Management team
Personele Unie
NRG is onderdeel van de Stichting NRG (voorheen Stichting ECN) en vormt samen met de Stichting Voorbereiding Pallas-reactor (PALLAS) een personele unie. Er blijven twee organisaties bestaan. De directies van beide organisaties worden gevormd door de CEO Bertholt Leeftink en de leden van de directie van NRG, Huub Cuijpers (CEO) en Maik Smit (CFO), en de leden van de directie van PALLAS, Hermen van der Lugt (CEO) en Nico van Ginkel (CFO). Ook bij de raden van toezicht is er sprake van een personele unie. Gerrit Zalm is voorzitter van de beide raden van toezicht .
Bertholt Leeftink
Bertholt Leeftink (1968) is the CEO of the Executive Board of PALLAS and NRG. Bertholt is a senior governmental official with extensive business experience.
Before joining PALLAS and NRG, Bertholt has held various management positions at the Dutch government. He was the Director-General Enterprise & Innovation at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate and the interim Director at the Netherlands Investment Agency (the predecessor of
Invest-NL). Before that, he was a deputy Secretary-General and a Director of General Politics at the former Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation. He previously held the position of Deputy Director-General of Economic Policy at the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
Bertholt studied General Economics at the University of Amsterdam and completed his PhD in International Monetary Economics at the same university. He is a top professional in developing and maintaining long-term government relationships. He is a team player and likes to achieve concrete results with different (private and public) stakeholders. He is not afraid to think and act outside the box.
In addition to his rich CV, Bertholt also has wide experience in board positions and held positions at various business associations such as the Foundations “Stichting StartupDelta” and “Stichting Koning Willem 1”. He is currently the chairman of an amateur football club in Amsterdam.
Living in Amsterdam, Bertholt is married and he has two children. He is the author of several publications that, given his strong financial background, are mostly related to economics.
Maik Smit
Maik Smit (1973) has been the CFO of NRG since April 1st, 2018 and he has been a financial manager at ECN / NRG from October 1st, 2013 to April 1st, 2018. He has been working as a financial professional for 24 years. He is an experienced leader and hands-on manager.
Maik holds an economic degree and obtained a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) degree in 1999 at the University of Amsterdam. He obtained the MBA Modules Strategic Management, Operational Management, ICT and Marketing at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. In 1996, he started at PwC (formerly: Coopers & Lybrand) and continued working at the audit firm for almost 10 years. He served a wide variety of different customers. In 1995, he started working for a technical wholesaler (Solar Netherlands), first as a Financial Manager and later as a Financial Director. At that time, Maik and his team merged two wholesale companies and reported to a listed company in Denmark. Maik joined the Foundation “Stichting ECN/NRG” in 2013.
During his time at the Foundation “Stichting ECN/NRG”, he was an interim CFO for a few periods, and effective April 1st, 2018 he officially holds the position of CFO. Maik and his team carved-out the activities of ECN in the field of sustainable energy to TNO in 2018, after which the Foundation “Stichting ECN/NRG” was able to focus on its nuclear activities. Since then, Maik and his team have been working on NRG's medical isotope strategy.
Maik likes to work in a team and is passionate about solving complex financial issues.
Maik has a wife and three children and lives in Tuitjenhorn. Maik enjoys spending time with his family and friends, to do activities like cycling, and to help as a volunteer at local events and associations.
Hermen van der Lugt
Hermen van der Lugt (1966) has been the CEO of the Foundation Preparation Pallas-reactor (PALLAS) since its start in 2013. He changed and developed the PALLAS organization from a small project team into the organisation it currently is, an organisation consisting of top professionals and international suppliers.
Hermen is a physicist by education (Leiden University). After his PhD study in experimental physics (at institutes in Amsterdam, Hamburg and Geneva) he worked as a (Senior) Researcher in telecommunication and information technology in a public-private setting at the Telematics Institute in the Netherlands.
He led the Telematics Institute (rebranded to Novay) as a programme and innovation director (5 years) and then took the CEO position (4 years). He founded several spin-off companies that all still exist today and he transformed the institute into a market-driven consultancy organisation.
Hermen is an expert in dealing with complex professional challenges, in representing industry partners in public-private partnerships and he is fully comfortable working in an international professional setting.
Aside from his professional life, Hermen is married, father of four children and he lives in Hengelo. He maintains his social network with care and dedication, he reads one book every week and enjoys a variety of music styles.
Nico van Ginkel
Nico van Ginkel (1975) currently is the CFO of the Foundation Preparation Pallas-reactor (PALLAS). Nico is a professional in finance who benefits from close to 20 years of international experience. He likes to be involved in complex financial and strategic organisational challenges, which he encounters at PALLAS.
Before joining PALLAS 5 years ago, he gained experience by holding Senior Financial Management and Executive positions in the construction industry, employed by larger quoted international construction companies, Royal BAM Group and Ballast Nedam. In his roles, he took responsibility for large project portfolios.
Nico has strong analytical and communication skills. His main achievements are successfully restructuring a precast concrete factory, growing an international construction company and the successful start-up of complex projects in various countries.
During graduation in Business Administration at the University of Groningen, Nico worked for two years as the managing director of his family-run business, still in existence today.
Being a father of three young children, he also has an active private life. Living in Utrecht, he is engaged as a football player, a cyclist and a board member of the third largest amateur football club in the Netherlands.