Over the past year, he served as Digital Director at Nutreco, a position created for him in June 2024
Nutreco and Skretting are facing major changes: they have announced that David Blakemore will step down as CEO on September 1, and will be succeeded by Bastiaan van Tilburg, CEO of Skretting. Meanwhile, van Tilburg’s current position will be filled by Maarten Bijl, formerly digital director. With 16 years across SHV companies, including three years as Managing Director of Trouw Nutrition North America, Maarten has been instrumental in the digital transformation and commercial growth of the global company.
“I’m excited to work with our global team to innovate and meet the evolving needs of our customers,” said Maarten Bijl. For his part, van Tilburg, who has spent nearly eight years at Nutreco in increasingly senior roles, commented: “I’m honored to lead this incredible organization. Our purpose of Feeding the Future has never been more important.”
From Nutreco assured they are proud to announce a seamless leadership transition at the company: “with both our new CEO and COO promoted from within — reflecting our commitment to nurturing and empowering internal talent,” they said. “Promoting from within underscores our belief in the strength of our people and our culture of growth. We thank David Blakemore for his leadership and look forward to the future under Bastiaan van Tilburg and Maarten Bijl’s guidance,” they added.
Leader in Nutreco’s digital transformation
Maarten has spent the last 16 years working across SHV companies in roles encompassing strategy, commercial management, and general management, and for the last year as Chief Digital Officer (CDO), a role created in June 2024. Prior to the CDO role, Maarten spent three years as Managing Director Trouw Nutrition North America. Over the span of his career, he has led businesses in different industries, geographies and disciplines and has laid the groundwork for Nutreco’s digital transformation.
“Having spent over a decade in regional general manager roles in different continents, and the last 4.5 years at Nutreco, I’ve had opportunity to get to know the Skretting team and business and I’m impressed by what I see. The relevance of aquaculture in the food chain and in our global challenge of feeding the future should not be underestimated,” he commented.
Until a successor to the chief digital officer role is named, Bijl will hold both roles, explained Amersfoort, Netherlands-based aquaculture feed company Skretting. “I’m excited and honored to work with our team around the world to meet the needs of our customers and drive growth in our business through high quality feed, product innovation and digital solutions.”
A group of Talented and Purpose-Driven People
Meanwhile, the soon ex Skretting’s CEO Bastiaan van Tilburg assured: “It’s a fantastic honor to lead Nutreco. We are a group of talented and purpose-driven people with a passion for our purpose of Feeding the Future. Our company has a very meaningful role to play in the food system, and I know that we still have a lot of untapped potential to unlock together. That is why it excites me to accelerate the execution of our strategy and to keep us focused on delivering the very best of Nutreco to our customers, everywhere, every day”.
Bastiaan van Tilburg has been with Nutreco for almost eight years, first as general manager of Trouw Nutrition Benelux, Scandinavia and France, then as Managing Director for Europe and Central Asia. In June 2024 he took over as COO Aquaculture, gaining deep aquaculture knowledge and building key industry connections.
Before joining Nutreco, Bastiaan worked in various commercial and operational leadership roles at SHV daughter company, Makro in Brazil. Prior to joining Makro, he worked at Royal Dutch Shell for four years.
The 100-year-old company Nutreco currently has around 11,000 employees worldwide. Its net revenue in 2024 was USD 9.2 billion (EUR 7.9 billion), and it also reported that SHV’s net sales had reached USD 26.8 billion (EUR 23 billion) in 2023.
