Dutch Foundation for Literature changes to a supervisory board structure
Tiziano Perez appointed as managing director
31 March 2014
As of 1 April 2014, the Dutch Foundation for Literature’s board of directors will become a supervisory board. On that same date, Tiziano Perez will take up the post of managing director.
On the recommendation of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Tiziano Perez has been appointed as managing director for five years from 1 April 2014. He is eligible for reappointment once. Pieter Steinz remains director. Over the past six months, since Pieter Steinz was diagnosed with the incurable disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, Perez has increasingly served as acting director.
Tiziano Perez (b. 1968) studied Italian and English language and literature. He worked first at the University of Amsterdam and then as a programme maker at political and cultural centre De Balie in Amsterdam. He is co-founder of the project Amsterdam City of Refuge, which offers a safe haven to persecuted writers. Since 1998 he has been responsible for organizing international literary events and festivals with Dutch-language authors for the Dutch Foundation for Literature in many foreign countries, including the much-discussed programme for the Beijing Book Fair in 2011, where The Netherlands was country of honour.
Two new members have been appointed to the supervisory board, as well as three former members of the board of directors: chairman Jan Hoekema (until 1 May 2014), Kasper van Noppen (until 1 November 2015), Willem Otterspeer (until 1 May 2016) and new members Gemma Nefkens and Michèle Lopes Cardozo (both until 1 April 2018). All members are eligible for reappointment for a further four years. Gemma Nefkens (b. 1949) worked for many years in literary publishing and the book trade. Lopes Cardozo RA (b. 1964) is financial controller at Over-gemeenten and previously worked as an independent financial manager and consultant.
With the transition from a board of directors to a supervisory board, the accent shifts towards advice and the reviewing of policy. The number of board members has been reduced from seven to five, and between them they have experience in the fields of politics and public administration, finance literature in the broadest sense, the literary field, management and communication.
