Gerard Sanderink has retired from his position of director at Centric and several other companies. In recent years, he has been discredited several times and therefore, according to many, is no longer suitable for the position.
Sanderink was co-founder of the company ICT in 1978, but started a new company in 1992, called Sanderink Groep. This company was later renamed to Centric, providing IT services to various parties, including governments and banks.
Scandals
In recent years, Sanderink has been discredited on several occasions concerning matters such as non-compliance with agreements with trade unions and a conviction for defamation after a failed relationship with the director of the foundation that managed his assets.
Rian van Rijbroek
However, things went downhill even quicker after Sanderink got in a relationship with Rian van Rijbroek in 2018. Earlier that year, Van Rijbroek came into disrepute after claiming to be an expert in cybersecurity in the Dutch current affairs television program Nieuwsuur. She claimed to have worked with various intelligence services. Actual cyber experts and the authorities in question have denied these claims.
Since his relationship with Van Rijbroek, Sanderink’s behaviour has become even more erratic. It turned out that Van Rijbroek had taken it upon herself to manage his passwords and answer of his e-mails, Tulbantia writes. Over the past two years, Sanderink has also dismissed Centric’s entire management board and has been accused of tampering with figures.
When it turned out that he had seriously misbehaved during a visit by a bailiff, the stakeholders of his companies were done. Following an urgent request from the Supervisory Board, Sanderink relinquished his position as director of Centric and sister company Oranjewoud.
Successors
Nevertheless, Sanderink remains the owner of his companies. The day after he had set up his managerial functions, he showed up at one of his companies’ office, Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad writes. He has not yet been denied access to the offices. The companies are still struggling with the issue of how to get him out of the picture completely.
In many cases, no successor for Sanderink has yet been found, though Centric already did. Louis Luijten will take over as chairman of the board. Previously, Luijten was already a non-executive director, appointed by Sanderink himself.
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