Godefridus Franciscus Theodorus "Frits" van Eerd (born 25 March 1967) is a Dutch entrepreneur and racing driver. He was the general manager of Jumbo Groep Holding BV from 2002 to September 2022. As a racing driver, he won the

2021 FIA World Endurance Championship The 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship was the ninth season of the FIA World Endurance Championship, an auto racing series organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The series ...

in the LMP2 Pro/Am category and co-founded

Racing Team Nederland Racing Team Nederland is a former Dutch endurance racing team founded by F1 driver and Le Mans winner Jan Lammers and businessman Frits van Eerd. History Frits van Eerd, was one of the sponsors of Racing for Holland with his company ( ...

Education and professional career

Van Eerd studied business administration in Utrecht and the United States. In 1992, he joined

Jumbo Jumbo (December 25, 1860 – September 15, 1885), also known as Jumbo the Elephant and Jumbo the Circus Elephant, was a 19th-century male African bush elephant born in Sudan. Jumbo was exported to Jardin des Plantes, a zoo in Paris, and then tr ...

, the family business founded by his father, Karel van Eerd. He started his career as a product manager of the bread department and later became supermarket manager. In 1996, he became general manager at Jumbo and in 2002 he was appointed general manager. As general manager, Van Eerd led the expansion of Jumbo, which was characterised by strategic acquisitions. Under his leadership,

Super de Boer Super de Boer was a Dutch supermarket chain. The holding company which owned Super de Boer, ''Super de Boer N.V.'', was formerly named ''Laurus N.V.''. It changed its name to that of its only remaining retail brand in January 2008. Super de Bo ...

and

C1000 C1000 was a Dutch supermarket chain. Founded on 1 April 1977, the chain had 500 stores in 2012, with a market share of 12.1%. The supermarket chain operated in a rather unusual manner for supermarkets in the Netherlands, using the franchise syst ...

were acquired, establishing Jumbo as one of the largest supermarket chains in the Netherlands. Van Eerd remained general manager until his resignation in 2022.

Criminal investigation and resignation from Jumbo

In September 2022, Van Eerd was involved in a large-scale money laundering investigation. The FIOD raided his home and the Jumbo head office in Veghel, The FIOD found €448,000 in cash, part of which hidden in a plastic bag in a refrigerator, mainly in five-hundred-euro banknotes. Van Eerd was arrested and interrogated for five days. The trial against him began in September 2024. He was suspected of accepting bribes, issuing false invoices and engaging in ‘habitual money laundering’; the frequent money laundering that it became a habit. In connection with the criminal case, Van Eerd stepped down as general manager of Jumbo in September 2022 - initially temporarily for as long as the criminal investigation would last, but in March 2023 his departure became permanent with the appointment of interim CEO Ton van Veen as permanent chairman of the board.

Racing career

In addition to his business career, Van Eerd was active in motorsport. He started racing in Formula Renault in 1993 and became Benelux champion in 1996. He also participated in rallies, including the Dakar rally, and founded Racing Team Nederland in 2017, which participated in the

European Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

and the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship, abbreviated as WEC, is a world championship for automobile endurance racing organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The se ...

. In 2019, his team won the

6 Hours of Fuji The 6 Hours of Fuji (formerly the Fuji 1000 Kilometres) is a sports car race held at Fuji Speedway in Oyama, Shizuoka, Japan. The race was held for the first time in 1967, and in 1977 became part of the new Fuji Long Distance Series. In 1982 a se ...

. In 2021, van Eerd won the FIA WEC championship in the LMP2 Pro/Am category.

Career summary

^† As Van Eerd was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points. ^‡ Points only counted towards the Michelin Endurance Cup, and not the overall LMP2 Championship.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eerd, Frits van 1967 births Living people Dutch business executives 20th-century Dutch businesspeople 21st-century Dutch businesspeople 20th-century Dutch sportspeople 21st-century Dutch sportspeople Dutch racing drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers Dakar Rally drivers Racing Team Nederland drivers People from Veghel