After the appointment of Gunay Uslu as the new CEO of Corendon, Steven van der Heijden will become a part-time board member of the travel company. In this role, he will mainly be involved in coaching the new board members and a number of strategic projects. That’s what Van der Heijden says to TravMagazine on Thursday when asked. Corendon officially announced on Thursday morning that Gunay Uslu, currently outgoing State Secretary for Culture and Media, will return to Corendon where she will succeed Van der Heijden as CEO. Gunay Uslu will take up the top job in phases. She will formally start in her new position on 11 December for an introductory and induction programme. After a week, she goes on holiday to recover from a busy period in politics. On 3 January, she will take up her duties as CEO of Corendon. On the trade day of the Vakantiebeurs, on 10 January, a formal handover moment is planned at the Corendon stand, says Van der Heijden. State secretary Gunay Uslu, who was asked by D66 at the beginning of 2022 to become State Secretary for Culture and Media, previously worked for Corendon, most recently as Director of Hotel Development. In addition to Uslu, Harry Nigten will be appointed as Chief Financial Officer and Simone van den Berk as Chief Operating Officer. In addition, the five-member board of directors is formed by Van der Heijden and founder/owner Atilay Uslu, both of whom fulfil a non-statutory role. In addition, Atilay Uslu will continue to be involved in the hotel branch of Corendon and the organization in Curaçao. Coming home From the beginning, Gunay Uslu (51) has been involved with Corendon, the company founded by her brother Atilay. Together with him, she built up the travel company in the late 1990s. She studied cultural history at the University of Amsterdam and obtained her PhD in 2014. She then combined a teaching position at the University of Amsterdam with various administrative and supervisory positions in the cultural sector. In 2015 she came back to work part-time at Corendon, this time in the hotel branch. As Director of Hotel Development, she has developed, among other things, the Corendon Village hotel in Badhoevedorp and the Mangrove Beach Resort on Curaçao. Since January 2022, Gunay Uslu has been State Secretary for Culture and Media in the Rutte IV cabinet. ‘I’m going back to the family business and it feels a bit like coming home’, says Gunay Uslu. ‘With Corendon we want to offer people unforgettable experiences, to let them discover the world. In addition, the aviation and travel industry are facing major challenges when it comes to sustainability. As CEO of Corendon, I see it as an important task and responsibility to work on a greener sector from within.’ Track record Steven van der Heijden (63) has a long track record in the Dutch travel industry. His career started in 1988 at travel company Eurojet, which was taken over by Holland International a year later. In 1994, he moved to Oad where he led the tour operating division for six years. He was then appointed Director of Tour Operating at Neckermann. After the merger with Vrij Uit, he became CEO of the merged company Thomas Cook Netherlands. Market leader TUI Netherlands followed in 2004, where Van der Heijden was also one of the founders of Arkefly. He has been CEO of Corendon since 2014. As mentioned, Van der Heijden is ending his career in the travel industry as a part-time board member of Corendon. In addition to coaching the new board members, he will be involved in strategic projects. He mentions the development of new hotels and Corendon’s own airline. Dream successor ‘I see Gunay as my dream successor’, says Van der Heijden. ‘She knows the company through and through and knows what it takes to further expand Corendon’s success. In the cabinet, she has shown that she is a connector who knows how to get things done. Moreover, she has extensive managerial experience and the love for entrepreneurship was instilled in her at an early age, as it were. ́ In addition to CEO Gunay Uslu, Harry Nigten will be appointed CFO and Simone van den Berk will become COO. They are no strangers to the travel industry either. Harry Nigten (54) has been working at Corendon since 2015 as Director Business Controlling and Business Intelligence and is a member of the MT. Prior to that, he worked in the travel industry for 23 years at TUI Netherlands, the last seven of which as Finance Director at Arkefly, now TUIfly. Simone van den Berk (49) has been working at Corendon since 2015 as Director HR, Communications & CSR and is a member of the MT. She started her career as Manager Marketing at a long-distance travel specialist, after which she made the switch to Thomas Cook Netherlands in 2013. At market leader TUI Netherlands, she was responsible for PR, spokesperson and corporate communications for more than ten years. ‘As CEO, I still made it to 2024,’ says Van der Heijden, referring to the failed takeover by Scandinavian-German venture investor Triton. In the spring of 2019, the agreement was signed with Triton. The investor would acquire a majority of the shares in Corendon. Triton then wanted to merge Corendon with Sunweb, in which it had already taken a majority stake at the end of 2018. The deal was expected to close in the spring of 2020. Mattijs ten Brink, former CEO of Sunweb, would lead Sunweb and Corendon as CEO. However, the corona crisis threw a spanner in the works. ‘As a result, my career as CEO has unexpectedly been extended by 3.5 years,’ Van der Heijden notes.
