He discovered that
cliënt value is not
the poor relation of
shareholder value, but
a characteristic that
clearly disting
Rabobank jrom other
financial institutions 9
CEO Piet Moerland:
11 i ri
Bert Heemskerk had many years experience in the banking
industry when he transferred to Rabobank in 2002. His first position
was with the former AMRO Bank in Rotterdam, the Netherlands,
in 1969. Three years later he was appointed regional manager for
Europe and Japan. He opened offices in Tokyo, Dubai, Peking and
the United States, and worked in London for three years.
Having subsequently spent another twelve years as chairman of
the Dutch private bank Van Lanschot, Heemskerk was asked
to join Rabobank in 2002 by Lense Koopmans, chairman of the
bank's supervisory board; Heemskerk had always regarded this
as the crowning glory of his career.
People who had the privilege of working with him considered him
to be a born leader. Heemskerk himself put that quality down to his
father, an entrepreneur who began a shipbuilding yard in the 1920s
with credit provided by the Cooperative Central Farmers' Credit
Bank, or Boerenleenbank, one of Rabobank's predecessors.
He grew up in a Catholic family of eight children and dreamed of
becoming a priest. It was for this reason that he decided to study
theology and philosophy at institutions including the University
of Tübingen in Germany, undertheauspicesof Joseph Ratzinger, the
current Pope Benedict XVI. Instead of joining the clergy, however,
he became a secondary school teacher of religious instruction.
Shortly afterwards, he decided to study economics and opted for
a career in the banking industry.
According to current Rabobank CEO Piet Moerland, Heemskerk
proved himself to be a board member with a strong cooperative
disposition. "To his surprise, he discovered that cooperative
banking really does exist, and that cliënt value is not the poor
relation of shareholder value, but a characteristic that clearly
distinguishes Rabobank from other financial institutions."
The merger between Rabobank subsidiary Interpolis with Achmea,
in which Rabobank received a significant share of the insurance
conglomerate Eureko, was one of Heemskerk's most important
achievements. Rabobank's ambition to present itself as a global
F&A bank also took shape under his supervision as a result of
numerous investments and acquisitions.
Heemskerk was a frontrunner in the field of sustainability and social
involvement. He was at the forefront of Rabo Development, which
develops promising rural banks in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
He was also highly enthusiastic about the work of the Rabobank
Foundation, which is active in developing countries in the field
of microfinancing.
The worldwide financial crisis broke out in 2007, the year that
Heemskerk had intended to retire. Rabobank asked him to stay
on for a short time due to the seriousness of the crisis. He said that
he would be more than happy to do so, "...in order to keep our
ship out of troubled waters."
On his retirement in 2009, Heemskerk looked back on this hectic
period and reconfirmed his belief in the strength of the cooperative
Rabobank. During his leaving ceremony he said: "It is possible
for our cooperative to make a faux pas, but it cannot lose its way
completely thanks to the built-in checks and balances. Be careful
with that structure!"
Only a very small group of people at Rabobank knew that
Heemskerk was seriously ill. He had asked his colleagues to be
discreet with the knowledge. Piet Moerland: "Bert wanted us to
remember him as the vital and strong personality he was when
he was working with us. That is what we have done and what we
will continue to do."
Bert Heemskerk died near to the town on the North Sea coast
where he had been born 67 years earlier and where he had been
building a new family home. He leaves behind his wife and their
eight children.
issue 27 R] WORLD