
Ahold is an international food retail and foodservice company with 2001 sales of Euro 66.6 billion.