Ahold

In the Netherlands, Ahold has announced that it has nominated Lodewijk Hijmans van den Bergh to the corporate executive board as chief corporate governance counsel.

Mr van den Berg, who joins the retailer on 1 December 2009, will be responsible for Ahold's legal, corporate governance and compliance functions, while also heading up mergers and acquisitions as well as corporate responsibility.

He replaces the outgoing Peter Wakkie, who announced his decision to leave Ahold in June this year. His nomination will be on the agenda at Ahold's AGM on 13 April 2010.

'The role of chief corporate governance counsel continues to be of vital importance to Ahold,' said chairman of the supervisory board Rene Dahan. 'Lodewijk's knowledge of Dutch law and corporate governance and his broad-ranging international experience make him ideally suited to take this role.'

'I, along with my colleagues, am extremely pleased to have Lodewijk join our board,' said Ahold CEO John Rishton. 'I am confident he will make a valuable contribution to the future of the company.'