Bas Brouns will become KLM’s new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and member of the Executive Board as of 24 April next year. He succeeds Erik Swelheim, who is leaving after 12 years as CFO. At the end of his mandate, Swelheim will step down at the shareholders’ meeting in 2024. Brouns (52) is currently Senior Vice President Corporate Controller at KLM. He has worked at KLM for almost 27 years in various financial positions. “As CFO, Erik Swelheim played a crucial role within our board of directors in numerous important developments concerning KLM and aviation, of which the Covid crisis was perhaps the most drastic,” says Marjan Rintel, President and CEO of KLM. ‘Thanks in part to Erik’s efforts and involvement, KLM is once again able to stand on its own two feet.’ Swelheim was recently described in the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf as ‘the financial executive who saved KLM from collapse’. Swelheim, who spent 20 years at KLM, worked as CFO with four CEOs: Peter Hartman, Camiel Eurlings, Pieter Elbers and now Marjan Rintel. According to Rintel, KLM has found a worthy successor in Bas Brouns. The departing Swelheim agrees: ‘I am immensely proud of what we have achieved together over the years and how we have come through the very difficult Covid period as a team. There is a strong financial team and KLM’s financial position has largely been restored. I am delighted that my successor comes from our own team. Thanks to my many years of working with Bas, I am confident that he will do a fantastic job.’ The proposed appointment of Brouns has been positively advised by KLM’s Works Council. Subject to the approval of the shareholders’ meeting, the KLM Executive Board will be as follows from 24 April 2024: Marjan Rintel (President and CEO), Bas Brouns (CFO), Maarten Stienen (COO), Miriam Kartman (CPO) and Barry ter Voeren (CXO, business development). Photo: KLM’s outgoing and incoming CFO: Erik Swelheim (left) and Bas Brouns.
