Sigrid van Aken (born March 1, 1970,

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

) is the chief executive officer of Postcode Lottery Group, recognized as the world's third largest private

charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...

donor, after the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the

Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of Burroughs Wellcome, one of the predec ...

Early life and career

Sigrid van Aken studied French Language and Literature at the

University of Utrecht Utrecht University (UU; , formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2023, it had an enrollment of 39,769 students, a ...

. She joined

Rabobank Rabobank (; full name: ''Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A.'') is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Utrecht, Netherlands. The group comprises 89 local Dutch Rabobanks (2019), a central organisation (Raboban ...

Paris in 1994. In 1998, she became senior IT consultant for

KPMG Consulting KPMG is a multinational professional services network, based in London, United Kingdom. As one of the Big Four accounting firms, along with Ernst & Young (EY), Deloitte, and PwC. KPMG is a network of firms in 145 countries with 275,288 employe ...

. In 2002, van Aken joined VriendenLoterij and

Nationale Postcode Loterij The Nationale Postcode Loterij (National Postcode Lottery) is the biggest charity lottery in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1989 by Novamedia, a marketing agency that sets up and runs charity lotteries. As required by the Dutch government, fo ...

, lotteries of Novamedia / Postcode Lottery Group. In 2009, she completed a leadership program at the

International Institute for Management Development International Institute for Management Development (IMD) is an independent academic institute with campuses in Lausanne, Switzerland and Singapore. IMD is known for its executive education and its proximity to business. In 2024, it named David B ...

(IMD) in

Lausanne, Switzerland Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Swiss French-speaking canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway between the Jura Mountains and the Alps, and facing the ...

. After holding multiple senior and international leadership roles over her two-decade career at Postcode Lottery Group, and since 2013 as executive board member/COO, she assumed the role of CEO, succeeding

Boudewijn Poelmann Boudewijn Poelmann (born 3 February 1949, Bussum) is a Dutch entrepreneur and co-founder of the Netherlands's Nationale Postcode Lottery. In 1983, he helped to start the media company, Novamedia. Before establishing Novamedia in 1983, he worked ...

, in 2020. Beyond her corporate responsibilities, van Aken served on the Supervisory Board of Amsterdam's public transport company GVB from 2013 to 2021.

As a CEO

Van Aken is responsible for all entities and operations of the postcode lotteries in five countries:

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

(1989), Sweden (2005), Great Britain (2005), Germany (2016), and Norway (2018) – the latter are collectively known as the Postcode Lottery Group. In 2024, the group announced the establishment of the Canadian Postcode Lottery Foundation in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. The year following her appointment as CEO, van Aken was invited to speak at the prestigious Prinsjesdagontbijt, held on Prinsjesdag, marking the annual opening of the Dutch parliamentary year. Since its inception, the Postcode Lottery Group has raised more than 13.5 billion euros in support of thousands of charitable initiatives, locally and internationally. According to the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

, in 2023, the group stood among the largest private donors to

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, contributing 155.2 million euros (165.9 million USD) to humanitarian and

human rights organizations :''The list is incomplete; please add known articles or create missing ones'' The following is a list of articles on the human rights organizations of the world. It does not include political parties, or academic institutions. The list includes ...

operating in Ukraine or assisting

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

s. The Dutch branch donated 100.6 million euros (113.3 million dollars).

Awards and honors

Van Aken has been repeatedly ranked in the Dutch publication ''Opzij''s top 100 as the most influential woman in the Charities category. In 2020, she made it to the 59th position of the ''

de Volkskrant ''De Volkskrant'' (; ), stylized as de Volkskrant, is a Dutch daily morning newspaper. Founded in 1919, it has a nationwide circulation of about 250,000. Formerly a leading centre-left Catholic broadsheet, ''de Volkskrant'' today is a medium- ...

'' Top 200, the list of most influential Dutch people.

Personal life

Sigrid van Aken lives in

with her family.

References

External links

Postcode Lottery Group
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Aken, Sigrid 1970 births Living people Dutch chief executives Women chief executives