Alliander appoints Charlotte Sanders and Sarike van Wette as new COOs
Charlotte Sanders and Sarike van Wette. Image courtesy Alliander
Alliander directors Charlotte Sanders and Sarike van Wette have been appointed Chief Operating Officer Networks and Chief Operating Officer Customers respectively.
As of 17 April 2025, they will become members of the Executive Committee (ExCo) of Alliander, the Dutch utility serving 3.5 million customers with electricity and gas distribution. Van Wette and Sanders currently work as Director of Maintenance and Disruptions and Director of Consumer and Small Business at Alliander, respectively.
At the same time, the legal top structure of Alliander will change. The Board of Directors will consist of two statutory directors for Alliander, CEO Maarten Otto and CFO Walter Bien. The ExCo of Alliander will be expanded with an additional member through the appointment of two COOs.
Alliander in a release says their social mission is to realise a future-proof and sustainable energy system. This will require exponential growth in the reinforcement and expansion of the energy networks and customer connections in the coming years.
To work on this in a targeted manner, Alliander is adjusting its management and the implementation of the work package and with two COOs it will receive more focus and attention. This is in line with the growth that the company has achieved in recent years.
For example, the investment portfolio tripled and the network company now employs more than 10,000 people. Investments will continue to increase in the coming years.
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COO Customers Sarike van Wette will focus on customer service, realising connections, continuity of energy supply and facilitating energy markets. COO Networks Charlotte Sanders will focus on planning, prioritising and realising the exponential growth of work on the energy networks and organising the conditions required for this in collaboration with external partners.
In doing so, they make a significant contribution to the safe realisation of Alliander’s production objectives and meeting the energy needs of almost 3 million consumers and over 500,000 business customers.
Commenting in a release was CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors Maarten Otto: “With these appointments, we are bringing more focus and strength to further shape the implementation of the work package and to help as many customers as possible.
“With the new Executive Committee, we will focus even more on the questions and needs of customers and on the steps that are operationally necessary for a future-proof and sustainable energy system. The current situation requires that we accelerate even more in building our infrastructure. And we need to make better use of the electricity grid. I am confident that together with Charlotte and Sarike we will take the right next steps.”
Said Sanders on her appointment: “Contributing to the energy transition and thus to a more sustainable future has always driven me in my work for Alliander. I look forward to doing this now from the COO Networks position, where I want to scale up our production in a safe and structured way, with an eye for costs and attention for people.
“By closer cooperation within Alliander and with our chain partners and by stimulating other ways of working, we can further increase our effectiveness. This is urgently needed to realise a future-proof and sustainable energy system for our customers.”
Sarike van Wette commented on her appointment: “Energy is essential for our customers. Our society runs on it. I look forward to taking our work for customers to a higher level in this role, together with all the passionate colleagues and partners. Transparency about the current situation on our networks, the right solutions at the right time, predictability of our services and safe execution of our work are of great importance in this. Daring to make choices, always with an eye for the human side, is what I stand for.”
CEO Maarten Otto and CFO Walter Bien are the statutorily responsible directors of Alliander and report as the Board of Management to the Supervisory Board. Together with the Chief Transition Officer (CTO), Chief Operating Officer (COO) Networks, Chief Operating Officer (COO) Customers, Chief Digital Officer (CDO) and Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), they form the daily management of Alliander as ExCo.
