Cees van der Hoeven is a Dutch former executive and CEO of the supermarket group Ahold. He was born on June 10, 1947, in Leiden and began his career at Ahold in 1983. In 1993, he was appointed CEO of the company, and under his leadership, Ahold grew into one of the largest retailers in the world.
Van der Hoeven was a key player in Ahold's international expansion and was responsible for the acquisition of various supermarket chains in Europe and the United States. Under his leadership, new concepts such as Albert Heijn XL and Albert Heijn to go were also introduced.
In 2003, however, Ahold became embroiled in a major accounting scandal in which the company had inflated its profit figures for years. Van der Hoeven resigned as CEO and was later sentenced to a nine-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of 225,000 euros.
Since leaving Ahold, Van der Hoeven has focused on his investment firm Antea Participaties, which focuses on sustainable investments.